THE
                         DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA
                            TO THE YEAR 1525

                                   BY
                        ARTHUR JAMES WEISE, M.A.

                           G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
                    NEW YORK: 27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET
               LONDON: 25 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
                                  1884

       Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by
                           ARTHUR JAMES WEISE
        in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington

                           ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

                                _Press of
                           G. P. Putnam’s Sons
                                New York_




THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO THE MEMORY OF HIS DECEASED WIFE
CATHARINE V. UPDEGRAFF WEISE




PREFACE.


It is a fact that America in the early ages was one of the inhabited
parts of the earth. The Egyptians, who were among the first of the
peoples of the eastern hemisphere to use letters and to write history,
furnish the earliest known account of the inhabitants of this continent.
It is also a truth that some ancient geographers and philosophers, who
had no personal knowledge of the existence of a primitive people in the
western hemisphere, regarded the information recorded by the Egyptians as
fictitious and incredible. When Columbus proposed to go to this inhabited
realm beyond the western ocean almost all the learned men of Portugal
and Spain opposed the undertaking as visionary, and not a few of them
asserted that the navigator’s opinions were absurd, because, as they
argued, no one of all the seamen who had lived since the creation of the
world had discovered land beyond Hibernia.

The discovery of the continent and the subsequent explorations of the
Spaniards not only confuted the fallacious arguments of the learned men
of the middle ages but confirmed the statements of the Egyptian records
descriptive of the civilization of the Atlantic country. The tradition
of the peopling of the continent by the descendants of Euenor, the good
man begotten in the beginning from the ground, and of the residence of
celestial beings among the inhabitants peculiarly confirms the account in
the Bible of the creation of the first man from the dust of the ground
and of his descendants having communications with angels.

The asserted discovery of America by the Northmen rests more upon
conjecture than evidence. It appears that Columbus was not the discoverer
of the continent, for it was seen in 1497 not only by Giovanni Caboto but
by the commander of the Spanish fleet with whom Amerigo Vespucci first
sailed to the New World.

The land of Francesca, discovered by Verrazzano in 1524, it will be seen,
was early possessed by the French, who built a fort near the Indian
village where now is the city of New York, and called the surrounding
country La Terre d’Anormée Berge; a geographical designation more
significantly expressed in the phraseology, The Land of the Palisades.

The writing of this work required the personal examination of many old
and rare books, manuscripts, and maps, besides the perusal of a large
number of recent papers and publications relating to its subject. The
task further demanded a careful review and comparison of the various
statements of historical writers concerning the voyages of the persons
whom they believed to have been the discoverers of certain parts of the
coast of America, between Baffin’s Bay and Tierra del Fuego.

It seemed to me that some of the information contained in the different
works which I had examined should be presented in the language of the
writers or in faithful translations so that the intended significance of
the information could be perceived by the reader. I therefore have placed
these _excerpta_ before the general reader and the critic in the belief
that the citations will be appreciated. They will at least show my
desire that the judgments of those who examine them should not be biased
by any conclusions of my own.

My researches were for the most part made in the General Library of the
State of New York, in Albany. The generous personal interest taken by
the State’s distinguished librarian, Henry A. Homes, LL.D., in placing
before me the large number of works which I desired to examine, was
so constant and helpful that it is a great pleasure for me to mention
and acknowledge his kind offices. I am also indebted to his assistant,
George Rogers Howell, for many official courtesies. I also owe my thanks
to George H. Moore, LL.D., the erudite superintendent of the Lenox
Library, in the city of New York, to Frederick Saunders, librarian of the
Astor Library, to Jacob B. Moore, librarian of the New York Historical
Society, and to Leopold Lindau, librarian of the American Geographical
Society. The offices of L’Abbé A. N. Ménard, vicar of the parish of St.
Roch, Paris, France; of Pádre Antonio Ceriani, prefect of the Ambrosian
Library, Milan, Italy; of Jules Godeby, professor of French literature in
the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York; and of Dr. Titus
Munson Coan, of New York City, place me under many obligations to these
gentlemen. It is also a great pleasure for me to acknowledge the generous
favors of E. Thompson Gale, of Troy, which permitted me to accomplish
the purposes that I had in view when, eight years ago, I undertook my
long-protracted task. The kind offices of my friend, William H. Young, of
Troy, are also gratefully remembered.

                                                      ARTHUR JAMES WEISE.

TROY, N. Y., March 27, 1884.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE.

                               CHAPTER I.

    Antiquity of the red race. An antediluvian people. Vestiges
    of an ancient civilization in America. Records of Egypt.
    Manuscripts of Solon, the great Greek legislator. Origin
    of the aborigines of the western hemisphere. Founders of
    an empire. The tradition preserved by the Egyptians. Early
    navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. Isolation of the people of
    the western continent. The Northmen. Iceland found. Greenland
    explored. Saga of Eric the Red. Voyage of Bjarni, Herjulf’s
    son. Explorations of Leif, the son of Eric the Red. Tradition
    concerning Thorfinn Karlsefne. Discovery of Vinland. Its
    geographical situation. The stone tower at Newport. Dighton
    rock. Voyages of the Welsh adventurer Madoc. Discoveries of
    the Zeni brothers. Story of a Frisland fisherman. Estotiland.
    Drogio                                                            1-50

                               CHAPTER II.

    Arrival of three strangely clad travellers in Venice. Their
    surprising disclosures. The book of Marco Polo. Marvellous
    wealth of Cathay. Gold-covered palaces. Magnificent cities.
    Extensive traffic. The empire of the Grand Khan. The travels
    of Sir John Mandeville. Commerce of Europe restricted. Use
    of the mariner’s compass. An age of superstition. Points of
    the compass-card. Geographical enthusiasm of Prince Henry of
    Portugal. Explorations along the coast of Africa. The astrolabe
    made useful to navigators. The Cape of Good Hope reached         51-69

                              CHAPTER III.

    Christopher Columbus’s conception of finding a short and direct
    way to India. His reasonable conclusions. Statements of ancient
    geographers. The known parts of the world. Circumference of
    the earth. Inferences respecting pieces of wood and dead
    bodies cast upon the islands lying off the west coast of
    Africa. Island of the Seven Cities. Letter of Paolo Toscanelli.
    Distance to Cathay. Columbus’s overtures to the king of
    Portugal. Bartolomé Columbus visits England. Christopher
    Columbus seeks aid in Spain. The opinion of the learned men
    respecting his project. The friendly offices of Friar Juan
    Perez. Luis de Santángel’s proposals to Queen Isabella.
    Columbus commissioned to undertake a voyage to Cathay            70-93

                               CHAPTER IV.

    The object of Columbus’s voyage. His journal. His intention to
    make a map of the lands of the ocean. The vessels of the fleet.
    They sail from the port of Palos. The fears of the sailors.
    Variations of the needle. The Sea of Sargasso. Incidents of the
    voyage. Discovery of land. Island of San Salvador. Columbus’s
    description of the people and the islands. He believes that he
    had reached the continent of Asia, and that he was near the
    dominions of the Grand Khan of Cathay. He sends embassadors to
    the sovereign of the Orient. His letter to Rafael Sanchez. The
    high latitude to which he sailed. A fort erected at La Navidad,
    on the island of Española. The profits of the voyage. Columbus
    sets sail for Spain. Anchors in the Tagus. Visits the king
    of Portugal. Returns to Spain. Enthusiasm of the people. His
    reception at Barcelona                                          94-144

                               CHAPTER V.

    Territorial privileges of Portugal and Spain. A line of
    demarkation designated by Pope Alexander VI. The East and
    the West Indies. Columbus’s second voyage. The Caribbees.
    The Villa de la Navidad burned. The town of Isabela built.
    Further explorations of the coast of Cuba. Depositions taken
    that Columbus had reached the dominions of the Grand Khan.
    The _cemies_ of the people of Española. The homeward voyage.
    Ignorance of pilots respecting latitude and longitude.
    Columbus’s compasses. Amerigo Vespucci’s first voyage to the
    New World. Lands on the coast of South America. Describes
    the natives. The country of Lariab. Columbus’s third voyage.
    He surveys the continent. Explores the coast of La Tierra de
    Gracia. Amerigo Vespucci’s second voyage. Sails along the
    north coast of South America. Traffics for pearls with the
    natives. Returns to Cadiz. Columbus’s last voyage. The edifices
    of Veragua. The evidences of civilization. Writes that he
    reached the province of Mango, contiguous to Cathay. Dies at
    Valladolid. His nautical chart. Juan de la Cosa’s great ox-hide
    map                                                            145-185

                               CHAPTER VI.

    England sends ships to search for a navigable way to the
    Indies. The first voyage of Giovanni Caboto. Pasqualigo’s
    account of it. Discovery of the territory of the Grand Khan.
    The flag of England and that of St. Mark planted on the coast
    of the new country. Prima Tierra Vista. The island of St.
    John. Caboto’s second voyage. The dispatches of Pedro de Ayala
    to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. The voyages
    of Sebastiano Caboto. His explorations along the coast of
    Labrador. La Tierra de los Bacallaos. Sebastiano Caboto’s maps
    and manuscripts                                                186-204

                              CHAPTER VII.

    The Portuguese reach the Indies. Land of the Holy Cross
    discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Gaspar Cortereal’s voyages.
    Letter of Pietro Pasqualigo. Terra Verde. Amerigo Vespucci’s
    third and fourth voyages along the east coast of South America.
    Johann Ruysch’s map. Martin Waldseemüller’s suggestion. The
    name of America. A fountain of vivific water. Juan Ponce de
    Leon explores the coast of Florida. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
    beholds the Pacific Ocean. The coast of Yucatan explored by
    Francisco Hernando de Cordoba. The discoveries of Juan de
    Grijalva. The country of New Spain. The expedition of Hernando
    Cortes. The magnificent presents sent him by Montezuma. The
    populated provinces of Mexico. Great cities. Large temples.
    Decorated idols. Cortes enters the city of Mexico. Its palaces,
    markets, and arsenals. The horrible sacrifices of the Mexicans.
    The siege of the city                                          205-274

                              CHAPTER VIII.

    The discoveries of Alonso Alvarez de Pineda. The project of
    Francisco de Garay. An unfortunate undertaking. The discovery
    of the Mississippi River. The jurisdictions of Juan Ponce
    de Leon and Francisco de Garay. Another exploration of a
    part of the coast of North America. Chicora. Duharhe. Tall
    people. Habits of the natives. Tierra de Ayllon. The voyage of
    Fernam de Magalhaens. Discovery of the Strait of the Eleven
    Thousand Virgins. The Pacific Ocean. The Moluccas or Spice
    Islands reached. Voyage of Juan Sebastian del Cano. The earth
    circumnavigated. The congress of Badajos                       275-296

                               CHAPTER IX.

    France emulates Portugal, Spain, and England. Discoveries of
    the Bretons and the Normans. Exploration of the St. Lawrence
    River. Giovanni da Verrazzano put in command of a fleet to
    sail to Cathay by Francis I. The king of Portugal attempts
    to prevent the sailing of the vessels. Storm in the North
    Sea. Departure of the Dauphine. Verrazzano reaches the coast
    of North America. Designates his first landing-place Diepa.
    Fruitless search for a harbor. Friendly savages. Description
    of the country. Palmetto trees. Sails northward. Explorations
    of the peninsula of Virginia. The Dauphine’s anchorage at
    Sandy Hook. Verrazzano explores the bays of New York. The
    Grande River. Block Island. The Dauphine in Narragansett Bay.
    Description of the natives. Exploration of the coast of Maine.
    Five hundred and two leagues of land inspected. Francesca.
    Verrazzano’s geographical explanation of his voyage. Arrival
    of the Dauphine at Dieppe                                      297-334

                               CHAPTER X.

                              (_Addenda._)

    Circulation of the news of Verrazzano’s remarkable discoveries.
    Fernando Carli’s letter to his father. The adverse opinion of
    the people concerning Verrazzano’s undertaking. The navigator
    regarded as another Amerigo Vespucci, another Magellan. Three
    ships equipped to sail to the Indies under the command of
    Verrazzano. His third voyage to the New Land. The indomitable
    Florentine falls a victim to savage cruelty. His body roasted
    and eaten. Ramusio’s worthy tribute. The navigator’s great
    parchment map. The Maiollo map. Hieronymus da Verrazzano’s
    chart                                                          335-343

                               CHAPTER XI.

                              (_Addenda._)

    The French again search for a direct water-route to India.
    Voyages of Jacques Cartier. The names given to the natives of
    the New Land. The peasants of New France. The Hudson explored
    in the sixteenth century. The French name for the Palisades.
    The country of the Grand Scarp. Manants Island. A small fort
    built by the French on the site of New York City. The château
    on Castle Island, near the site of Albany. The structure
    damaged by a freshet. The Mohawk Indians show the ruins to
    the Dutch explorers of the river in the seventeenth century.
    The Hollanders call it Fort Nassau. The opinion of the Dutch
    inhabitants of Albany respecting the people who built it       344-363

    Index                                                          365-380





COPIES OF RARE MAPS.


    I.—Delineation of the hyperborean regions by Sigurd Stephanius
         in 1570                                                        22

    II.—A part of the map of the New World contained in the edition of
         Ptolemy’s geography printed in Strasburg in 1513              124

   III.—A part of the Cabot-map of 1544, in the Bibliothèque nationale,
         Paris                                                         190

    IV.—Map of the New World contained in Peter Martyr’s “Legatio
         Babylonica,” printed in 1511                                  220

     V.—A tracing representing the limits of the discoveries of Juan
         Ponce de Leon and Francisco de Garay. 1521                    278

    VI.—A part of the map of the fourth part of the world contained
         in the Cosmographie Universelle by André Thevet, printed in
         Paris in 1575                                                 304

   VII.—Map of Terre de la Franciscane in the cosmography of Jean
         Alphonse and Raulin Secalart, 1545                            354

  VIII.—Map of a part of North America made by Giacomo de Gastaldi
         in 1553                                                       356

    IX.—A part of the map of the world made by Gerard Mercator in
         Duisburg in 1569                                              360

     X.—A part of the map of the world made by Juan de la Cosa in
         1500                                                 cover-pocket

    XI.—A part of the map of the world made by Johann Ruysch,
         contained in the edition of Ptolemy’s geography printed in
         Rome in 1508                                         cover-pocket

   XII.—A part of the map of the world made by Visconte de Maiollo
         in 1527                                              cover-pocket




DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA.




CHAPTER I.


The oldest scriptures, sacred and profane, attest the antiquity of the
red race.[1] As early as the antediluvian period this division of the
human family had taken possession of the islands and continent of the
western hemisphere, where it founded an empire, the most famous and
formidable of primeval times. Great in political power, its commercial,
agricultural, and other economical interests were commensurably vast and
unparalleled. The skill of its architects and engineers was exhibited in
large and imposing edifices and in extraordinary and extensive public
works. Aggressively belligerent, its armies overran parts of Europe and
Africa, exacting tribute, deposing and substituting rulers.

When the Spaniards, in the sixteenth century, began to explore the
interior of the continent of America for gold, silver, and precious
stones, they found populated provinces, great cities, temples, palaces,
aqueducts, canals, bridges, and causeways. The astonished adventurers
also discovered the vestiges of an aboriginal people, among which
were many massive tablets of stone covered with columns of strange
hieroglyphics and antique images, picturing a past civilization for the
rise and growth of which modern archæologists have not yet satisfactorily
determined dates.

In the early ages of the world the Egyptians recorded whatever they
deemed important and worthy of preservation concerning the principal
inhabitants of the globe. These inquisitive chroniclers of antediluvian
traditions placed in their archives some remarkable information
respecting the original people of the western hemisphere. The historical
value of this information is enhanced by the fact that those parts of it
which seem to be the most improbable are supported by similar statements
in the Bible, while the less astounding are verified by the discovery,
on the continent of the so-called New World, of such remains as those
which are said to have existed in the country west of the entrance to the
Mediterranean Sea.

About five hundred and seventy years before the Christian era, Solon,
the celebrated legislator of Greece, visited Egypt, and while there
became acquainted with some of the erudite priests of the country.[2]
When the latter communicated to him what they had learned from the
records concerning the ancient peoples of the earth, the sage of Greece
was so deeply impressed with the unquestionable value of this strange
information that he committed it to writing, intending to use it in an
historical poem which he had undertaken to compose.[3] On his return to
Athens he was not permitted the leisure that was needed to complete his
agreeable task.[4] After his death, the compilations he had made in Egypt
were, for a long time, preserved by his descendants, and at last became
the property of Plato, the Greek philosopher.[5] The latter, when a boy,
had studiously perused his eminent ancestor’s manuscript, and when he had
reached the last years of his scholarly life he could not disengage his
thoughts from the conviction that it was his personal duty to publish its
rare information.[6] In order, therefore, to give publicity to Solon’s
valuable compilations, Plato, a short time before his own death, wrote
that part of the unfinished dialogue entitled “Critias, or the Atlantic,”
in which appears the earliest known account of the ancient people of the
western hemisphere.[7]

“When Solon interrogated the priests, who were the most distinguished
for their antiquarian knowledge, he became aware that neither he nor
any of the Greeks knew much concerning the history of the first ages of
the world. On one occasion, for the purpose of inducing the priests to
relate some of their ancient traditions he began to narrate the early
history of his own country.... Thereupon one of the eldest priests
exclaimed: ‘Solon, Solon, you Greeks are but children, and an aged Greek
there is none!’ Solon, hearing this, asked, ‘What do you mean?’ The
priest replied: ‘You are all youths in intelligence, for you have no old
beliefs transmitted by tradition, nor any science hoary with age.... From
the olden time we have chronicled whatever has happened in your country
or in ours, or in any other region known to us,—any action, noble or
great or in any other way remarkable,—and these records are preserved in
our temples, whereas you and other nations have but lately been provided
with letters and different things required by states....

“‘Many and great exploits of your state, therefore, are here recorded,
and call forth our admiration; nevertheless, there is one in particular,
which in magnitude and heroism surpasses them all. For these records
relate that your state once checked the advance of a mighty force which
threatened all Europe and Asia, moving upon them from the Atlantic Ocean.
For at that time this ocean was navigable; and beyond the strait [that of
Gibraltar], which you in your language call the Pillars of Hercules, was
an island larger than Libya [Africa] and Asia put together.[8] At that
time sea-faring men could pass from it to the other islands, and from
them to the opposite continent, which extended along the real ocean.
For the sea [the Mediterranean] inside the strait, which we have already
mentioned, is like a bay with a narrow entrance, but the other sea is
rightly called an ocean, and the land, which entirely surrounds it, may
truly and correctly be called a continent. In this large Atlantic island
a mighty and wonderful confederacy of kings was formed, which subdued the
whole island and many other islands and parts of the continent. Besides
this it extended its rule, on our side, over Libya as far as Egypt, and
over Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.[9] At that time the united forces of
this power undertook to crush at one blow both your country and ours, and
all the other countries lying within the strait.’”[10]

“‘In the beginning the gods divided the whole earth, here and there, into
large and small portions, that they might obtain temples and sacrifices.
In this way Poseidon received as his portion the Atlantic island, and
begat children by a mortal woman (ἐκ θνητῆς γυναικὸς), and placed them on
a part of the island which we are about to describe.’”[11]

Incredible as this information concerning the residence of a person
possessing a divine nature on the earth and his matrimonial relationship
with a woman seems to be, there are some remarkable statements in the
traditions of the ancients respecting celestial beings dwelling among
men, and, by marriage with their daughters, being the progenitors of an
illustrious offspring. The Hebrew patriarchs, it is said, had personal
communications with angels, at different times and places. It is related
that three, in human form, partook of food given them by Abraham, under
a tree, in the plain of Mamre.[12] Herodotus was told, by certain
Egyptians, that “gods had been the rulers of Egypt and had dwelt among
men; and that one of them always had the supreme power.”[13] Moses, “who
was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” describing the people
of the antediluvian world, writes:

“It happened, as men began to multiply on the face of the earth and
daughters were born to them, the sons of the Elohim (‎‏בני האלהים‏‎)
[literally, the sons of the eminent or mighty ones] saw the daughters of
man (‎‏בנות האדם‏‎) that they were fair; then they took for wives among
them all whom they loved.... There were giants (‎‏נפלים‏‎) on the earth
in those days, and also after that the sons of the Elohim went in unto
the daughters of man and they bare children to them, the same became
heroes (‎‏גברים‏‎) who were of old, men of name (‎‏אנשי שם‏‎).”[14]

“‘Toward the sea, in the middle of the island, was a plain,’ the priest
continued, ‘which was very attractive and fertile. About fifty stadia
from the centre of the plain was a mountain with sloping sides.[15] On
this dwelt one of those men begotten from the ground in the beginning
(κατὰ ἀρχὰς ἐκ γῆς ἀνδρῶν γεγονότων), Euenor by name.[16] He lived there,
with his wife, Leucippe. They had an only daughter named Cleito. When
this girl reached womanhood, her father and mother being dead, Poseidon
fell in love with her and made her his wife. He encircled the hill on
which she lived with alternate girdles of land and water, greater and
less, making two of land and three of water, each uniformly distant from
the centre of the island, in order to render her habitation inaccessible
to men, for at that time ships and sea-faring were unknown. Also by his
divine power he beautifully adorned the centre of the island, causing two
fountains to shoot upward from beneath the earth, one of cold and the
other of hot water, and making all kinds of food to grow abundantly on
the earth. He begat and raised ten male children, twins, and divided the
Atlantic island into ten parts. He gave to the first-born of the eldest
twins, his mother’s habitation and the land surrounding it, this being
the largest and the best. He appointed him king over the other children,
making the latter princes, and giving to each the control of many people
and extensive domains. He likewise gave names to all of his offspring;
to the eldest, the king, the name of Atlas, in honor of whom both the
island and the ocean were called Atlantic.[17] To the twin born after
him (who received for his portion the extreme part of the island toward
the Pillars of Hercules as far as the region now called in that country
Gadeirica), he gave the appellation, which we Greeks call Eumelus, but
the people of that country Gadeira.[18] He called the first of the
second-born twins, Ampheres, the second Eudæmon; of the third pair, he
called the first-born Mnesis, and the second, Autochthon; of the fourth
pair, the first Elasippus, and the younger Mestor; and of the fifth pair,
to the first was given the name of Azaës, and to the last, Diaprepes.

“‘For many generations these and their descendants were the rulers and
the inhabitants of the islands in the ocean, and, as it has been said,
they extended their authority over all the country as far as Egypt
and Tyrrhenia. By far the most distinguished was the race of Atlas;
and the eldest king belonging to it always handed down in succession
the government to his eldest son. All these kings in turn possessed
immense wealth, such as was never known to belong to royalty or will be
likely hereafter. They were provided with all things which, in a city
or elsewhere, are worth having. Large revenues were received by them
from foreign countries under their rule, but the greatest resources
came from the island. First were such ores as are dug in mines in
a crude condition, or need to be smelted, particularly the metal
_orichalcum_,[19] which is now known only by name, but formerly was of
great value. This was dug from the earth in many parts of the island,
being prized above all the metals then known, except gold. The island
also produced an abundance of wood for building purposes, and furnished
food for wild and tame animals. Vast numbers of elephants were on the
island, for there was abundant subsistence for all animals which feed in
marshes and along lakes, on mountains and plains, and likewise for this
animal, which by nature is the largest and most voracious of all.[20]
And whatever fragrant plants the earth produces, whether roots, or
grasses, or woods, or exuding gums, or flowers, or fruits, grew there and
were developed to perfection. The island besides produced such cultivated
fruits and dry edible fruits as we use for food and call vegetables;
also the fruits which trees bear and are used for drinks, meats, and
ointments; and those also which have a hard shell, used in sport and
pleasure, that are collected with trouble, together with dainty fruits
for dessert, which provoke the appetite or please the sick;—all these
that once-existing and tropic island, sacred and delightful, produced in
surprising and infinite quantities. Obtaining all these from the soil,
the inhabitants employed themselves in building temples, royal palaces,
harbors, and wharves in all parts of the country, constructing them as
follows:

“‘First of all, the people residing in and about that ancient metropolis
bridged over those girdles of water, making a causeway to and from the
royal palace. In this place, which had been the residence of the gods
and their ancestors, they, at the beginning, erected the palace; and
each [king] in turn, receiving it from his predecessor, and further
embellishing the ornamental parts, continually surpassed the one before
him, until they made the building very attractive to the sight, on
account of its size and the beauty of its elaborations. They dug a canal,
beginning at the sea, three plethra[21] broad, a hundred feet deep, and
fifty stadia in length, to the outermost girdle, and thus made a channel
to it from the sea as into a harbor, by enlarging its mouth sufficiently
to admit the largest vessels. Besides this, they separated by aqueducts
the girdles of land which separated those of water, so that a trireme[22]
could be taken from one girdle of water to another, arching the girdles
of land to allow a water-way beneath them; for the banks of the girdles
of land rose to a height considerably above the water. And the greatest
of these girdles into which the sea flowed was three stadia in width, and
the girdle of land next to it was of the same width. The second girdle
of water was two stadia in width and the second girdle of land the same.
The last girdle of water, environing the centre of the island, was only
one stadium wide, and the island, on which the king’s palace stood, had a
diameter of five stadia. This island, as well as the girdles of land, and
the bridge (which was a plethron in width), they inclosed on the sides
with stone walls, erecting towers and gates at intervals on the aqueducts
where the water passed through [the girdles of land]. The stone for the
walls they quarried within the limits of the island, both in the centre,
and inside and outside the girdles; one kind of it was white, a second
black, a third red; and by thus quarrying they made at the same time
openings which served for two docks, having likewise a covering of rock.
Of the buildings, some were of plain structure, while others they built
of a composite style of architecture, using the different kinds of stone
as pleased them most, thus realizing a pleasure becoming their natures.
And they covered the whole circuit of the wall round the extreme outer
girdle with bronze, applying it as they would plaster. The next wall
inside of it they covered with melted tin, and the wall round the citadel
with _orichalcum_ that has a fiery resplendence.

“‘Further, the royal palace within the citadel was constructed in the
following manner: In the centre of it a temple was erected, difficult
of access, sacred to Cleito and Poseidon, surrounded by an inclosure of
gold; for on this spot they begat and raised the race of the ten kings,
and where also their descendants, making annual collections from all the
ten allotments, offered seasonable sacrifices to each one.

“‘The temple of Poseidon was a stadium in length, three plethra in
breadth, and of a proportionate height, having a somewhat barbaric
appearance. All the outside of the temple, except the pinnacles, they
lined with silver, but the pinnacles they covered with gold. Respecting
the interior, the ceiling was wholly of ivory, variegated with gold
and _orichalcum_, and all the other parts, the walls, the pillars, and
the pavements, they covered with _orichalcum_. They also placed in the
temple golden statues. The one of the god stood in a chariot driving with
reins six-winged horses. It was of such size that the head of the god
touched the ceiling, and surrounding the statue were a hundred nereids
on dolphins; for the people of that day thought that this was their
number. The temple also contained many other statues dedicated to private
persons. On the outside of the temple golden images were also placed of
all the men and women that were descended from the ten kings, and many
other large statues, both of kings and of private people, both from
the metropolis and from the foreign countries over which the kings had
dominion. There was also an altar, in size and elaboration corresponding
to these ornaments; and there were palaces also whose grandeur was in
keeping with the greatness of the empire and also with the splendor of
the temple.

“‘They had fountains from cold and hot springs of which there were many,
the water being suited in every way to their use on account of its
sweetness and purity. Around these springs they made their residences
and well-watered plantations, together with their reservoirs, some open
to the heavens, but the others, for use in winter, roofed over for warm
baths. The kings’ bathing-houses and those of private persons were
separated, as well as those of the women. There were others for horses
and other draught cattle, each provided with the requisite means of
cleanliness. The stream flowing from these they conducted to the grove
of Poseidon, where there were all kinds of trees reaching a wonderful
height on account of the fertility of the soil, and then led it away by
aqueducts to the outer girdles of water. There they also erected a large
number of temples, dedicated to many different gods, and many gardens
and gymnasia, one for men, and others separately for horses, on the two
girdles of land. To test the speed of the horses there was a race-course
in the middle of the largest girdle of land, a stadium in width, that
extended around its entire circumference. Around it on all sides were
barracks for the household troops, corresponding to their number. To
the more faithful of these troops quarters were assigned on the smaller
girdle of land closer to the citadel, while those who excelled all the
others in loyalty had quarters given them within the citadel, near the
residences of the kings. The docks were filled with triremes and the
equipments for triremes; and the triremes were all adequately provided
with them. These were the arrangements for the protection of the palace
of the kings. On crossing the three outer harbors one found a wall which
extended entirely around the island, beginning at the sea, everywhere
fifty stadia distant from the greatest girdle and harbor, and inclosed
the entrance to the canal and the entrance to the sea. The whole of
this part of the girdle of land was covered with many and densely-built
dwellings. The canal and the largest harbor were filled with vessels and
traders, coming from all parts, and these, on account of their number,
made a babel of voices, a commotion, and a din all through the day and
the night.

“‘We have now related from memory a description of the city and its
ancient habitations; now we must attempt to describe the nature of the
other parts of the country and the employment of the people. First,
then, the whole region was said to be exceedingly high and precipitous
toward the sea, and the plain, encircling the city, surrounded by
mountains sloping down to the sea, being level and smooth, extended in
one direction three thousand stadia, and the central part, from the sea,
more than two thousand stadia. And this part of the island extended
toward the south, in an opposite direction from the north. The mountains
around it were, at that time, also celebrated, exceeding in number, size,
and attractiveness all those of the present day; having on them many
hamlets together with villages, as well as rivers, lakes, and marshes,
furnishing ample supplies of food for all cattle, both tame and wild;
with timber of different kinds and in great quantity for every special
purpose. The plain, by nature, being as described, was improved in the
following way by many kings through a long course of time: It was almost
square in extent, generally straight and oblong, and where it terminated
they bounded it by digging a canal around it. Concerning the depth,
breadth, and length of which for a public work, besides other concomitant
undertakings, we can scarcely believe what was said, still we must tell
what we learned. The canal was excavated to the depth of a plethrum, and
the breadth was a stadium in every part, the entire excavation round the
plain being ten thousand stadia in length. This canal, receiving the
water of the streams coming from the mountains, conducted it all around
the plain and near to the city, and finally to the sea. From above,
likewise, straight canals were cut about a hundred feet broad along the
plain, back into the canal near the sea; distant from one another about
one hundred stadia; and it was by these canals that timber from the
mountains was brought to the city, and on which the rest of the shipping
trade was done; transverse canals of communication being cut into the
others and toward the city. Their harvest they gathered twice in a year;
in winter availing themselves of the rains, and in summer irrigating the
land from the canals.

“‘It was ordered for the men on the plain fit for military service that
each individual leader should have an allotment of land; each allotment
amounting in extent to a hundred stadia; the whole number of allotments
being sixty thousand. It is said that many men from the mountains and
other parts of the country were assigned, according to their dwellings
and villages, certain tracts by their respective leaders. Each leader
was required to furnish for war the sixth part of a war-chariot (to make
the number of ten thousand), two riding horses, and a two-horse chariot
without a driver’s seat, having a mounted charioteer to guide the horses,
with another rider to dismount and fight at the side of them; also two
heavy-armed men, two archers, two slingers, three light-armed soldiers,
the same number of stone-shooters and javelin-men, besides four seamen
to make up the crews of one thousand two hundred vessels. Thus were the
military affairs of this city arranged. Respecting those of the nine
other allotments, there were different regulations, which it would be too
tedious to narrate.

“‘The following were the systems of official services and honors: Each
of the ten kings ruled supreme over the people and the laws in his own
allotment and over his own city, constraining and punishing whom he
pleased.[23] As the law was handed down to them, the government and
commonwealth in each allotment were regulated by the injunctions of
Poseidon. Inscriptions [of this law] were made by the first [kings] on a
column of _orichalcum_ which was placed in the centre of the island, in
the temple of Poseidon, where the kings consulted together every fifth
year, (which they afterward changed to every sixth year,) each king
representing at these meetings the entire kingdom and its subdivisions.
The kings, when they were assembled, deliberated on matters respecting
the common weal, and inquired what transgressions each had committed,
and each respectively rendered his decision. Before they sat in judgment
they gave one another pledges, according to the following custom: The
ten, when they were assembled in the temple, after invoking the god to
receive their sacrifice propitiously, went swordless, with staves and
nooses, among the bulls grazing within the temple inclosure, and the bull
they took they brought to the column and slaughtered it, the head of
the bull being under the inscriptions. Besides the laws on the column,
there was a malediction written containing denunciations of evil on
the disobedient. When, therefore, in compliance with their laws, they
sacrificed and burned all the limbs of the bull, they filled a goblet
with the blood of the animal, and threw the remainder into the fire,
in order to purify the column. Afterward dipping from the goblet with
golden cups, they poured libations of blood on the fire, and swore to do
justice according to the laws on the column, to punish any one who had
previously transgressed them, besides swearing that they themselves would
never afterward willingly transgress the inscribed laws, or rule or obey
any ruler governing otherwise than according to his father’s laws. Then
after invoking these denunciations on themselves and their descendants,
and after drinking from the cup and depositing it in the temple of the
god, and sitting the necessary time at supper, they, as soon as it was
dark and the fire of the sacrifice had ceased to burn, dressed themselves
in beautiful dark-blue robes, and sat down on the ground, near the embers
of the sacrifice, over which they had sworn. All the fire in the temple
having been extinguished for the night, they then mutually judged one
another respecting any accusation of transgressing the laws. After their
acts of judgment were ended, and daylight had come, they inscribed their
decisions on a golden tablet and deposited it and their dresses in the
temple as memorials. There were also many other special laws respecting
the privileges of the kings. The principal ones were that they should
never wage war upon one another, that all should lend their aid when
any attempt was made in their cities to destroy the royal race, that
they should consult together as their ancestors had done respecting the
right course to be pursued in war and in other matters, and that they
should allot the government of the empire to the Atlantic race. They
did not allow the king, however, any authority to put to death any of
his kinsmen, unless the execution was approved by more than five of the
ten.’”[24]

The priest also related that it was “about nine thousand years ago that
war was proclaimed between those dwelling outside the Pillars of Hercules
and all those within them.”[25] Athens “was the leader of the latter
people and directed the operations of the war, and the kings of the
Atlantic island were the commanders of the forces of the former.”[26]

“‘But in a later age,’ said the priest, ‘by extraordinary earthquakes and
deluges, bringing destruction in a single day and night, the whole of
your formidable race was at once sunk under the earth, and the Atlantic
island in like manner plunged beneath the sea and concealed from view;
therefore that sea is, at present, neither passable nor to be traced
out, being blocked up with a great depth of mud made by the sunken
island.’”[27]

The history of the Atlantic people as it was known to the ancient
Egyptians ends with this catastrophe. The inference of the priest that
the mud of the submerged island made the Atlantic impassable is seemingly
an assertion without any basis of fact. Had he said that the submergence
of some of the islands west of the Pillars of Hercules obliterated the
marked sea-path between the continents of the two hemispheres, this
statement would have strictly accorded with what he had said before, that
“sea-faring men, at that time, could pass from it [the Atlantic island]
to the other islands, and from them to the opposite continent.”[28] The
disappearance of the islands, in sight of which seamen had steered their
galleys, at once isolated the peoples of the two hemispheres. Thus it
happened, in the course of centuries, that the aborigines of America
passed out of the recollection of the inhabitants of the so-called Old
World as an early-known people.

The writer of the first book of the Bible relates that when “Yahveh saw
the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart only evil continually, ... it repented him
of having made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And
Yahveh said, ‘I will exterminate man whom I have created from the surface
of the ground.’”[29] The information contained in these words of the
learned Hebrew so closely correspond to that imparted to Solon by the
Egyptian priest concerning the subsequent degeneracy of the primitive
people of the earth, that it would seem as if it had been derived from
the same source. “‘For many generations,’ said the priest, ‘so long as
the god-nature continued in them, they remained obedient to the laws and
were happily influenced by it. But when the divine nature became extinct
by the dominance and constant ascendency of the human, and the habits
of men overpowered them, ... they deported themselves in an unbecoming
way.... Therefore, Zeus, the god of gods, who rules justly and searches
out such things, perceiving an illustrious people miserably depraved, and
intending to inflict punishment on them that they might become better
fitted to command their appetites and passions, collected all the gods
into their own most holy habitation, which, being in the centre of the
universe, commands a view of all things having a part in generation; and
having assembled them, he said....’”[30]

An inscription on the interior walls of the tomb of Seti I. of Egypt
contains a statement concerning a council of the gods held to consider
what punishment should be visited upon the depraved descendants of the
god Râ, which is similar to the declaration of the last clause of Plato’s
unfinished dialogue.[31] Lenormant, commenting upon the information
contained in the inscription, remarks:

“The Egyptians admitted a destruction of the primitive men by the gods on
account of their rebellion and sins. This event was recorded in a chapter
of the sacred books of Tahout,—certain hermetic books of the Egyptian
priesthood,—that had been graven on the walls of one of the most isolated
rooms of the burial crypts of King Seti I., at Thebes. The text of it has
been published and translated by Edward Naville.[32]

“The scene is placed at the end of the reign of the god Râ.... Incensed
by the wickedness and the crimes of the men whom he had begotten, the god
summons the other gods to consult with them in the utmost secrecy, ‘in
order that mankind might not know it, and that their hearts might not be
dismayed.’

“Said Râ to Noun: ‘Thou, the eldest of the gods, of whom I am sprung,
and you, ancient gods, behold the men who have been begotten by me. They
speak words against me. Tell me what you would do in this crisis. Behold,
I have waited, and I have not destroyed them before having heard your
counsel.’”[33]

Singular as the fact may seem, the state, polity, and genius of the
people of the western hemisphere described in the records of Egypt
reappear in the strange features of the civilization of Mexico, and
in the vestiges of its aborigines, which amazed the Spaniards who
accompanied Hernando Cortes into the interior of the country, in the
early part of the sixteenth century. The remarkable accounts given by
Bernal Diaz and other contemporary writers respecting the people, the
kings, the cities, the palaces, the temples, and the public works seen
by the Spanish invaders, verify, in many ways, the declarations of the
Egyptian priests concerning the Atlantic race.[34]

For centuries after the disappearance of the islands lying in the ocean
west of the Pillars of Hercules, the wide expanse of water, dashing its
foaming surges on the shores of the continents of the two hemispheres,
was not only unexplored but was deemed impassable. Superstition filled
its misty distances with frightful chimeras and geographical absurdities.
About the beginning of the Middle Ages the vikings of Northern Europe
were venturing across the North Sea in their single-masted, many-oared
galleys. Until this time the superstitious seamen of Scandinavia had
not attempted to sail beyond the sight of land to any great distance.
Their first lessons in navigating the narrow expanse of the North Sea
were taken when their boats were unexpectedly carried away from the
rugged coast of Norway by tempestuous winds to the Hetland[35] and
Fer öe[36] (Far islands). Whatever fears of permanent exile on these
unexplored islands may at first have alarmed the deported Northmen,
these were dispelled by the cheering suggestion that when the wind blew
from the west they could return to their own country. As soon as the
wind blew eastwardly they put to sea. Using their sails and oars they
safely reached the western shore of Scandinavia. Frequent experiences of
this kind in time emboldened the Norwegian seamen to undertake voyages
to the westward islands in search of booty. Having no compass to guide
their galleys thither, they carried with them hawks or ravens, and when
uncertain respecting the course of their vessels, they let loose a cast
of these birds, which instinctively flew to the nearest land. Thitherward
they steered, and finding that it was their destination or not, they
secured whatever plunder they could and departed. Not unfrequently the
vessels of the Norse sea-kings were lost in storms on the wild waters of
the Atlantic, or wrecked on the inhospitable shores of remote islands.
It is said that Naddoddr, a Norwegian pirate, was drifted in his ship
by an adverse wind, in 860, to Iceland, which he called Sneeland
(Snowland).[37] It is also related that when the famous viking, Floki,
was lost in his vessel in stormy weather, between the islands of Faroe
and Sneeland, in 865, he let fly three ravens, one of which flew back to
the Faroe islands, the second returned to the ship, and the third winged
its way toward the more northerly island which the perplexed Northman
was seeking. This sturdy seaman described the new country as volcanic
and sterile, glacial and cold, and appropriately called it Island
(Iceland). His companions, however, reported that they had found it to
have a delightful climate and a fertile soil. One, wishing to describe
its general fruitfulness in a more attractive way, averred that “milk
dropped from every plant and butter from every twig.”[38] In a short time
a course to Iceland was marked out by the early rovers of the North Sea,
who, before the close of the ninth century, planted a colony on the bleak
coast of this icy island, the most westerly land hitherto discovered by
the fearless seamen of Scandinavia.[39]

[Illustration: SIGURDI STEPHANII TERRARUM HYPERBOREARUM DELINEATIO, ANNO
1570.

Delineation of the Hyperborean Regions, by Sigurd Stephanus in the year
1570. (Size of the original, 6¾ inches square.)]

But Iceland did not long remain the most remote part of the western world
known to the people of Europe. Gunnbjörn, a Norwegian, driven westward
in his ship beyond Iceland, in a storm, in 876, descried land looming
up along the western horizon. In the latter part of the tenth century,
Eric the Red, whom the public assembly of Iceland had declared an outlaw,
determined to go in search of the land seen by Gunnbjörn. He sailed from
Iceland about the year 981, and came in sight of the coast of Greenland,
at a place called Midjökul.[40] He then steered southward to see whether
the country were habitable. He passed the first winter near the middle of
the site of the eastern settlement (_eystri bygd_).[41] In the following
summer he reached the western uninhabited region (_vestri ubygd_),[42]
and gave names to many places. As soon as the ice disappeared, at the
close of the second winter, and the sea was again navigable, he returned
to Iceland, and called the country which he had explored Graenland
(Greenland), “because” he said, “people will be influenced to immigrate
to it, if the land bears an attractive name.” Among those whom Eric
induced to return with him as colonists to Greenland was a Norwegian,
named Herjulf. Thirty-five ships (_skipa_) filled with emigrants set
sail from Iceland for the newly explored country, but only fourteen of
the vessels reached the places where the colonists were to dwell. Eric
the Red settled at Brattahlid, and Herjulf erected his house on a cape
called Herjulfsnes (Herjulf’s nose, or promontory).[43] “This was fifteen
winters before Christianity was established by law in Iceland.”[44]

Among the traditions preserved of the voyages of the Northmen in
the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, there are several that
have caused considerable controversy respecting the historical and
geographical value of the information contained in them; for a number
of eminent writers have made use of this information to show that the
Northmen were the first discoverers of America and the explorers of a
large part of the eastern coast of the continent.[45] Although these
sagas or legends of Iceland were unrecorded for several centuries, the
manuscripts which now contain them are assumed to have been written in
a manner so precise that translations of their text are presented to
prove that the Norse vikings not only made frequent voyages to America,
but that they have left definite and reliable information respecting
the parts of the coast visited by them. Other distinguished writers
consider these traditions as too mythical and vague to be deemed
valuable, either historically or geographically, and argue that what is
thought to describe the physical features and productions of parts of the
present territory of the eastern coast of the United States describes
the topography and fruits of Greenland. A brief narration of the most
important particulars of the voyages of several of the Northmen who
have been regarded, as the first discoverers of parts of the continent
of America, will suffice to show the grounds upon which rest many of
the arguments that have been advanced to support the opinion that these
persons had landed upon its shores and explored a great extent of its
Atlantic coast.

It is said in the saga of Eric the Red and of the Greenlanders,[46] that
when Herjulf sailed, in the spring of 985, from Iceland to Greenland,
his son Bjarni was in Norway. When the latter, in the following summer
returned to Iceland, and learned that his father had emigrated to the
country recently explored by Eric the Red, he determined to sail to it
and pass the winter with his father, as had been his custom for many
years. He evidently had some misgivings respecting the success of the
contemplated voyage, for he said to his companions: “Our going there
will be devoid of common-sense, since not one of us has traversed the
Greenland Sea.” “Nevertheless,” as the tradition runs, “as soon as they
had fitted for the voyage, they intrusted themselves to the ocean, and
made sail three days, until the land passed out of their sight from the
water. But then the bearing winds ceased to blow, and northern breezes
and a fog succeeded. Then they were drifted about for many days and
nights, not knowing whither they tended. After this the light of the sun
was seen, and they were able to survey the regions of the sky. Now they
carried sail, and steered this day before they beheld land.” They sailed
near to it, and “soon saw that the country was not mountainous, but
covered with trees and diversified with little hills. They left the land
on their larboard side, and let the stern turn from the shore. Then they
sailed two days before they saw another land [or region].... They then
approached it, and saw that it was level and covered with trees. Then,
the favorable wind having ceased blowing, the sailors said that it seemed
to them that it would be well to land there, but Bjarni was unwilling to
do so.... He bade them make sail, which was done. They turned the prow
from the land, and sailed out into the open sea, where for three days
they had a favorable south-southwest wind. They saw a third land [or
region], but it was high and mountainous and covered with glaciers....
They did not lower sail, but holding their course along the shore, they
found it to be an island. Again they turned the stern against the land,
and made sail for the high sea, having the same wind, which gradually
increasing, Bjarni ordered the sails to be shortened, forbidding the use
of more canvas than the ship and her outfit could conveniently bear. Thus
they sailed for four days, when they saw a fourth land” [or region],
which was Greenland, where Bjarni found his father.[47]

Bjarni’s discoveries, it is said, were often the subject of conversation
among the Northmen. It is further related that Leif, the son of Eric the
Red, purchased Bjarni’s ship and set sail in it with thirty-five men
from Brattahlid about the year 1000 to seek new lands. Nothing is told in
the tradition concerning the direction in which these Northmen sailed,
only that “they first came to the land [or region] last seen by Bjarni.
They steered toward the shore, cast anchor, put out the boat, and went on
land, where they saw no herbage. The whole country was filled with high
icy mountains, and from the sea all the way to the icy mountains was a
plain of flat stones.” Leif called the region Helluland.[48]

When Leif and his companions departed from Helluland, it is related that
they “put out to sea and found another land [or region]. This was a level
country and covered with trees.” Leif named it Markland.[49]

[Illustration: FIELD OF VOYAGES TO AMERICA.

ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.]

As related in the saga, when they departed from Markland, “they sailed on
the high sea, having a northeast wind, and were two days at sea before
they saw land. They steered toward it and touched the island lying before
the north part of the land. When they went on land they surveyed it, for
by good fortune the weather was serene. They found the grass sprinkled
with dew, and it happened by chance that they touched the dew with their
hands and carried them to their mouths and perceived that it had a sweet
taste which they had not before noticed. Then they returned to the ship
and sailed through a bay lying between the island and a tongue of land
running toward the north. Steering a course to the west shore, they
passed the tongue of land. Here when the tide ebbed there were very
narrow shoals. When the ship got aground there were shallows of great
extent between the vessel and the receded sea. So great was the desire
of the men to go on land that they were unwilling to stay on board until
the returning tide floated the ship. They went ashore at a place where a
river flowed out from a lake. When the tide floated the ship, they took
the boat and rowed to the vessel and brought her into the river and then
into the lake. Here they anchored, carried the luggage from the ship,
and built dwellings. Afterward they held a consultation and resolved
to remain at this place during the winter. Then they erected large
buildings. There were not only many salmon in the river but also in the
lake and of a larger size than they had before seen. So great was the
fertility of the soil that they were led to believe that cattle would not
be in want of food during winter, or that wintry coldness would prevail,
or the grass wither much.”

While the Northmen were passing the winter on the shore of the unnamed
lake, it happened one evening that a Southern man, named Tyrker, did
not return with those who had been out exploring the country. Those who
went to search for the absent man met him returning to the quarters.
They were surprised when he told them that he had found wine-wood and
wine-berries (_vinvid ok vinber_). “Is this true, my teacher?” asked
Leif. “It is really true,” Tyrker replied, “for where I was brought up
there was not wanting either wine-wood or wine-berries.” They passed this
night in sleep, but on the following morning Leif said to the men: “Two
things are now to be done on alternate days, gathering wine-berries or
hewing wine-wood and felling trees, (_lesa vinber, edr höggva vinvid ok
fella mörkina_,) with which my ships should be loaded.” Having loaded the
ship and the spring approaching they prepared to depart. To designate
the productions of the region, Leif called it Vinland (Wine-land). They
then put to sea and had a favorable wind until they came in sight of
Greenland.[50]

As a number of writers have assumed that the region of Vinland, where
Leif and his companions wintered, was the country adjacent Mount Hope
Bay, in Rhode Island, the following description of a part of the east
coast of Greenland, given by Captain W. A. Graah, who was sent there,
in 1828, by the Danish government to obtain information respecting the
site of the eastern settlement (_eystri bygd_), will likely afford
grounds for a more plausible conjecture that Vinland was a region in
Greenland: “August 30 [1829].—The place we now were at was the Ekallumiut
[between the sixty-third and sixty-fourth parallel of north latitude],
so often mentioned. The cove, the length of which is between one and two
cable-lengths, has on both sides of it, but particularly on the eastern,
fields of considerable extent, covered with dwarf-willows, juniper-berry,
black crake-berry, and whortleberry heath, the first-named growing to
the height of two feet, and the whole interspersed with a good many
patches of a fine species of grass, which, however, was very much burnt
by the heat of the sun, except in the immediate vicinity of the brooks
and rivulets that, in great number, ran down the sides of the hills, and
intersected the level land in every direction. At the the bottom of the
cove stretches an extensive valley, through which runs a stream abounding
in char, [a species of salmon,] and having its source in the glaciers,
of which several gigantic arms reach down into the valley from the height
in the background. On the banks of this brook the grass grew luxuriantly;
but it was far from being, at many places, of a height fit for mowing,
so that even this spot, where grass was more abundant than anywhere else
perhaps along the whole coast, does not seem calculated to furnish winter
fodder for any considerable number of cattle. Various flowers, among
which the sweet-smelling lychnis, everywhere adorned the fields.... At
this really beautiful spot, the natives of the country round assemble for
a few days during their brief summer, to feast upon the char that are to
be got here in great plenty and of a great size, the black crake-berry
and angelica, and to lay in a stock of them for winter use, and give
themselves up to mirth and merry-making.”[51]

It is further related, in the saga, concerning Vinland, that “the days
are more equal there than in Greenland or Iceland; there the sun sets
at eykt time (_eyktar-stad_, 3:30 P.M.), and rises at day-meal time
(_dagmála-stad_, breakfast-time), on the shortest day.”[52]

As there is no reliable information to indicate that the Northmen of
the tenth century had any instruments by which they could accurately
measure the changing spaces of day and night, or that their observations
of the sun gave them the knowledge of astronomical time, an attempt
to elucidate the exact duration of the shortest day in Vinland from
the vague signification of the words _eyktar-stad_ and _dágmála-stad_
would consequently be futile and unsatisfactory. Nevertheless a number
of scholars have attempted to determine the length of the shortest day
at the place where the Northmen built their winter-quarters. Some have
given the day a measurement of six hours, others seven, eight, and nine
hours.[53] These different lengths of the day involve the inference that
Vinland was somewhere between the forty-first and sixty-first parallels
of north latitude.

It is related in another saga or legend that Vinland was visited in
the eleventh century by other Northmen.[54] Among the number were
Thorfinn Karlsefne, Snorro Thorbrandson, Bjarni Grimolfson, and Thorhall
Gamlason. It is said that the three ships which departed from the western
settlement, in the spring of 1007, had on board one hundred and forty men
(_40 manna ok hundrad_). After sailing two days southward from Bjanneyjar
they reached Helluland. “Thence they sailed two days, and turned from the
south to the southeast,” and came to Markland.

When the Northmen departed from Markland, it is said in the saga that
“they then sailed far to the southward along the coast and came to a
promontory. The land lay on the right and had a long sandy beach. They
rowed to it and found on a tongue of land the keel of a ship. They called
this point of land Kjalarnes (Keel cape), and the beach Furdustrandir
(Long Strand), for it took a long time to sail by it. Then the coast
became sinuous. They then steered the ship into an inlet. King Olaf
Tryggvason had given Leif two Scotch people, a man named Haki and a woman
named Hekja. They were swifter than animals. These persons were in the
ship with Karlsefne. When they had sailed past Furdustrandir they put
these Scots ashore and ordered them to run to the south of the country
and explore it, and return within three days.... They were absent the
designated time. When they returned, one brought a bunch of wine-berries
(_vinberja köngul_), the other an ear of wheat (_hveitiax nysaid_).[55]
When they were taken on board, the ship sailed farther. They came into a
bay, where there was an island around which flowed rapid currents that
suggested the name which they gave it, Straumey (Stream island). There
were so many eider ducks on the island that one could hardly walk about
without stepping on their eggs. They called this place Straumfjörd
(Stream inlet). They took the cargo from the ship and made preparations
to remain there. They had with them different kinds of cattle. They
undertook nothing but the exploration of the land. Without having
provided food beforehand they sustained themselves there during the
winter. In the summer the fishing was not good and they were in want of
provisions. Thorhall the hunter disappeared. They had previously prayed
to God to give them food, but they were not supplied as quickly as they
thought their hunger demanded. They searched for Thorhall for three days.
At last they found him lying on the top of a rock, looking up at the sky,
gasping and muttering. They asked him why he was there. He said that his
presence there should not trouble them. They prevailed on him to return
home with them. A whale was stranded there, and they found it and cut it
up. No one knew what kind of a whale it was, and when the cook prepared
a part of it for them, they ate it and all were made sick. Then Thorhall
said: ‘The red-bearded [Thor, the god of thunder,] was more helpful than
your Christ; this [the whale meat] I have received for my hymns which I
sing of Thor, my protector; seldom has he deserted me.’ When they heard
this assertion, they cast the remainder of the whale into the sea and
resigned themselves to the care of God. Then the weather favored them so
that they were able to row out to fish, and thereafter they were not in
want of food, for wild game was caught on land and fish in the sea, and
eggs were collected on the island....

“It is said that Thorhall resolved to go northward along Furdustrandir to
explore Vinland, but Karlsefne determined to sail southward along the
coast. Thorhall fitted out his vessel under the island, having not more
than nine men to join him, for all the others went with Karlsefne. Now
when Thorhall carried water to his ship, he sang these verses:

    ‘People told me when I came
    Hither, all would be so fine;
    The good Vinland, known to fame,
    Rich in fruits and choicest wine;
    Now the water-pail they send;
    To the fountain I must bend,
    Nor from out this land divine
    Have I quaffed one drop of wine.’

“When they were about to depart and had hoisted sail, Thorhall again sang:

    ‘Let our trusty band
    Haste to Fatherland;
    Let our vessel brave
    Plough the angry wave,
    While those few who love
    Vinland, here may rove,
    Or, with idle toil,
    Fetid whales may boil,
    Here on Furdustrand,
    Far from Fatherland.’ ...

“It is now to be told of Karlsefne that he with Snorro and Bjarni and
their people sailed southward along the coast. They sailed a long time
until they came to a river, which ran out from the land and through a
lake into the sea. The river was quite shallow, and no ship could enter
it without high water. Karlsefne sailed with his people into its mouth
and called the place Hóp (_ok kölludu i Hópi_).[56] They found fields
of wild wheat (_sjálfsana hveitiakra_) where the ground was low, and
wine-wood where it was higher.... There was a great number of all kinds
of wild animals in the woods. They remained at this place a half-month
and enjoyed themselves, but did not find any thing novel. They had their
cattle with them. Early one morning, when they were viewing the country,
they saw a great number of skin boats on the sea.... The people in them
rowed nearer and with curiosity gazed at them.... These people were swart
(_svartir_) and ugly, and had coarse hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks.
They remained a short time and watched Karlsefne’s people. They then
rowed away to the southward beyond the cape.

“Karlsefne and his people had erected their dwellings above the lake.
Some of the houses were near the water and others were farther away. They
remained here during the winter.[57] There was no snow, and their cattle
subsisted on the grass.”

It is further related that when spring drew near the natives again
visited the Northmen and trafficked with them. “The people preferred red
cloth, and for this they gave skins and all kinds of furs. They also
wanted to purchase swords and spears, but Karlsefne and Snorro would not
sell them any weapons. For a whole skin the Skraelings (_Skraelingar_)
took a piece of red cloth a span long, and bound it around their
heads.”[58] In this way they bartered for a time. Then the cloth began to
diminish, and Karlsefne and his men cut it into small strips not wider
than one’s finger, and still the Skraelings gave as much for these as
they had for the larger pieces, and often more. “It happened that a bull,
which Karlsefne had with him, ran out from the wood and bellowed loudly.
This frightened the Skraelings so much that they rushed to their boats
and rowed away to the southward around the coast.”

Three weeks afterward a large number of Skraelings returned in their
boats uttering loud cries. “Karlsefne’s men took a red shield and held
it toward them. The Skraelings leaped from their boats and attacked
them. Many missiles fell among them, for the Skraelings used slings
(_valslöngur_). Karlsefne’s men saw that they had raised on a pole
something resembling an air-filled bag of a blue color. They hurled this
at Karlsefne’s party, and when it fell to the ground it exploded with a
loud noise. This frightened Karlsefne and his men so much that they ran
and fell back to the river, for it seemed to them that the Skraelings
were inclosing them on all sides. They did not stop until they reached a
rocky place where they stoutly resisted their assailants. Freydis [the
wife of Thorvard] came out, and seeing Karlsefne’s people retreating,
cried out: ‘Why do you run, stout men as you are, before these miserable
wretches, whom I thought you could knock down as you do cattle! If I had
weapons I know that I could fight better than you!’ They did not heed her
words. Freydis then attempted to keep up with them but could not. She
followed them to the woods. The Skraelings pursued her. She found a dead
man in the way. It was Thorbrand Snorrason. A flat stone was sticking
in his head. His sword was by his side. She grasped it and prepared to
defend herself. The Skraelings came toward her. She exposed her bosom
and struck her breast with the sword. The Skraelings were frightened
and ran to their boats and rowed away. Karlsefne and his men then came
and praised her courage. Karlsefne lost two men but the Skraelings many
more....

“Karlsefne and his men now perceived that notwithstanding the country
was fruitful they would be exposed to many dangerous incursions of its
inhabitants if they should remain in it. They therefore determined
to depart and return to their own land. They sailed northward along
the coast and found five Skraelings clothed in skins sleeping on the
sea-shore. They had with them vessels containing marrow mixed with blood.
Karlsefne’s men believed that they had been banished from the country
and they killed them. After that they came to a cape and there were many
wild animals on it.... Then they reached Straum fjörd, where there was
an abundance of every thing which they desired. It is said by some that
Bjarni and Gudrid remained behind with one hundred men, and did not go
farther, but that Karlsefne and Snorro went southward and forty men with
them, and that they were not longer in Hóp than two months, and that they
returned from there the same summer.... They inspected the mountains
at Hóp, which they thought belonged to a range which extended in two
directions to the same distance from Straum fjörd. The third winter they
were in Straum fjörd.... Snorro, the son of Karlsefne, was born here
the first autumn, and he was three years old when they went away from
Vinland. When they sailed from Vinland they had a south wind and came to
Markland.”[59]

The Northmen it seems continued their visits to Vinland as late as
the fourteenth century. In the geographical treatise of Adam of
Bremen, written in 1073, the author says that it was told him by Sveyn
Estrithson, King of Denmark, that Vinland was an island: “Moreover he
said that an island had been discovered by many in that ocean, which
is called Vinland, because vines grow spontaneously there, producing
excellent wine. For that fruits abound there not having been sown, we
are assured not by any vague rumor but by the trustworthy report of the
Danes.”[60]

The island of Vinland is described in an old geographical document as
lying on the opposite side of a channel, between it and Greenland: “Now
is to be told what lies opposite Greenland, out from the bay already
mentioned. Furdustrandir is the name of a land. There are such hard
frosts there that it is not habitable as far as is known. South of it
is Helluland, which is called Skraeling’s land. From there it is not
far to Vinland the good, which some think goes out from Africa. Between
Vinland and Greenland is Ginnungagap which flows from the sea called Mare
Oceanum that encompasses the whole earth.”[61] On a map made by Sigurd
Stephanius, an Icelander, in 1570, Helluland, Markland, Skraeling’s land,
and the promontory of Vinland are represented as parts of the country now
called Greenland.[62]

No geographical information contained in the sagas of Iceland and
Greenland verifies the statement that the Northmen discovered America
and explored the coast of a part of the present territory of the
United States. What tradition relates respecting the Northmen finding
wine-berries in Vinland does not make it indubitably evident that they
were the fruit now called grapes.[63] The wine-wood that was cut and
carried on board of Leif’s ship indicates that there was no large timber
in Vinland, and that the trees that were felled were of a stunted growth
as those that are now found on the coast of Greenland. The statements
respecting the great number of eider ducks, the natives who were
frightened by the bellowing of a bull, the skin-boats used by them,
the want of food by the Northmen, their eating the flesh of a stranded
whale to escape starvation, and the sarcastic language of the song sung
by Thorhall concerning Vinland being a land of wine, clearly establish
the fact that this country or region was very near the Arctic circle.
Further, all the early maps of Greenland show Helluland, Markland, and
Vinland to be regions of that country.

The questionable interpretation of the characters on the rock, lying
in the water, on the east side of the Taunton River, opposite Dighton,
Massachusetts, by a number of foreign antiquaries, is a notable
exemplification of the fictitious nature of the so-called evidence that
the Northmen discovered America and explored a part of the eastern
coast of the present territory of the United States.[64] The remarkable
statement that the round, stone-tower, at Newport, Rhode Island,
mentioned by Governor Benedict Arnold in his will, made in 1677, as “my
stone-built windmill,” was erected by the Northmen, is also an instance
of the infatuation of the learned men who believed it to be a Norse
monument.[65]

The supposition that the Welsh adventurer, Madoc Guyneth, planted a
colony on the Atlantic coast of North America, in the twelfth century,
rests on some traditionary information in a history of Wales, published
in 1584.[66] In this rare work it is related that the sons of Owen
Guyneth, King of North Wales, on the death of their father, had many
contentions respecting the heirship to his estates and who should rule
after him. This strife mortified Madoc. In order to separate himself from
his quarrelling brothers he fitted out a number of ships and sailed west,
“leaving the coast of Ireland so far north, that he came to an unknown
land, where he saw many strange things.” He then returned home and gave
an account of the attractive and fertile countries “he had seen without
inhabitants.” He induced a number of men and women, who desired to live
peaceably, to emigrate to the western land. The second voyage was safely
made to the colony in the “fair and large country.” He returned again
to Wales for more colonists. Ten ships filled with emigrants shortly
afterward set sail for the new settlement. It is further related that
many fictions were current thereafter respecting Madoc’s discoveries in
the unnamed country.[67] Meredith ap Rhees, a Welsh bard, who died in
1477, has rehearsed in a number of verses a part of the unsatisfactory
tradition concerning Madoc’s voyage.[68] As said by Baron von Humboldt:
“The deepest obscurity still shrouds every thing connected with the
voyage of the Gaelic chief, Madoc.”[69]

The story of a Frisland fisherman, in the history of the discoveries of
the Zeni brothers, published in 1558, is thought by some writers to be
a true narrative of this man’s adventures on a part of the continent of
America, in the fourteenth century.[70] It is related that Nicolò Zeno, a
wealthy man, had a ship built, equipped, and manned at his own expense,
and sailed in it from Venice, “with the intention of visiting England
and Flanders.” But in a storm his vessel was cast upon an island called
Frisland.[71] “The crew were saved together with most of the ship’s
cargo. This occurred in the year 1380. The inhabitants of the island,
having collected in considerable numbers, attacked the chevalier and
his men, who, being exhausted by the hardships they had endured, and
not knowing in what part of the world they had been thrown, were unable
to resist them, much less to defend themselves with the spirit that the
emergency demanded. They would have been treated, without doubt, in a
most barbarous manner, had it not fortunately happened that a powerful
chieftain, with an armed force, was in their neighborhood, who, learning
that a large ship had been cast upon the island, and hearing the noise
and shouts of the inhabitants as they rushed upon our poor mariners,
hastened forward, and putting the islanders to flight, inquired of the
Venetians, in Latin, of what nation they were, and whence they had come.
When informed that they were from Italy, and natives of that country, he
was filled with joy and amazement.... He was a great lord and possessed
certain islands called Porland, about a half-day’s sail from Frisland,
the richest and most populous of all the islands of those parts. This
chieftain’s name was Zichmni.”

Nicolò Zeno then entered the service of this distinguished man. Some time
afterward he wrote to his brother Antonio, and related these incidents.
The latter visited Frisland, where he lived fourteen years. On the death
of Nicolò, which occurred four years after Antonio’s arrival, he was
appointed to take command of Zichmni’s fleet. From letters written by
Antonio to his brother Carlo, the remarkable particulars of the following
narrative are said to have been compiled:

“Six and twenty years ago four fishing-boats put out to sea from
Frisland, and being overtaken by a storm were drifted about for many days
in a helpless condition. When, at last, the tempest abated, they descried
an island called Estotiland,[72] lying more than a thousand miles
westward from Frisland. One of the boats was cast upon its coast, and
the six men in it were taken by the inhabitants and conducted to a fair
and populous city, where the king sent for many interpreters, but none
could be found who understood the language of the fishermen except one
man who spoke Latin, and who likewise had been cast by accident upon the
same island. Ordered by the king, he asked them who they were, and where
they came from, and when he reported their answer, the king desired that
they should remain in that country. Accordingly, as they could not do
otherwise, they obeyed his order, and remained five years on the island,
and learned the language. One of them in particular visited different
parts of the island, and reports that it is a very rich country,
abounding in all good things. It is a little smaller than Iceland but
more fertile. In the middle of it is a very high mountain, in which rise
four rivers which water the whole country.

“The inhabitants are a very intelligent people and possess all the arts
as we do; and it is believed that in time past they have had intercourse
with our people, for he said that he saw Latin books in the king’s
library, which they at the present time do not understand. They have
their own language and letters. They have all kinds of metals, especially
gold. Their foreign intercourse is with Greenland, where they import
furs, brimstone, and pitch. He says that toward the south there is a
great and populous country, very rich in gold. They sow corn and make
beer, which is a kind of drink which northern people take as we do wine.
They have woods of vast extent. They construct their buildings with
walls, and there are many towns and villages. They make small boats and
sail them, but they have not the loadstone, nor do they know the north by
the compass. For this reason these fishermen were held in great esteem,
insomuch that the king sent them with twelve boats to the southward to a
country which they call Drogio; but in their voyage they had such stormy
weather that they were in fear for themselves. Although they escaped a
miserable death they afterward met a more painful one, for they were
taken into the country and the greater number of them were eaten by the
savages, who are cannibals and consider human flesh very savory meat. But
as this fisherman and his remaining companions were able to show them the
way to catch fish with nets, their lives were spared. Every day he would
go fishing in the sea and in the fresh waters, and take a great number
of fish, which he gave to the chiefs, and thereby ingratiated himself so
much into their favor that he was greatly liked and held in high esteem
by all.

“As this man’s fame spread among the different tribes, there was a
neighboring chief who was very anxious to have him with him and to see
how he practised his wonderful art of catching fish. With this object
in view he made war on the other chief with whom the fisherman was, and
being more powerful and a better warrior, he, at last, overcame him, and
so the fisherman was sent to him with the rest of his companions. During
the space of thirteen years that he dwelt in those parts, he says, he
was sent in this manner to more than five-and-twenty chiefs, for they
were continually fighting among themselves, this chief with that one,
and solely for the purpose of having the fisherman to dwell with them,
so that wandering up and down the country without any fixed abode, he
became acquainted with almost all those regions. He says that it is a
very great country, and, as it were, a new world. The people are very
rude and uncultivated, for they all go naked, and suffer bitterly from
the cold, nor have they the sense to clothe themselves with skins of the
animals which they take in hunting. They have no kind of metal. They
live by hunting, and carry lances of wood, sharpened at the point. They
have bows, the strings of which are made of beasts’ skins. They are very
fierce, and have deadly wars with one another, and eat the flesh of their
captives. They have chiefs and certain laws, but differing in different
tribes. The farther you go southwestward, however, the more refinement
you meet with, because the climate is more temperate, but there they have
cities and temples dedicated to their idols, in which they sacrifice men
and afterward eat them. In those parts they have some knowledge and use
of gold and silver.

“This fisherman after dwelling so many years in those parts resolved
to return home if possible to his own country, but his companions,
despairing of ever seeing it again, gave him Godspeed, and remained where
they were. Accordingly he bade them farewell and made his escape through
the woods in the direction of Drogio, where he was welcomed and kindly
received by the chief of the place, who knew him and was a great enemy
of the neighboring chief. Thus passing from one chief to another, being
the same with whom he had been before, he, at last, reached, after a long
time and many hardships, Drogio, where he remained three years. Here by
good fortune he learned from the natives that some boats had appeared off
the coast, and hopeful of being able to carry out his intention, he went
to the beach, and found to his great delight that the men on board the
boats had come from Estotiland. He immediately begged them to take him
back with them, which they willingly consented to do. He understood the
language of the country which none of them could speak, and they employed
him as an interpreter. Afterward he traded in company with them to such
good purpose that he became very rich, and having fitted out a vessel of
his own he returned to Frisland.”[73]

When Zichmni heard the story of the returned fisherman, it is said
that he prepared a fleet to go to the countries described by him. The
fisherman dying about the time that the vessels were ready to sail, some
of the seamen who had come from Estotiland in his ship were taken to
pilot them. An island called Icaria was discovered, but no exploration
of it could be made on account of the hostility of its inhabitants. The
fleet afterward proceeded to the coast of Greenland, from which it sailed
to Frisland.

The compiler of the history of the discoveries of the Zeni brothers
says: “This discovery [made by the Frisland fisherman] Messere Antonio,
in a letter to his brother Messere Carlo, related, ... saying that we
have changed some old words and the antiquated style, but have left the
substance entire.... Of these northern places, I [the compiler] have
thought it good to draw a copy of the sailing chart, which I find I have
among our family heirlooms, and, although it is rotten with age, I have
succeeded with it tolerably well; and to those who take pleasure in such
things, it will serve to throw light on the comprehension of that which
without it could not be understood so easily.”

Inasmuch as it is difficult to disprove that the names Frislanda,
Engronelanda, and Estotilanda were not early designations for Iceland,
Greenland, and Scotland, the supposition that the unnamed Frisland
fisherman passed thirteen years of his life on the continent of America
solely rests upon the particulars of the story of his famous adventures
as a maker of fishing-nets.




CHAPTER II.

1295-1487.


In the opulent and insular city of Venice, there arrived, a few years
before the close of the thirteenth century, three strangely clad
sun-embrowned men. If any notice had been taken of them when they
disembarked from the Mediterranean galley in which they had come from
Negropont, this attention had, it is likely, been bestowed upon their odd
garb and imperfect pronunciation of the Italian words which they used
while obtaining a boatman to convey them to that part of the city known
as the confine of S. Giovanni Crisostomo.

The unique story respecting the return of these famous travellers to
Venice will always be deemed the prologue that introduces the notable
acts of the explorers of the Atlantic coast territory of America in the
fifteenth century. It is therefore properly entitled to a conspicuous
place on the first pages of the history of the discovery of America.
Five centuries ago it charmed the Venetians with its vivid colorings,
and gave to the Orient an entrancing vision that made the name of Cathay
for a time a synonym for an earthly paradise. It pictured to them a
far-off El Dorado, abounding with gold, gems, and spicery, a country
naturally delightful and artificially magnificent. America lay in some
of the navigable ways which were sought by acquisitive Europeans to go
to it, and thus the return of Nicolò, Maffeo, and Marco Polo, in 1295,
to Venice, after an absence of twenty-four years, is inseparably linked
to the great chain of events connecting it with the discovery of the
new continent of the western hemisphere.[74] Ramusio, the distinguished
Italian collector of information relating to voyages and travels, has
preserved the account of the strange revelations made by the three
travellers on their return from Cathay.[75]

“When they arrived here the same fate befell them which happened to
Ulysses, who, when he returned after his twenty years’ wanderings to his
native Ithaca, was recognized by none of his people. In like manner these
three gentlemen, who had been absent so many years from their native
city, were not identified by any of their kinsfolk, who believed that
they had been dead for many years, as had been reported. They were quite
changed in appearance by the prolongation and hardships of their journeys
and by the trouble and anxieties they had experienced; and they had a
certain indescribable smack of the Tartar both in demeanor and accent,
having indeed almost forgotten their Venetian tongue. Their clothes, too,
were coarse and shabby, and of a Tartar cut. They proceeded on their
arrival to their house, in this city, in the confine of S. Giovanni
Crisostomo, where you may see it to this day. The house, which in those
days was a lofty and handsome palace, is now known by the name of the
Court of the Millions, for a reason which I will tell you presently.

“When they reached the palace, they found it occupied by some of their
relatives, and they had the utmost difficulty in making the latter
understand who they were. For these good people seeing them to be in
appearance so unlike what they were formerly, and in dress so shabby,
flatly refused to believe that they were those very gentlemen of the
Polo family whom they thought had been dead many years. So these three
gentlemen,—this is a story I have often heard when I was a boy from the
illustrious Messere Gasparo Malpiero, a gentleman of very great age and
a senator of eminent virtue and integrity, whose house was on the canal
of Santa Marianna, at the corner, over the mouth of the brook of S.
Giovanni Crisostomo, and just midway among the buildings of the aforesaid
Court of the Millions, and he said he had heard the story from his own
father and grandfather, and from other old men among the neighbors,—the
three gentlemen, I say, devised a scheme by which they should obtain at
once from their kinsfolk the recognition they desired, and secure the
honorable notice of the whole city; and this was it:

“They invited a number of their kindred to an entertainment, which they
purposely prepared with great state and splendor in their house. When the
hour arrived for sitting down to table all three came from their chambers
clothed in crimson satin, fashioned in long robes reaching to the ground,
such as people in those days wore within doors. And when water for the
hands had been served, and the guests were seated, they took off these
robes and put on others of crimson damask, while the first suits were by
their orders cut and divided among the servants. Then after partaking
of some of the dishes they went out again and came back in robes of
crimson velvet, and when they had again taken their seats, the second
suits were divided as the first. When dinner was over they did the like
with the robes of velvet, after they had put on dresses of the ordinary
fashion worn by their guests. These proceedings caused much wonder and
amazement among their relatives. But when the cloth had been drawn, and
all the servants had been ordered to retire from the dining-hall, Messere
Marco, the youngest of the three, rose from the table, and going into
another chamber brought forth the three shabby dresses of coarse stuff
which they had worn when they first arrived. Straightway they took sharp
knives and began to rip open some of the seams and welts, and to take
out of them many gems of the greatest value, such as rubies, sapphires,
carbuncles, diamonds, and emeralds, all of which had been stitched up in
these dresses in a manner so artful that nobody could have suspected the
fact. For when they took leave of the Grand Khan they changed all the
wealth which he had bestowed upon them for these rubies, emeralds, and
other gems, being well aware of the impossibility of carrying with them
so great an amount of gold on a journey so long and so difficult.

“Now the exhibition of this large number of gems and precious stones,
all scattered over the table, threw the guests into fresh amazement,
insomuch that they seemed quite bewildered and speechless. They now saw
that in spite of all their former doubts these were really the honored
and worthy gentlemen of the Polo family as they had claimed to be, and
they therefore paid them the greatest honor and reverence. And when the
story became current in Venice, straightway the whole city, gentle and
simple, flocked to the house to embrace them, and to make much of them,
with every conceivable demonstration of affection and respect.

“On Messere Maffeo, who was the eldest, the Venetians conferred the
honors of an office which was of great dignity in those days; while the
young men came daily to visit and converse with the ever-polite and
gracious Messere Marco, and to ask him questions about Cathay[76] and the
Grand Khan, all of which he answered with such kindly courtesy that every
man felt himself in a manner his debtor. And as it happened that in the
story, which he was constantly called on to repeat, of the magnificence
of the Grand Khan, he would speak of his revenues as amounting to ten
or fifteen millions of gold; and in like manner, when recounting other
instances of great wealth in those parts, he would always make use of the
term millions, so they gave him the nickname of Messere Marco Millioni,
an appellation which I have seen in the public records of this republic
where mention is made of him. The court of his house, in the confine of
S. Giovanni Crisostomo, has always from that time been known as the Corte
del Millioni.”[77]

These conversational descriptions respecting the remote dominions of
the Grand Khan, with which Marco Polo often interested the imaginative
Venetians, were to have a much wider field of influence in another
form,—one which was a most potent element among the leading agencies
which opened to the people of Western Europe great pathways of discovery
and of commerce around the earth. In order to perceive how these
descriptions of Cathay led to the exploration of the Atlantic Ocean
and the discovery of the continent of America, the fortunes of Marco
Polo must be followed farther. It appears that shortly after his return
to Venice he was placed in command of a fleet, which subsequently was
captured by the Genoese in a naval engagement. While confined in Genoa
as a prisoner of war, his remarkable adventures as an explorer of remote
eastern countries became known, and he was often visited and questioned
by inquisitive people. Wearied by the frequent repetition of the story
of his wanderings in Cathay, he at last applied himself to writing an
account of his extensive journeys by the aid of such notes and memoranda
as he had taken while in the East. Assisted by a Genoese gentleman, he
completed his curious and instructive narrative, which was soon copied,
translated into different languages, and distributed among the people of
Europe.[78]

As justly claimed by Yule, Marco Polo was the first traveller “to trace a
route across the longitude of Asia, naming and describing kingdom after
kingdom which he had seen with his own eyes; the deserts of Persia, the
flowering plateaux and wild gorges of Badakhshan, the jade-bearing rivers
of Khotan, the Mongolian steppes, ... the new and brilliant court that
had been established at Cambaluc; the first traveller to reveal China
in all its wealth and vastness, its mighty rivers, its huge cities, its
rich manufactures, its swarming population, the inconceivably vast fleets
that quickened its seas and its inland waters; to tell us of the nations
on its borders with all their eccentricities of manners and worship;
of Tibet with its sordid devotees; of Burma, with its golden pagodas
and their tinkling crowns; of Laos, of Siam, of Cochin China, of Japan,
the Eastern Thule, with its rosy pearls and golden-roofed palaces; the
first to speak of that museum of beauty and wonder, still so imperfectly
ransacked, the Indian archipelago, source of aromatics then so highly
prized and whose origin was so dark; of Java, the pearl of islands;
of Sumatra with its many kings, its strange costly products, and its
cannibal races; of the naked savages of Nicobar and Andaman; of Ceylon,
the isle of gems, with its sacred mountain and its tomb of Adam; of India
the great, not as a dreamland of Alexandrian fables but as a country
seen and partially explored, with its virtuous Brahmans, its obscene
ascetics, its diamonds and the strange tales of their acquisition, its
sea-beds of pearl, and its powerful sun; the first in medieval times to
give any distinct account of the secluded Christian empire of Abyssinia
and the semi-Christian island of Socotra; to speak, though indeed dimly,
of Zanzibar with its negroes and its ivory, and of the vast and distant
Madagascar, bordering on the dark ocean of the South, with its ruc and
other monstrocities; and, in a remotely opposite region, of Siberia
and the Arctic Ocean, of dog-sledges, white bears, and reindeer-riding
Tunguses.”[79]

Never before had the people of Europe heard of such extraordinary wealth
and unlimited resources as existed in the far-off countries visited by
Marco Polo. His novel descriptions of stately, gold-covered palaces,
of the royal magnificence of the entertainments of the Grand Khan, of
the intoxicating fragrance of an endless profusion of rare flowers,
of luscious fruits and sweet spicery, of heavily laden argosies of
valuable merchandise floating on noble rivers, and of vast collections of
gold, silver, and precious stones, were read with the most exaggerated
conceptions of their reality. These enchanting details respecting Cathay
and the adjacent countries were fully confirmed in the fourteenth century
by Sir John Mandeville, who, in 1322, departed from England, and after
an absence of thirty-four years in different countries returned to
write, in Latin, in French, and in English, a narrative of his extended
travels.[80]

Dazzled by the splendor of the Orient the people of Western Europe were
eager to enter into commercial intercourse with the inhabitants of
Cathay. But there were innumerable barriers, both natural and political,
obstructing all the overland ways to the East. Chief among the obstacles
classed as political was the selfish exclusiveness of the different
governments possessing the intervening territory. Had there been no
national opposition to the establishment of a protected system of
overland commerce between Western Europe and Eastern Asia, the distance
was too great to be travelled over by slowly moving caravans.

As early as the year 1343 the aggressive enterprise of the Venetians had
obtained from the sultan of Egypt the exclusive privilege of sending
ships to trade in the ports of that country and of Syria. The merchants
of Venice thereupon established commercial agencies at Alexandria and
Damascus. Their factors penetrated Central and Southern Asia, and became
active participants in the remunerative traffic of those regions. The
prized productions of the islands in the Indian Ocean, such as pepper,
cinnamon, cloves, and other spices, were transported by them to Venice
and distributed through Europe. Although the ocean along the western
and southern coast of Africa to the East was believed to be navigable,
no attempt was made in the fourteenth century to sail by it to the
Moluccas or Spice Islands. Concerning the early navigation of the
sea-path along the coast of Africa, from the Pillars of Hercules to the
Arabian Sea, Herodotus says that when Necho, king of Egypt, “had ceased
digging the canal leading from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, he sent
certain Phœnicians in ships, with orders to sail between the Pillars of
Hercules into the Northern Sea [the Mediterranean], and so to return to
Egypt. These Phœnicians, taking their course from the Red Sea, entered
the Southern Ocean. On the approach of autumn they landed in Libya
[Africa], and planted some corn in the place where they happened to find
themselves. When this was ripe, and they had cut it down, they again
departed. Having thus consumed two years, they in the third doubled the
Pillars of Hercules, and returned to Egypt. Their account may obtain
attention from others, but to me it seems incredible, for they affirmed,
that having sailed around Libya, they had the sun on their right hand.
Thus was Libya for the first time known.”[81]

Pliny, the celebrated encyclopedist of ancient times, says that “while
the power of Carthage was at its height, Hanno published an account of
a voyage which he made from Gades [Cadiz, Spain], to the extremity of
Arabia.[82] ... Besides, we learn from Cornelius Nepos, that one Eudoxus,
a contemporary of his, when he was fleeing from King Lathyrus, set out
from the Arabian Gulf, and was carried as far as Gades.[83] And long
before him, Cælius Antipater informs us that he had seen a person who
had sailed from Spain to Æthiopia for the purpose of trade. The same
Cornelius Nepos, when speaking of the northern circumnavigation, tells us
that Q. Metellus Celer, the colleague of L. Afranius in the consulship,
but then a proconsul in Gaul,[84] had a present made to him by the king
of the Suevi,[85] of certain Indians, who, sailing from India for the
purpose of commerce, had been driven by tempests to Germany.”[86]

These statements were quoted in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to
support the growing belief that India could be reached in a short time by
sailing round the coast of Africa. But the want of nautical instruments
restrained seamen from undertaking a voyage which carried them beyond the
sight of familiar coasts and beneath new constellations. It was extremely
perilous for European navigators to attempt to sail to India before they
had acquired a knowledge of the use of the mariner’s compass and of the
astrolabe. The polarity of the magnet was known among oriental nations
several centuries before the Christian era. The use of the magnetic
needle for the guidance of vessels, however, did not become popular in
Europe until as late as the fourteenth century.[87] The slowness with
which its use grew into favor with European seamen is ascribable to the
prevailing superstition which hung like a darkening cloud over the minds
of the people. The strange conservatism of the age is well described in
a letter written, as it seems, in the year 1258, by Brunetto Latini, a
learned Italian, Dante’s tutor, to Guido Cavalcanti of Florence. Speaking
of his visit to Roger Bacon, the English philosopher and monk, at Oxford,
England, he says:

“The Parliament being summoned to assemble at Oxford, I did not fail
to see Friar Bacon as soon as I arrived, and [among other things] he
showed me a black ugly stone, called a magnet, which has the surprising
property of drawing iron to it; and upon which, if a needle be rubbed,
and afterwards fastened to a straw, so that it shall swim upon water,
the needle will instantly turn toward the pole-star; therefore, be the
night ever so dark, so that neither moon nor star be visible, yet shall
the mariner be able, by the help of the needle, to steer his vessel
aright.[88]

“This discovery, which appears useful in so great a degree to all who
travel by sea, must remain concealed until other times, because no
master-mariner dares to use it lest he should fall under a supposition of
his being a magician; nor would even the sailors venture themselves out
to sea under his command if he took with him an instrument which carries
so great an appearance of being constructed under the influence of some
infernal spirit. A time may come when these prejudices, which are of such
great hindrance to researches into the secrets of nature, will probably
be no more; and then it will be that mankind shall reap the benefit of
the labors of such learned men as Friar Bacon, and do justice to that
industry and intelligence for which he and they now meet with no other
return than obloquy and reproach.”[89]

About the beginning of the fourteenth century, Flavia Gioja of Amalfi,
in Naples, devised what were then known as the eight points of the
superficies—the four cardinal and the four intermediate points of the
compass-card.[90] From this time forward the use of the magnet gradually
found favor with European seamen.

The most enthusiastic projector of voyages of discovery undertaken to
ascertain the character of the land and water divisions of the earth, in
the early part of the fifteenth century, was Prince Henry, the son of
King John I. of Portugal.[91] When twenty-one years of age, he witnessed,
in 1415, the taking of Ceuta, on the northern coast of Africa, opposite
the southern extremity of Portugal. While at this opulent city, he
learned from its merchants and traders that the continent extended far
southward and was inhabited by many strange people. Fixing his residence
on the promontory of Sagres, at the southwestern extremity of Portugal,
he began to send the most experienced seamen in the service of Portugal
to explore the western coast of Africa. For a time Cape de Não, in north
latitude, 28° 45´ was considered the limit of safe navigation. It was a
common saying among Portuguese seamen, that “He who should pass Cabo
de Não, either will return or not.”[92] Beyond it was Cape Bojador, in
26° 12´ north latitude. This rocky headland, for a time, was also deemed
perilous and impassable. “Beyond this cape” it was said, “there is no
people whatever; the ground is as barren as that of Libya,—no water,
no trees, no grass in it; the sea is so shallow that at a league from
the land it is only a fathom deep; the currents are so strong that a
ship passing the cape cannot return.”[93] The attempts made by Prince
Henry’s mariners to double the two capes are thus commented upon by
Antonio Galvano, the Portuguese historian,[94] in his treatise respecting
the routes by which spices came from India to the year 1550: “In those
days none of the Portuguese had yet passed Cabo de Não in 29 degrees of
latitude.” But after it was doubled, “when they came to another cape
named Bojador, there was not one of them that dared to risk his life
beyond it. The prince was exceedingly displeased with their want of
confidence and unmanly timidity.”[95] Of the number of seamen that had
made unsuccessful attempts to pass the cape was Gil Eannes. Disappointed
as Prince Henry was by these failures to accomplish that which he had
ordered them to do, he nevertheless gave his timorous navigators all the
encouragement he could to induce them to make other and more persistent
efforts to double the formidable headland. In 1434, he again sent Gil
Eannes to explore the coast beyond Cape Bojador. Before the latter
departed the prince endeavored to dispel the terrifying fancies that
might deter him from attempting to prosecute the undertaking for which he
was commissioned. “You cannot incur such peril” said the prince, “that
the promised reward shall not be commensurate thereto. It is very strange
to me that you should be governed by a fear of something of which you are
ignorant, for if the things reported had any authentication, I should not
find fault with you for believing them. The stories of the four seamen
driven out of their course to Flanders or to the ports to which they were
sailing are not to be credited, for they had not and could not have used
the needle and the chart. But do you go notwithstanding, and make your
voyage without being influenced by their opinions, and, by the grace of
God, you will not fail to secure, by your enterprise, both honor and
compensation.”[96] Gil Eannes followed the advice of his sanguine patron,
and succeeded the same year in doubling Cape Bojador and in exploring a
part of the coast beyond it.

South of Cape Bojador it was believed that a zone of scorching heat
would be entered by vessels sailing toward the equator. Pliny adverts
to it in these words: “The middle of the earth, over which is the path
of the sun, is parched and set on fire by the luminary, and is consumed
by being so near the heat. There are only two of the zones which are
temperate—those which lie between the torrid and the frigid zones—and
these are separated from each other, in consequence of the scorching
heat of the heavenly bodies.”[97] Conceiving this statement to be as
fallacious as many other declarations of the early geographers had been,
Prince Henry, in 1454, sent Luigi da Cadamosto, a Venetian navigator,
to explore the coast beyond Cape Bojador so long invested with so many
imaginary terrors. In 1462 Pedro de Cintra sailed three hundred miles
beyond Sierre Leone.

As it was necessary for seamen to know the latitude and longitude of the
places to which they desired to sail, another nautical instrument besides
the mariner’s compass was needed by them.[98] The adaptation of an
instrument called the astrolabe, by which the latitudes of places could
be determined, apparently originated with King John II. of Portugal.[99]

It is said that “when Prince Henry began the discovery of Guinea that all
mariners were accustomed to sail along the coasts, and that they always
steered their courses by observing the physical features of the land,
which are still used as guides.”

“This method of navigating permitted them to make voyages from place to
place; but when they wished to sail in the open sea, losing sight of the
coast and standing out on the wide ocean, they perceived the numerous
errors they had made in calculating and judging the day’s run, for they
had been accustomed to allow so much way to the ship in the twenty-four
hours on account of the currents and the other mysteries of the sea,
the facts of which are clearly demonstrated by navigating by altitude.
But as necessity is the teacher of all arts, in the time of King John
II., the matter of navigation was assigned by him to Master Roderic,
and Master Joseph, a Jew, (who were his physicians,) and to one Martin
of Bohemia, a native of those parts, who boasted of being a pupil of
John of Monteregius, a famous astronomer among the professors of that
science,[100] and these devised the way of navigating by the sun’s
altitude, and they made tables of his declination such as are now used
by navigators, now more complete than they were at the beginning when the
great wooden astrolabes were first used.”[101]

This novel and serviceable nautical instrument, first made of wood and
of a triangular shape, was soon in general use on Portuguese vessels.
The astrolabe was improved from time to time. At the beginning of the
seventeenth century, when the French seaman, Samuel de Champlain, was
exploring the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries, it was a disk
of brass, having one of its faces marked with degrees and minutes. A
brass rule, called a label, with sight-holes, turning upon a pivot at
the centre of the instrument, moved over the marked circumference of
the disk. At the zenith part of the instrument there was a small ring
by which it could be suspended from the thumb of the person taking an
observation. When used the astrolabe was turned to the sun, so that his
rays could freely pass through the two sight-holes of the label. In this
position the altitude of the sun was indicated on the divided limb of the
instrument. Opposite the zenith point was a small eyelet from which a
weight could be suspended to keep the instrument from shaking when used.

[Illustration: A representation of the astrolabe found in 1867 in the
county of North Renfrew, province of Ontario, Canada, supposed to have
been lost by Champlain on his way to Ottawa in 1613. The diameter of
the instrument is “five inches and five-eights.” _Vide_ “Champlain’s
astrolabe.” By A. J. Russell. Montreal, 1879.]

In the fifteenth century the day’s run of a ship was commonly reckoned
by the pilot. In an old nautical work it is said: “In order to know the
speed of the ship over the length of the course the pilot must set down
in his journal the progress the vessel has made according to hours; and
to do this he must know that the greatest distance that a ship advances
in an hour is four miles, and with feebler breezes, three or only
two.”[102] Time was measured by sand-glasses, or _ampolletas_, as they
were called by the Spaniards. Forty-eight changes of these half-hour
glasses equalled the space of a day.[103]

In 1487 the persistent enterprise of the Portuguese in exploring a
commercial route to India along the west and south coasts of Africa was
notably signalized by the success attending the expedition commanded by
the adventurous seaman, Bartolomeu Dias. The indomitable zeal of this
Portuguese mariner enabled him to reach the southern extremity of Africa,
where he found a bold promontory to which he gave the name of Cabo
Tormentoso, (the Stormy Cape,) commemorative of the adverse winds and bad
weather encountered there. King John II., personally appreciating the
good fortune attending the explorations of the navigators of Portugal in
this direction during the previous seventy years, in which time more than
six thousand miles of coast-line had been inspected by them, called the
promontory discovered by Dias, Cabo de Boa Esperança (the Cape of Good
Hope).[104]




CHAPTER III.

1474-1492.


The success attending the voyages of the Portuguese along the coast of
Africa suggested to Cristoforo Colombo[105] (or Christopher Columbus, as
he is more commonly called by those speaking English), the possibility
of sailing by a shorter way to India in another direction. Ferdinand
Columbus, in his history of the life and achievements of his father,[106]
makes no attempt to conceal this fact from publicity. With an apparent
intention to give all the information which might be desired concerning
the great discoverer’s first thoughts respecting the practicability
of reaching Asia by sailing in a westerly direction, he frankly tells
what originated them in the mind of the admiral. “As one thing leads
to another, and one thought to another, in this way, while the admiral
was in Portugal, he began to infer that as the Portuguese sailed so
far southward, it was also feasible to steer westward, and that land
might likely be found in this direction. In order to be more assured
and satisfied in this matter, he began to review the cosmographies
which he had read, and to note what astronomical reasons would support
this theory.[107] That he might be more enlightened concerning his
assumption, he paid attention to what was said by people respecting
it, especially by seamen. His diligent investigations soon led him
to conclude that there were many lands west of the Canaries and the
Cape Verd Islands, and that it was practicable to sail to and discover
them.”[108]

The remarkable aptitude displayed by Columbus in forming his conclusions
that the Atlantic Ocean was navigable, and that ships might pass across
its unexplored expanse to Cathay, was the natural expression of his
peculiar passion for geographical knowledge. In a letter written to their
Spanish majesties, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, in 1501, he says:
“I went to sea when quite young, and have continued my sea-faring until
now; and this profession makes those who follow it eager to discover the
secrets of this globe. It is now forty years that I have been sailing
to all those places which are at present visited, and I have dealt and
talked with learned people, ecclesiastics as well as laymen, Latins,
Greeks, Indians, Moors, and many other people of different nations, and
our Lord has favored this inclination, and I have received from him the
spirit of understanding. He has made me very skillful in navigation, and
to know much in astronomy, in geometry, and mathematics. God has given me
the knowledge and the ability to portray the globe, and also to delineate
cities, rivers, islands, and ports in their proper situation. During my
life I have examined and endeavored to see all books of cosmography,
history, and philosophy, and of the other sciences, so that our Lord has
sensibly opened my mind in order that I may sail from here to the Indies,
and has made me extremely anxious to do it.”[109]

Columbus’s irrepressible desire to possess all the information he could
acquire respecting the navigable water-ways of the Atlantic also led him
to sail over the sea-path to Iceland and to the south coast of Africa,
at the equator. In his geographical work, written “to show that all the
five zones are habitable,” he says: “‘In February, 1467, I sailed myself
a hundred leagues beyond Thule, the northern part of which is seventy
degrees distant from the equator, and not sixty-three degrees as some
will have it to be; nor does it lie upon the line where Ptolemy’s West
begins, but much more to the westward, and to this island, which is as
large as England, the English trade, especially those from Bristol.[110]
At the time I was there the sea was not frozen, but the tides were so
great that in some places it swelled twenty-six fathoms and fell as
much.’ The truth is, that the Thule of which Ptolemy speaks lies where
he says, and this is called by the moderns Frizeland.” Again he says: “I
have followed sea-faring for twenty-three years without being on shore
any space of time worth mentioning, and I have seen all the East and all
the West, and have been to the North where England is situated, and even
to Guinea.” He also says that he went to sea when fourteen years old, and
ever after that led a sea-faring life.[111]

Among the motives influencing him to think that he could sail to Cathay
by the way of the Atlantic Ocean were the statements of geographical
writers. By them it was said “that a great part of the globe had already
been travelled over, and there only remained to be discovered and made
known the space lying between the eastern limits of India, known to
Ptolemy and Marinus, and the West, where are the islands Azores[112] and
those of Cape Verd,[113] the most western lands yet discovered.[114] ...
He considered that this space, lying between the eastern limits [of
India] known to Marinus and the islands of the Cape Verd group, could
not be more than a third part of the great circumference of the globe,
since Marinus had gone toward the East fifteen hours of the twenty-four
into which the circumference of the earth is divided, and therefore to
go [still farther eastwardly] to reach the Cape Verd Islands there were
nine hours, [of the circumference to be passed over], as it is said
that Marinus began his investigations in the West.... He conceived that
since Marinus had given in his cosmography an account of fifteen hours
or parts of the globe eastwardly, and had not reached the limits of the
East, it followed that its bounds must be much beyond, and consequently
the farther the land of the East extended eastwardly, the nearer this
land was to the Cape Verd Islands in the West, and that if the space were
chiefly water it might easily be sailed in a few days, and if it were
mainly land it would sooner be discovered by sailing westward, because
it would be nearer to the Cape Verd Islands.[115] ... The fifth reason,
which induced him to believe that the distance this way was short, was
the opinion of Alfragranus and his followers, who make the circumference
of the globe much less than all other writers and cosmographers,
allowing fifty-six miles and two-thirds to a degree.[116] Whence he
inferred that as the entire circumference of the globe was of such an
extent, the third part was small, which Marinus left unknown.... And
Seneca, in his first book of nature, who considers the knowledge of this
world as nothing when compared with that which is acquired in the next
life, says a ship may sail in a few days with a fair wind from the coast
of Spain to that of India. And if it be true, as some believe, that
Seneca wrote tragedies, we may infer that he speaks of the same thing in
the chorus of his Medea:

                  ‘Venient annis
    Saecula seris, quibus Oceanus
    Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
    Pateat tellus, Typhysque novos
    Detegat orbes, nec sit terris
    Ultima Thule.’

“‘In the last years there will come an age in which Ocean shall loosen
the bonds of things; and a great land will be accessible; and another
Tiphys shall discover new worlds, and Thule shall no longer be the
extremity of the earth.’[117] This prediction may be considered really
fulfilled in the person of the admiral.... Marco Polo, the Venetian,
and John Mandeville, in their travels say that they went much farther
eastward than Ptolemy and Marinus mention, who, although they do not
speak of the Eastern Sea, yet by the account they give of the East it
may be assumed that India is not far distant from Africa and Spain.”[118]

Ferdinand Columbus further says that his father expected to find, “before
he came to India, a very convenient island or continent, from which he
might pursue with more advantage his main design. This hope was grounded
upon the statements of many wise men and philosophers, who believed that
the greatest part of this terraqueous globe was land, or that there was
more land than water, which, if true, he assumed that between the coast
of Spain and the limits of India then known, there were many islands and
a considerable extent of main-land.... A pilot of the king of Portugal,
named Martin Vicente, told him that, being at one time four hundred and
fifty leagues westward of Cape St. Vincent, he found and picked up in the
sea a piece of wood ingeniously carved, but not with iron, which led him
to believe, as the wind had been blowing from the west for several days,
that the piece of wood had drifted from some island lying toward the
west. Then one Pedro Correa, who had married the sister of the admiral’s
wife, told him that at the island of Porto Santo[119] he had seen another
piece of wood, brought by the same winds, as nicely carved as the piece
already mentioned, and that canes had been found there so thick that each
joint would hold more than four quarts of wine, which reports he said he
communicated to the king of Portugal while talking to him about these
matters. The pieces of cane were shown to him. There being no place in
our parts where such cane grew, he inferred it to be true that the wind
had brought the cane from some neighboring islands or else from India.
For Ptolemy, in the first book of his geography, in the seventeenth
chapter, says there is such cane in the eastern parts of India. And some
of the people living on the islands, particularly on the Azores, told him
that when the west wind blew for a long time the sea drifted some pieces
of pine-wood upon those islands, particularly on the islands Gratiosa
and Fayal, there being no pine-wood in all those parts, and that the
sea cast upon the island of Flores, another of the Azores, the bodies
of two dead men, who were very broad-faced and different in appearance
from Christians. At Cape Verd and thereabouts they said that they once
saw some covered canoes or boats which the people believed were driven
there by stress of weather while the persons in them were going from one
island to another. Nor were these the only grounds he then had which
seemed reasonable, for there were those who told him that they had seen
some islands in the western ocean.... These persons he did not believe,
because he discovered from their own words and statements that they had
not sailed one hundred leagues to the westward, and that they had been
deceived by some rocks, thinking them to be islands; or else, perhaps,
they were some of those floating islands which are drifted about by the
waves, and which the sailors call _aguados_....

“He says, moreover, that in the year 1484, a man came to Portugal from
the island of Madera[120] to beg a caraval of the king to discover
a country which he affirmed he saw every year, and always after the
same manner, he agreeing with others who said they had seen the island
from the Azores. On this account the Portuguese placed some islands
thereabouts on the charts and maps made at that time; and also because
Aristotle, in his book of wonderful things, affirms that it was reported
that some Carthaginian merchants had sailed over the Atlantic Ocean to
a most fruitful island.... This island the Portuguese inserted in their
maps, calling it Antilla, and though they did not give it the same
situation designated by Aristotle, yet none placed it more than two
hundred leagues due west from the Canaries and the Azores. Some believe
it to be the island of the Seven Cities peopled by the Portuguese at
the time that Spain was conquered by the Moors, in 714, at which time,
they say, seven bishops with their people embarked and sailed to this
island, where each of them built a city; and in order that none of their
people might think of returning to Spain, they burnt the ships, tackle,
and all things necessary for sailing.[121] ... It was also said that in
the time of Prince Henry of Portugal, a Portuguese ship was driven by
stress of weather to this island of Antilla, where the men went on shore,
and were conducted by the islanders to their church to learn whether
or not they were Christians and acquainted with the Roman ceremonies.
After perceiving that they were, the people of the island importuned
them to remain till their king came, who was then absent, and who would
be delighted to see them and would give them many presents.... But the
master and the seamen were afraid of being detained, suspecting these
people did not wish to be discovered and might for this reason burn their
ship.

“On this account they returned to Portugal, hoping to be rewarded by the
prince for what they had done. He reproved them severely and bid them
return at once to the island, but the master through fear ran away from
Portugal with the ship and men. It is reported that while the seamen were
at church on the island the ship-boys gathered sand for the cook-room,
the third part of which they found to be pure gold.... Seneca, in his
fourth book, tells us that Thucydides[122] speaks of an island called
Atlantica, which in the time of the Peloponnesian war was entirely, or
the greater part of it, submerged; whereof Plato also makes mention in
his Timæus.”[123]

While Columbus resided at Lisbon obtaining information from geographers
and seamen respecting the feasibility of sailing westward to Cathay, he
entered into correspondence with Paolo Toscanelli, a Florentine physician
and astronomer.[124] The latter sent him a copy of a letter which he
had written in Latin to Ferdinand Martinez, a prebendary of Lisbon. The
communication addressed to Columbus, is dated Florence, June 25, 1474. As
translated the letter is as follows:

“To Christopher Colon, Paul, the physician, wishes health.

“I apprehend your noble and earnest desire to sail to those parts where
spices grow, and therefore, in answer to your letter, I send another,
which some time ago I wrote to a friend of mine, in the service of
the king of Portugal, before the wars of Castile, in answer to one he
wrote me by his highness’s command, upon the same subject. I also send
you a sea-chart similar to the one I sent him, which may satisfy your
inquiries. The copy of that letter is the following:

“To Ferdinand Martinez, canon of Lisbon, Paul, the physician, wishes
health.

“I am gratified to hear of your intimacy with the most serene and
magnificent king. Although I have often spoken of the short distance
by water from here to the Indies where spices grow, which way, in my
opinion, is shorter than that taken along the coast of Guinea, yet
you inform me that his highness would have me explain and demonstrate
it in order that it may be comprehended and tested. Although I could
better elucidate the configuration of the earth with a globe in my
hand, nevertheless, I will make the matter more easy and intelligible
by exhibiting the route on such a chart as is used in navigation. I
therefore send one to his majesty, made and drawn with my own hand,
on which are delineated the extreme limits of the West, from Iceland,
in the north, to the farthest part of Guinea, in the south, with all
the intermediate islands. Opposite, in the West, the beginning of the
Indies is delineated, with the islands and places to which you may
go, representing how far you may steer from the north pole toward the
equator, and for how long a time, that is, how many leagues you may sail
before you come to those places where are to be found all kinds of spices
and precious stones. Do not think it strange if I call the country where
spices grow West, since they are generally known to be produced in the
East, because those who shall sail westward will always find those places
in the west, and they who travel by land eastward, will always find
those places in the east. The straight lines which are drawn lengthwise
on the chart show the distance from west to east, and those which cross
the former show the distance from north to south. I have also marked down
on the chart several places in the Indies where ships might put in during
a storm or contrary winds, or any other unlooked-for accident. Moreover,
to give you ample information concerning all the places of which you
desire to know something, you must understand that only traders live or
reside on these islands, and that you will find there as large a number
of ships and sea-faring people engaged in merchandizing as in any other
part of the world, particularly in the famous port of the city called
Zacton, where, every year, a hundred large ships carrying pepper, are
loaded and unloaded, besides many other vessels freighted with different
kinds of spices.[125] This country is an exceedingly populous one, and
there are many provinces, kingdoms, and innumerable cities in it under
the rule of a sovereign called the Grand Khan, signifying king of kings,
who generally resides in the province of Cathay. His predecessors greatly
desired to have the commerce and the friendship of Christians, and two
hundred years ago they sent embassadors to the pope, to ask him to send
them many learned men and doctors to teach them our religion, but on
account of some obstacles the embassadors met with, they returned without
coming to Rome. Besides, there came an embassador to Pope Eugene IV.,
who informed him of the great affection which their princes and people
bore toward the Christians. I talked with him a long time concerning
the magnificence of the royal palaces, the greatness of the country,
the length and breadth of the rivers. He told me many wonderful things
respecting a great number of towns and cities built on the banks of the
rivers, and that there were two hundred cities on a single river, with
marble bridges over it of great length and breadth, and sustained by many
pillars. This country deserves to be made known as well as any other, and
there may not only be great profits realized and many things of value
obtained, but also gold, silver, all kinds of precious stones, and spices
in abundance, which are not brought into our parts. And it is certain
that many wise men, philosophers, astronomers, and other persons skilled
in the arts, and very ingenious men govern this vast country and command
its armies. On the chart, from Lisbon directly westward to the great and
famous city of Quisay, are twenty-six spaces, each measuring two hundred
and fifty miles. The city is one hundred miles, or thirty-five leagues
in circuit, and within its limits are ten marble bridges. The name
Quisay signifies city of heaven.[126] Wonderful things are reported of
the ingenuity of its inhabitants, its buildings and revenues. The space
previously mentioned is almost a third part of the circumference of the
globe.[127] The city is in the province of Mango, bordering on that of
Cathay, where the king usually resides. From the island Antilla (which
you call the Seven Cities, and of which you have some knowledge), to the
great island of Cipango,[128] are ten spaces, which include two thousand
five hundred miles, or two hundred and twenty-five leagues.[129] The
island abounds with gold, pearls, and precious stones; and you should
know that they cover their temples and palaces with plates of pure gold.
All these things are hidden and concealed, because the way to them is
unknown, and yet it may be sailed with safety.

“Much more might be said, but having told you that which is most
important, and as you are learned and have good judgment, I am satisfied
that you will understand what I have written without my adding any thing
further to these statements. This may satisfy your curiosity, it being
as much as my time and business permit me now to write. However, I remain
ever ready to satisfy and serve his highness to the utmost in all the
commands that he shall lay upon me.”[130]

“The admiral, now believing that his opinion was excellently well
grounded,” says Ferdinand Columbus, “resolved to be governed by it, and
to sail across the western ocean in quest of those countries. But being
aware that such an undertaking was only becoming a monarch to espouse
and to accomplish, he determined to propose it to the king of Portugal,
because he was the latter’s subject. And though King John, then reigning,
gave ear to the admiral’s proposals, yet he hesitated to accept them on
account of the great burden and expense attending the exploration and
conquest of the western coast of Africa, called Guinea. Little success
had thus far rewarded this undertaking, nor had he been able to double
the Cape of Good Hope, which name, some say, was given it instead of
Agesingue, its proper designation, because that was the farthest they
hoped to extend their explorations and conquests, or, as others will
have it, because this cape gave them the expectation of better countries
and navigation. However, the king had but little inclination to invest
any more money in discoveries; and if he gave any attention to the
admiral, it was in consequence of the excellent reasons he advanced to
support his opinion, which arguments so far convinced the king that he
had nothing else to do but to accept or to reject the terms which the
admiral proposed. For the admiral, being a noble and magnanimous man,
wished to make an agreement that would be of some personal benefit and
honor to himself, so that he would leave behind him a notable reputation
and a respected family, such as became his achievements and memory. For
this reason the king, by the advice of one Doctor Cazadilla,[131] whom
he greatly esteemed, determined to send a caravel secretly to attempt
that which the admiral had proposed to him; for if those countries were
in this way discovered, he thought that he would not be obliged to
bestow any great reward which might be demanded. Having quickly equipped
a caravel, he sent it the way the admiral had proposed to go, for the
vessel was carrying supplies to the islands of the Cape Verd group.
But those he sent had not the knowledge, perseverance, and energy of
the admiral. After wandering many days on the sea, they turned back to
the islands of Cape Verd, laughing at the undertaking, and saying that
it was unreasonable to think there should be any land in those waters.
This being told to the admiral, ... he determined to go to Castile
[Spain].... But fearing that, if the king of Castile should not favor
his undertaking, he would be forced to propose it to some other monarch,
thereby consuming much time, he sent his brother Bartolomé Columbus, who
was with him, to England.... On his way to England, Bartolomé happened to
fall into the hands of pirates, who stripped him and his companions. For
this reason, and being sick and poor in that country, it was a long time
before he could deliver his message. It was not until he had obtained
some money by making sea-charts that he began to make certain proposals
to King Henry VII., then reigning, to whom he presented a map of the
world.... The king of England, having seen the map and heard what the
admiral offered to do for him, readily accepted the overture and ordered
him to be sent for....

“I will not now relate how Bartolomé Columbus conducted himself in
England, but will return to the admiral, who, about the end of the year
1484, stole secretly out of Portugal with his son Diego for fear of being
detained by the king; for the king having seen how unsuited they were
whom he had sent with the caravel, was inclined to restore the admiral to
his favor, and desired that he should renew his proposals; but the king
was not as eager to undertake their consideration as the admiral was to
get away; therefore the king lost that good opportunity and the admiral
entered Castile to try his fortune which was there to favor him. Leaving
his son in a monastery, called La Rabida, near Palos, he went at once to
the court of the catholic king, which was then at Cordova, where, being
affable and an entertaining talker, he made friends of such persons as
were most favorably inclined to his undertaking and fitted to persuade
the king to espouse it. Among these was Luis de Santángel, an Aragonian
gentleman, clerk of the allowances in the king’s household, a man of
great prudence and reputation. As the undertaking demanded an examination
by enlightened men, and not meaningless words and favor, their highnesses
intrusted the matter to the prior of Prado, afterward archbishop of
Granada, and ordered him, together with some cosmographers, to make
a thorough investigation of the project and to report their opinions
respecting it.[132] But there was only a small number of cosmographers at
that time, and those who were called together were not as enlightened as
they should have been, nor would the admiral wholly explain his plans,
for fear he might be served as he had been in Portugal and be deprived of
his reward. For this reason the answers they gave their highnesses were
as different as their judgments and opinions. Some said that inasmuch
as no information concerning those countries had been obtained by the
great number of experienced sailors living since the creation, which
was many thousand years ago, it was not likely that the admiral should
know more than all the seamen that were living or that had lived before
that time. Others, who were more influenced by cosmographical reasons,
said the world was so prodigiously great that it was incredible that a
voyage of three years would carry him to the end of the East, where he
proposed to go, and to substantiate this opinion they brought forward
the statement of Seneca, who, in one of his works, by way of argument,
asserts that many wise men disagreed about this question, whether or not
the ocean were boundless, and doubted if it could be traversed; and if it
were navigable, whether habitable lands would be found on the other side
of the globe, and whether they could be reached. They added that only a
small part of this terraqueous globe was inhabited, and that this was in
our hemisphere, and that all the remainder was sea, and only navigable
near the coasts and rivers.

“Some admitted that learned men said it was possible to sail from the
coast of Spain to the farthest part of the West. Others argued, as the
Portuguese had done, about sailing to Guinea, saying that if any man
should sail directly westward, as the admiral proposed, that he would
not be able to return to Spain on account of the roundness of the globe,
confidently believing that whosoever should go out of the hemisphere
known to Ptolemy would go downward, and that then it would be impossible
to return, affirming that it would be like climbing a hill, which ships
could not accomplish in the stiffest gale. Although the admiral properly
answered all these objections, yet the more cogent his explanations were
the less they comprehended him on account of their ignorance, for when
a man grows familiar with false principles in mathematics for a long
time he cannot perceive the true, because of the erroneous impressions
which were first imprinted on his mind. In short, all of these men
were governed by the Spanish saying, St. Augustine doubts it; for this
holy man, in his twenty-first book, chapter ninth, on the city of God,
asserts and considers that it is unreasonable to believe that there are
antipodes, or any passage from one hemisphere to another.[133]

“They further opposed the arguments of the admiral by quoting those
current fables respecting the five zones, and other fictions, which they
believed were true. They therefore determined to condemn the enterprise
as foolish and impracticable, and to declare that it did not become the
state and dignity of such great sovereigns to be misled by such weak
information. Therefore, after much time had been spent in considering
the project, their highnesses answered the admiral that they were then
engaged in too many wars and conquests, and especially in the conquest
of Granada, which was then occupying their attention, and therefore it
was not convenient for them to espouse this new enterprise at that time;
nevertheless, another opportunity might be given them when they could
more satisfactorily examine and accomplish that which he proposed.”[134]

Chagrined as he may have been by this second disappointment, Columbus,
with that noble enthusiasm which the personal consciousness of being in
the right begets, “determined to apply to the king of France, to whom he
had already written concerning the project, intending, if he were not
admitted to an audience there, to go to England afterward to search for
his brother, from whom he had not yet received any intelligence. With
this resolution he set out for the monastery of La Rabida, to send his
son Diego, whom he had left there, to Cordova, and then proceed on his
journey. But in order that the thing which God had decreed should come
to pass, it was put in the heart of Friar Juan Perez, guardian of that
house, to befriend the admiral, and to be so captivated with his project
that he became deeply concerned respecting his resolution and the loss
Spain would sustain by his departure. Therefore he entreated the admiral
not to proceed any farther, for he would himself go to the queen, hoping
that, as he was her father-confessor, she would be governed by what he
should say to her. Although the admiral was disappointed and disgusted
with the discreditable action and judgment of the counsellors of their
highnesses, yet, being on the other hand very desirous that Spain should
reap the benefits of his undertaking, he complied with the friar’s
desire and request, for he considered himself a Spaniard, as he had long
resided in Spain prosecuting his undertaking and had begotten children
there, which was the reason for his rejection of the offers made him by
other sovereigns, as he declares in a letter written to their highnesses
[of Spain] in these words: “That I might serve your highnesses, I have
refused to undertake with France, England, and Portugal; the letters from
the sovereigns of which your highnesses may see in the hands of Doctor
Villalan.”

“The admiral departed with Friar Juan Perez from the monastery of La
Rabida, near Palos, and went to the camp of Santa Fé, where their
catholic majesties were carrying on the siege of Granada. The friar then
had an interview with the queen and so entreated her, that she consented
that the conferences respecting the discovery should be renewed. But
the opinions of the prior of Prado and those of his followers were
discouraging, besides Columbus desired to be made admiral and viceroy,
and to have other compensations deemed too considerable to be granted,
because if he succeeded in doing what he proposed, they thought his
demands were too exorbitant, and in case he did not accomplish any
thing, they considered it foolish to bestow such titles; consequently
the matter received no favorable decision.... These things being of such
importance, and their highnesses refusing to grant them, the admiral took
leave of his friends, and proceeded toward Cordova to make preparations
for his journey to France, for he had determined not to return to
Portugal, although the king had written to him....

“It was in the month of January, in the year 1492, when the admiral
departed from the camp of Santa Fé. On that same day also Luis de
Santángel, previously mentioned, who did not approve of his going away,
but was very desirous to prevent it, went to the queen, and using such
words as his thoughts suggested to persuade and enlighten her, said, he
was surprised that her highness, who had always a great fondness for
all matters of moment and consequence should now be timid in favoring
this undertaking, where so little was hazarded that might contribute in
many ways to the glory of God and the propagation of religion.... The
queen, knowing the sincerity of Santángel’s words, answered, thanking him
for his good advice and saying she was willing to accept the proposals
upon the condition that the undertaking should be delayed until she had
more leisure after the war, and yet, if he thought differently, she was
satisfied that as much money as was required to fit out a fleet, should
be borrowed on her jewels. But Santángel, perceiving that the queen
had condescended upon his advice to do what she had refused all other
persons, replied that there was no need of pawning her jewels, for he
would do her highness that small service by lending his money. Thereupon
the queen at once sent an officer post-haste to bring the admiral
back, who found him upon the bridge of Pinos, two leagues from Granada.
Although the admiral was much disheartened by the disappointments and
delays he had met with in this undertaking, nevertheless, being informed
of the queen’s wish and intention, he returned to the camp of Santa Fé,
where he was graciously entertained by their catholic majesties, and his
commission and stipulations were intrusted to their secretary, Juan de
Coloma, who, by the command of their highnesses, under their hand and
seal, granted him all the conditions and provisions which, as already
mentioned, he had demanded, without altering or subtracting any thing in
them.”[135]




CHAPTER IV.

1492-1493.


Sensibly impressed with the importance of his undertaking, Columbus
determined to keep a journal of such observations and incidents as were
most noteworthy during the voyage. Governed by this intention, he made
the following entry in his log-book, when he set sail for the remote
shores of Cathay:

“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Whereas the most Christian, high, excellent, and powerful rulers,
the king and the queen of Spain and of the islands of the sea, our
sovereigns, this present year, 1492, after your highnesses had ended
the war with the Moors ruling in Europe, the same having terminated in
the great city of Granada, where, on the second day of January, this
present year, I saw the royal banners of your highnesses planted by
force of arms upon the towers of the Alhambra, the fortress of that
city, and beheld the Moorish king come out at the gate of the city and
kiss the hands of your highnesses and of the prince, my sovereign, and
in the present month, on account of the information which I had given
your highnesses respecting the countries of India and of a sovereign
called the Grand Khan, signifying, in our language, king of kings; how,
at different times, he and his predecessors had sent to Rome soliciting
instructors to teach him our holy religion, and how the holy father
had never granted his request, whereby great numbers of people were
lost, believing in idolatry and doctrines of perdition; therefore your
highnesses, as catholic Christians and sovereigns, who love and promote
the holy Christian religion, and are enemies of the sect of Mahomet, and
of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus,
(Cristóbal Colon,) to the previously mentioned countries of India, to
see the said sovereigns, people, and territories, and to learn their
disposition and the proper way of converting them to our holy religion;
and furthermore, directed that I should not go by land to the East, as is
customary, but by a westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto
no certain evidence that any one has gone. Therefore, after having
expelled the Jews from your dominions, your highnesses, in the same month
of January, ordered me to proceed with a sufficient armament to the
said regions of India, and for that purpose granted me great favors and
ennobled me, that thereafter I might call myself Don and be high admiral
(_almirante mayor_) of the sea, and perpetual viceroy and governor of
all the islands and continent which I might discover and acquire, or
which may hereafter be discovered and acquired in the ocean; and that
this title should be inherited by my eldest son, and thus descend from
generation to generation forever. Thereupon I left the city of Granada,
on Saturday, the twelfth day of May, 1492, and proceeded to Palos, a
seaport, where I armed three vessels very fit for such an expedition,
and having provided myself with an abundance of stores and seamen, I set
sail from this port on Friday, the third of August, half an hour before
sunrise, and steered for the Canary Islands of your highnesses, which
are in the said ocean, thence to take my departure and proceed till I
arrived at the Indies, and perform the embassy of your highnesses to the
sovereigns there, and discharge the orders given. Consequently, I have
determined to write out daily a minute account of the voyage respecting
what I do and see, and the passage, as hereafter will appear. Moreover,
sovereign princes, besides recording each night my progress during the
day and the run made during the night, I intend to make a new nautical
chart (_carta nueva de navegar_), in which I shall delineate all the sea
and the lands of the Ocean in their proper places under their wind; and,
moreover, I shall compose a book and represent the whole like a picture
by latitude, from the equator, and by longitude, from the West, wherefore
it will cause me to abstain from sleep and to make many experiments in
navigation, for these things will require no little labor.”[136]

[Illustration: FIELD OF VOYAGES TO AMERICA.

ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.]

The vessels of the fleet were the ship (_la nao_), Santa Maria,[137]
commanded by Columbus, and two caravels, (_carabelas_,) La Pinta,
commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon, and La Nina, by Vicente Yañes Pinzon,
his brother, both being natives and seamen of Palos. “Being furnished
with all necessaries and ninety men,”[138] says Ferdinand Columbus,
“they set sail on the third of August directly toward the Canaries, and
from that time forward the admiral was very careful to keep an accurate
journal of all that happened to him during the voyage, specifying the
wind that blew, how far he sailed with it, the currents he found, and
what he saw by the way, whether birds or fishes, or other things....

“The next day after the admiral’s departure for the Canary Islands, it
being Saturday, the fourth of August, the rudder of one of the caravels,
of the one called La Pinta, broke loose, and the caravel being compelled
to lie to, the admiral soon reached her side, but the wind blowing hard
he could render no assistance, as commanders at sea are obliged to do to
encourage those that are in distress. This he did more promptly, as he
conceived that the unshipping of the rudder had been brought about by
the contrivance of the master to avoid going on the voyage, as he had
attempted to do before they set sail.”[139]

At the Canary Islands, Columbus altered the sails of the caravel La Nina,
and made a new rudder for the Pinta. On Thursday morning, the sixth of
September, the three vessels set sail from the island Gomera, of the
Canary group, “and stood away to the west.” On the following Sunday,
at day-break, when the fleet was nine leagues west of the island of
Ferro,[140] the sailors “lost sight of land, and many, fearing that it
would be long before they should see it again, sighed and wept, but the
admiral, after comforting them with large promises of land and of wealth,
to raise their hopes and lessen their fears respecting the length of the
voyage, pretended that by his computation they had sailed only fifteen
leagues that day when they had really run eighteen, he having determined
to keep, during the voyage, his reckoning short, in order that the men
might not think that they were so far from Spain as they were, should he
openly set down the progress made which he privately recorded.[141]

“Continuing his voyage in this way, on Wednesday, the twelfth of
September, about sun-setting, being about one hundred and fifty leagues
west of the island of Ferro, he discovered a large piece of the trunk of
a tree of one hundred and twenty tons, which seemed to have been a long
time in the water. There and somewhat farther the current set strongly
toward the northeast. When he had run fifty leagues farther westward, on
the thirteenth of September he found at night-fall that the needle varied
half a point toward the northeast, and, at day-break, half a point more,
by which he understood that the needle did not point at the north star,
but at some other fixed and visible point. This variation no man had
observed before, and therefore he had occasion to be surprised at it; but
he was more amazed on the third day after this, when he was almost one
hundred leagues farther, for at night the needles varied about a point to
the northeast, and in the morning they pointed upon the star.”[142]

As they sailed on this westward course, they found “more weeds than they
had hitherto toward the north as far as they could see, which weeds were
sometimes a solace to them, believing that they might come from some land
that was near, and sometimes they caused dread, because they were so
thick that in some measure they impeded the ships, and fear making things
worse than they are, they apprehended that that might happen to them
which is fictitiously reported of Saint Amaro in the Frozen Sea, which it
is said does not suffer ships to stir backward or forward, and therefore
they steered away from the shoals of weeds as far as possible.[143]

“The wind at this time blew at southwest, sometimes more and sometimes
less west, which, though contrary to their voyage, the admiral said
he considered a very good wind and a help to them, because the men,
continually grumbling, said that among the things which increased their
fears this was one, for the wind being always astern, they should never
have a gale in those seas to carry them back; and though sometimes they
found the contrary, they alleged that it was no settled wind, and that
not being strong enough to swell the sea, it would never carry them back
as far as they had to sail. Although the admiral did whatever he could
to make them cheerful, telling them that the land being now so near did
not permit the waves to rise, and using the best argument he could,
nevertheless he affirms that he stood in need of God’s special help, as
Moses did when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, who forbore laying
violent hands upon him, because of the wonders God wrought through him.
The admiral said that he was similarly protected in this voyage. On the
following Sunday the wind began to blow from the west-northwest, with a
rolling sea as the men wished, and three hours before noon they saw a
turtle-dove fly over the ship, and in the evening they saw a pelican,
a river fowl, and other wild birds, and some crabs among the weeds;
and the next day they espied another pelican, and several small birds
which came from the west, and small fishes, some of which the men of the
other vessels stuck with harpoons, because they would not bite at the
hook.”[144]

“As often as the men were deceived by these signs of land, so often had
they occasion to be suspicious and to grumble and conspire together. They
said the admiral, for a foolish whim, intended to make himself a great
lord at the hazard of their lives, and since they had done their duty in
trying their fortune, and had gone farther from land and any succor than
others had done, that they ought not to destroy themselves, nor proceed
farther on the voyage, because if they did, they should have reason to
repent, for their provisions would fall short and the sails of the ships
would not last, which they knew were already so impaired that it would
be difficult to retrace their course from where they were; and that none
would condemn them for returning, but that they would be regarded as
very brave men for going upon such an expedition and venturing so far,
and that the admiral being a foreigner, and having nothing at stake, and
as many wise and learned men had condemned his opinion, there would be
nobody now to favor and defend him, and that they should get more credit
than he if they accused him of ignorance and mismanagement, whatever he
should say for himself. And there were some who said that to end all
dispute, in case he would not consent to return, that they could make
short work of it and throw him overboard, and report that while he was
making his observations he fell into the sea, and that no man would
trouble himself to inquire into the truth of the matter; which deed would
hasten their return home and preserve their lives. Thus they conducted
themselves from day to day, grumbling, complaining, and conspiring
together. The admiral was not without apprehensions of their inconstancy
and evil intentions toward him. Therefore, sometimes with fair words and
sometimes with a strong determination to expose his life, putting them
in mind of the punishment due them if they hindered the voyage, he, in
some measure, quelled their fears and suppressed their evil designs. To
confirm the hope with which he had inspired them, he reminded them of the
previous signs and indications, assuring them that they would soon find
land, which they were so eager to see that they thought every hour a year
until they beheld it....

“On Sunday morning [the thirtieth of September], four rush-tails came
to the ship, and as they flew there together, it was thought that land
was near, especially when, not long afterward, four pelicans flew by,
and an abundance of weeds was seen, lying in a line west-northwest
and east-southeast, and also a great number of those fishes they call
_emperadores_, which have a very hard skin and are not fit to eat.
However much the admiral regarded these signs, still he never forgot
those in the heavens and the course of the stars. He therefore observed
in this place, to his great astonishment, that the stars of Charles’s
wain, at night, appeared in the west, and in the morning they were
directly northeast, from which he inferred that their whole night’s
course was but three lines or nine hours—that is, so many parts of
twenty-four,—and this he did every night. He also perceived that at
night-fall the compass-needle varied a whole point to the northwest,
and at day-break it came right with the star. These things confounded
the pilots until he told them that the cause of it was the circuit the
star took about the pole, which was some satisfaction to them, for this
variation made them apprehend some danger at such an unknown distance
from home, and in such strange regions....

“On Monday, the first of October, at sunrise, a pelican came to the
ship, and two more about ten in the morning, and long beds of weeds
extended from east to west. That day, in the morning, the pilot of the
admiral’s ship said that they were five hundred and seventy-eight leagues
west of the island of Ferro. The admiral said, by his reckoning, they
were five hundred and eighty-four leagues; but in secret he concluded it
was seven hundred and seven, which is one hundred and twenty-nine leagues
more than the pilot reckoned. The other two vessels differed much in
their computations, for the pilot of the caravel Nina, on the following
Wednesday afternoon, said they had sailed five hundred and forty leagues,
and the other of the caravel Pinta said six hundred and thirty-four....

“On Thursday afternoon, the fourth of October, a flock of more than forty
sparrows and two pelicans flew so near the ship that a seaman killed one
of them with a stone; and before this they had seen another bird like a
rush-tail, and another like a swallow, and a great many flying-fish fell
into the vessels. The next day there came a rush-tail and a pelican from
the west, and great numbers of sparrows were seen.

“On Sunday, the seventh of October, about sunrise, some signs of land
appeared westward, but being undefined, no one said any thing, for fear
of the consequence of asserting what did not exist, and also for fear
of losing the thirty crowns which their catholic majesties had promised
as an annuity during the life of him who should first discover land.
In order to prevent the men from crying land, land, at every turn, as
they would likely have done without cause to secure the gift, it was
ordered that whoever said he saw land, if it were not ascertained to
exist in three days from that time, should lose the reward, even if
afterward he should be declared to be the first discoverer of land. All
on board of the admiral’s ship being thus forewarned, none dared to cry
out land, but those in the caravel Nina, which was a better sailer, and
kept ahead, once believing that they actually saw land, fired a gun, and
displayed their colors to indicate land. But the farther they sailed
the more their joyous expectations diminished and the indication of
land disappeared. However, it pleased God to give them soon after some
comforting assurances, for they saw great flocks of large fowl and others
of small birds flying from the west toward the southwest. Therefore, the
admiral, being now so far from Spain, and sure that such small birds
would not go far from land, altered his course, which until that time had
been westward, and stood to the southwest, saying, that his reason for
changing his course was that he would deviate but a little from his first
intention and that he would be following the example of the Portuguese,
who had discovered the greater number of their islands by means of such
birds, and more especially as the birds he saw flew generally in the same
direction. He also had always proposed to himself to find land according
to the place they were in; since, as they well knew, he had often told
them that he never expected to find land until he was seven hundred and
fifty leagues westward of the Canary Islands, within which distance, he
had further said, he should discover Española, which, at this time, he
called Cipango....

“On Monday, the eighth of October, there came to the ship twelve
singing-birds of several colors, and after flying about the vessel, they
held on their way. They also saw from the vessels many other birds flying
toward the southwest, and that same night great numbers of large fowls
were seen, and flocks of small birds coming from the north, and flying
after the others. Besides they saw a good number of tunny-fish. In the
morning they saw a jay, a pelican, some ducks, and small birds, flying
the same way as the others had done, and they perceived that the air was
fresh and odoriferous, as it is at Seville in April. But they were now
so eager to see land, that they had no faith in any signs; so that, on
Wednesday, the tenth of October, although they saw a great many birds
pass by during the day and at night, the men did not cease to complain,
or the admiral to censure them for their want of confidence, declaring to
them, that right or wrong they must go farther to discover the Indies for
which purpose their catholic majesties had sent them.

“The admiral being no longer able to withstand the number that opposed
him, it pleased God that on Thursday afternoon, the eleventh of October,
the men took heart and rejoiced, because they had unquestionable signs
that they were near land. Those on board the admiral’s ship saw a green
rush float by the ship, and then a large green fish of that class which
go not far from the rocks. Those on board the caravel Pinta saw a cane
and a staff, and picked up another staff curiously wrought, and a small
board, and an abundance of fresh weeds washed from the shore. Those in
the caravel Nina saw similar things, and a branch of a thorn full of red
berries, which seemed to be recently broken off. By these signs and by
his own consciousness, the admiral, being assured that he was near land,
made a speech to all the men in the evening, after prayers, reminding
them how merciful God had been in bringing them on so long a voyage with
such fair weather, and comforting them with indications which every day
were plainer and plainer. He begged them to be very watchful that night,
for they were aware that in the first article of the instructions he had
given each ship at the Canary Islands, that he had ordered that when
they had sailed seven hundred leagues to the west, without discovering
land, that they should lie to from midnight until daylight. Therefore,
since they had not yet obtained their desires in discovering land, they
should at least manifest their zeal by being watchful. And inasmuch as
he had the strongest assurances of finding land that night, each should
watch in his place; for besides the annuity of thirty crowns which their
highnesses had promised for a life-time to the one that first saw land,
to the same person he would give a velvet doublet.

“After this, about ten at night, as the admiral was in the great cabin,
he saw a light on shore, but said it was so obscure that he could not
affirm it to be land, though he called Pedro Gutierrez, and bid him
observe whether he saw the light, who said he did. Shortly afterward they
called Rodrigo Sanchez, of Segovia, to look that way, but he could not
see it, because he did not come in time to the place where it might have
been seen. They did not see it more than once or twice, which induced
them to think that it might have been a candle or a torch belonging to
some fisherman or traveller, who lifted it up and down; or, perhaps, that
it was in the hands of people going from one house to another, as the
light vanished and suddenly appeared again.... Being now very watchful,
they still held on their course, until about two in the morning, when the
caravel Pinta, which, being an excellent sailer, was far ahead, gave the
signal of land, which was first discovered by a sailor named Rodrigo de
Triana, when two leagues from the shore. But the annuity of thirty crowns
was not given to him by their catholic majesties, but to the admiral, who
had seen the light in the darkness, signifying the spiritual light that
he was then spreading in those dark regions. Being now near land, all the
ships lay to, those on board thinking it was a long time until morning,
when they might see what they had so long desired.”[145]

This island, says Bartolomé de las Casas, the Spanish historian,[146] was
“one of the Lucayos, called by the Indians Guanahani.[147] Presently they
descried people, naked, and the admiral landed in the boat, which was
armed, along with Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yañez, his brother,
captain of the Nina. The admiral bore the royal standard, and the two
captains each a banner of the green cross, which all the vessels had
carried. The banner was emblazoned with the initials of the names of
the king and queen[148] on each side of the cross, with a crown over
each letter. When they came on the beach, they saw trees very green, an
abundance of water, and fruit of different kinds. The admiral called
the two captains and the other men who had come on land, and Rodrigo de
Escovedo, notary of the fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, and said
that he had summoned them to bear witness that he, before all other men,
took possession (as in act he did) of that island for the king and the
queen, his sovereigns, making the requisite declarations which are more
at large set down in the instrument which they made there in writing.”

The natives who collected around the Spaniards at their landing are
thus described by Columbus: “I perceived that if they should have much
friendship for us that it was a people that could be emancipated and
converted to our holy religion better by love than by force. I gave
a number of them some red caps and some beads of glass, which they
placed around their necks, and many other things of little value, with
which they were much pleased, and they became so friendly that their
attachment seemed strange to us. Afterward they came swimming to the
boats of the ships, where we were, bringing parrots and thread of cotton
in hanks, javelins, and many other things, which they exchanged for other
articles we gave them, such as glass beads and little bells. Finally
they took every thing and gave whatever they had with good-will. But
to me they seemed to be a very poor people. They were all naked, just
as they were born, and even the women, although I did not see but one
young girl. All the rest I saw were youths, but none more than thirty
years of age; very well made, of good shape, and very attractive faces;
their hair coarse as that of the tail of a horse, and short, brought
over the forehead to the eyebrows, except a little on the back of the
head, which is longer and never cut. Some paint themselves black, for
they are of the color of those of the Canary Islands—neither black nor
white; others paint themselves white or red, or with any color they
find. Some paint their faces, and some their bodies; others only their
eyes or their noses. They carry no weapons and they have no knowledge of
them; for when I showed them swords they took them by the edge and they
cut themselves through ignorance. They have no iron. Their javelins are
rods without iron, and some of these have at the end a fish-tooth, and
others have other things. All of them, as a class, are of a commanding
stature, and are good-looking, well formed. I saw some marks of wounds on
their bodies, and I asked by signs what had caused them. They answered
me in the same way, that people came from the other islands thereabout
to capture them, and they defended themselves. I thought then, and still
believe, that those people came from the continent, (_tierra firme_,)
to take them prisoners. They ought to be good servants and very capable,
because I perceived that they repeated very readily all that I told
them, and I believe that they would easily become Christians, for they
seemed to me as if they had no religion. If pleasing to our Lord, I shall
carry from this place, at the time of my departure, six of them to your
highnesses, in order that they may learn to talk in our language. I did
not see any animals of any kind on the island, except parrots....

“Soon after day-break [on Saturday, the thirteenth of October,] many of
these people came to the beach, as I have said, all youths and of good
stature, a very handsome people; their hair not curled, but straight
and coarse, like horse-hair, and all with faces and heads much broader
than any other race that I have seen; their eyes very beautiful and not
small; they were not black, but the color of those of the Canaries, nor
ought it to be expected otherwise, for it is east-west (_Lesteoueste_)
with the island Ferro of the Canary group, on the same parallel.[149] ...
They came to the ship in canoes, log-boats, made of the trunks of trees,
all of one piece, and fashioned in a wonderful manner, considering the
country. In some of the large ones were as many as forty or forty-five
men, and in others that were smaller there was only one person. They
rowed with an oar resembling the wooden shovel used by bakers, and went
wonderfully fast, and if the canoe upset, all swam and set it right
again, bailing it out with calabashes which they carried with them. They
brought balls of spun cotton, and parrots, and javelins, and other things
which it would be tedious to describe, and which they parted with for
any thing that was given them. And I was inquisitive and endeavored to
ascertain if they had gold, and I saw some who wore small pieces hanging
from holes in their noses, and I learned by signs that, by going to the
south, or by going around the island to the south, I would find a king
who had large vessels made of gold, and great quantities of the precious
metal.”[150]

Columbus describing this island, which he named San Salvador (the Holy
Saviour), under whose protection he had made the discovery, continues:
“This is a large and level island, with extremely flourishing trees, and
streams of water. There is a large lake in the middle of the island, but
no mountains. It is entirely covered with verdure and it is delightful to
behold. The natives are an inoffensive people, and so desirous to possess
any thing they saw with us that they kept swimming off to the ships with
whatever they could find, and readily bartered for any article we saw fit
to give them in return, even such things as broken platters and pieces of
glass. I saw in this manner sixteen balls of cotton thread, which weighed
about twenty-five pounds, exchanged for three Portuguese _ceutis_.[151]
This traffic I forbade, and permitted no one to take their cotton from
them, unless I should order it to be procured for your highnesses, if
sufficient quantities could be obtained. It grows on this island, but
from my short stay here I could not inform myself fully respecting it.
The gold they wear in their noses is also found here. But not to lose
time, I am determined to proceed and ascertain whether I can reach
Cipango (Japan)....

“In the morning, [Sunday, the fourteenth of October,] I ordered the
boats to be manned and furnished, and coasted along the island toward
the north-northeast, to examine that part of it, for we had landed first
on the eastern part. We soon discovered two or three villages, and the
people all came down to the shore, calling to us, and giving thanks to
God. Some brought us water, and others food. Others seeing that I was not
disposed to land plunged into the sea and swam to us, and we observed
that they interrogated us to know if we had come from heaven. An old
man came on board my boat. The others, both men and women, cried with
loud voices: ‘Come and see the men who have come from heaven! Bring them
food and drink!’ Thereupon many of both sexes came to the beach, every
one bringing something, giving thanks to God, prostrating themselves on
the ground, and lifting their hands to heaven. They called to us loudly
to come on land, but I was apprehensive on account of a reef of rocks,
which, except where there is a narrow entrance, surrounds the whole
island, although within there is depth of water and space sufficient for
all the ships of Christendom....

“After I had taken a survey of these parts, I returned to the ship.
Setting sail, I discovered so many islands that I knew not which to visit
first. The natives whom I had taken on board informed me by signs that
there were so many of them that they could not be numbered. They repeated
the names of more than a hundred. I determined to steer for the largest,
which is about five leagues from San Salvador; the others were at a
greater or less distance from this island....

“We stood off and on during the night [of Monday, the fifteenth of
October], determining not to come to anchor till morning, fearing to
meet with shoals. We continued our course in the morning, and as the
island was found to be six or seven leagues distant, and the tide was
against us, it was noon before we arrived there. I found that part of it,
toward San Salvador, extending from north to south to be five leagues,
and the other side, along which we coasted, running from east to west,
to be more than ten leagues. From this island, espying a still larger
one to the west, I set sail in that direction and kept on till night
without reaching the western extremity of the island, where I gave it
the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion.... I now set sail for another
large island to the west.... This island is nine leagues distant from
Santa Maria, in a westerly direction. This part of it extends from
northwest to southeast, and it appears to be twenty-eight leagues long,
very level, without any mountains, as were San Salvador and Santa Maria,
having a good shore which was not rocky, except a few ledges under the
water, where it is necessary to anchor at some distance out, although
the water is clear and the bottom can be seen....” This island he called
Fernandina, in honor of the king of Spain.

On Friday, the nineteenth of October, he descried an island, “toward
which,” he remarks, “we directed our course, and before noon all three
of the vessels arrived at the northern extremity, where a rocky islet
and reef extend toward the north, with another between them and the
main island. The Indians on board the ships called this island Saomete.
I named it Isabela [in honor of the queen]. It lies westerly from the
island of Fernandina, and the coast extends from the islet twelve leagues
west to a cape I called Cabo Hermoso, for it was a beautiful, round
headland, with a bold shore free from shoals. Part of the shore is rocky,
but the remainder of it, like most of the coast here, a sandy beach....
This island is the most beautiful that I have yet seen, the trees in
great numbers, flourishing and tall; the land is higher than the other
islands, and exhibits an eminence, which, though it cannot be called
a mountain, yet it adds a charm to the appearance of the island, and
indicates the existence of streams of water in the interior. From this
part toward the northeast is an extensive bay, with many large and dense
groves.... I am not solicitous to examine particularly every thing here,
which, indeed, could not be done in fifty years, for it is my desire
to make all possible discoveries, and return to your highnesses, if it
please our Lord, in April. However, should I meet with gold or spices in
great quantity, I shall remain till I collect as much as possible, and
for this purpose I am only proceeding in search of them.” ...

Under the date of Sunday, the twenty-first of October, while at anchor
off the island of Isabela, Columbus writes: “I shall depart immediately,
if the weather serve, and sail round the island till I succeed in meeting
with the king, in order to see if I can acquire any of the gold which,
I hear, he possesses. Afterward I shall set sail for another very large
island, which I believe to be Cipango, according to the signs I receive
from the Indians on board. They call the island Colba [Cuba], and say
there are many large ships and sailors there. Another island they call
Bosio, and inform me that it is very large. The others that are on the
course I shall examine on the way, and accordingly as I find gold or
spices in abundance, I shall determine what to do. Nevertheless, I am
determined to proceed to the continent, and visit the city of Guisay [the
city of heaven, the residence of the Grand Khan], where I shall deliver
the letters of your highnesses to the Grand Khan, and demand an answer,
with which I shall return....

“Tuesday, the twenty-third of October.... It is now my determination
to depart for the island of Cuba, which I believe to be Cipango from
the accounts I have received here of the great number and riches of the
people. I have abandoned the intention of staying here and sailing round
the island in search of the king, as it would be a waste of time, and I
perceive there are no gold mines to be found.... And as we are going to
places where there is great commerce, I judge it inexpedient to linger on
the way, but to proceed and survey the countries we meet with, till we
arrive at that one most favorable for our business. It is my opinion that
we shall find much profit there in spices, but my want of knowledge in
these articles occasions me extreme regret, inasmuch as I see a thousand
kinds of trees, each kind with its particular fruit, and as flourishing
at this time as the fields in Spain during the months of May and June.
Likewise a thousand kinds of herbs and flowers, of the properties of
which I remain in ignorance, with the exception of the aloe, which I have
directed to-day to be taken on board in large quantities for the use of
your highnesses....

“Wednesday, the twenty-fourth of October.... At midnight weighed anchor
and set sail from Cabo del Isles of the island of Isabela, being in the
north part, where I had remained preparing to depart for the island of
Cuba, in which place the Indians tell me I shall find great commerce,
with abundance of gold and spices, and large ships, and merchants. They
direct me to steer toward the west-southwest, which is the course I am
holding. If the accounts which the natives of the islands and those on
board the ships have communicated to me by signs (for their language I
do not understand) are credible, this must be the island of Cipango,
of which we have heard so many wonderful things. According to my
geographical knowledge it must be somewhere in this neighborhood.”

On Sunday, the twenty-eighth of October, Columbus’s ships arrived off the
coast of Cuba and “entered an attractive river, free from shallows and
all other obstructions.... The mouth of the river had a depth of twelve
fathoms of water, and a breadth sufficient for ships to beat in. They
anchored within the river, and the admiral remarks that the scenery here
exceeded in beauty any thing he had ever seen, the river being bordered
with trees of the most beautiful and luxuriant foliage of a peculiar
appearance, and its banks covered with flowers and fruits of different
kinds. Birds were here in great number singing most charmingly. Numerous
palm trees were seen, different from those of Guinea and Spain, not
having the same kind of bark. They were of a moderate height and bore
very large leaves, which the natives used to cover their houses. The
land appeared quite level. The admiral went ashore in a boat, and found
two dwellings, which he supposed to be those of fishermen, and that the
owners had fled. He found in one of them a dog unable to bark. Both
houses contained nets of palm, lines, horn fish-hooks, harpoons of bone,
and other implements for fishing, as also many fire-places, and each
house seemed sufficiently large to shelter a great number of people. The
admiral gave orders that nothing should be touched.... They returned
on board the boat and ascended the river some distance.... The admiral
declares this to be the most beautiful island ever seen, abounding in
good harbors and deep rivers, with a shore upon which it appears the
sea never breaks high, as the grass grows down to the water’s edge, a
thing that never happens where the sea is rough. Indeed, a high sea they
had not yet had among these islands. This island, he says, is full of
attractive mountains, which are lofty, although not of great range. The
rest of the country is high, similar to Sicily, abounding in streams,
as they understood from the Indians of Guanahani that were on board the
ships, who informed them by signs that it contained ten large rivers,
and that the island was so large that with their canoes they could not
sail round it in twenty days.... The Indians told them there were mines
of gold here and pearls.... They further informed him that large vessels
came there from the Grand Khan, and that the main-land was distant a
voyage of ten days. The admiral named the river and port San Salvador.”
Farther westward, along the northern side of the island, Columbus
discovered the rivers which he called Rio de la Luna (River of the Moon),
and the Rio de Mares (River of Seas). The houses which were built on the
shores of the latter river, he says, were “the finest he had yet seen,
and thinks, the nearer he approaches the continent, they will continue
to improve. They were of a large size, built in the shape of a tent,
and each collection of them appeared like a camp, without any order of
streets, the houses scattered here and there. Their interiors were found
very clean and neat, well furnished and set in order. The houses were all
built of fine palm branches. They found here many statues shaped like
women, and numerous heads somewhat like masks, well made; whether these
were used as ornaments, or objects of worship, did not appear. Here,
about the houses, were small fowl originally wild, but now tame.”

On Tuesday, the thirtieth of October, “they sailed from the river which
they had named Rio de Mares, and standing to the northwest, discovered a
cape covered with palm trees, which the admiral called Cabo de Palmas;
it is fifteen leagues distant from the place of their departure. The
Indians on board the Pinta signified to the Spaniards, that beyond this
cape was a river, and from this river to Cuba was a distance of a voyage
or a journey of four days. The captain of the Pinta declared that he
understood Cuba to be a city, and that the land here was a continent of
great extent which stretched far to the north; also that the king of this
country was at war with the Grand Khan, whom the Indians called Cami,
and his country or city, Fava and other names. The admiral determined to
steer for this river, and to send a present and the letter of the Spanish
sovereigns to the king.... Seemingly the admiral was forty-two degrees
distant from the equator toward the north, if the manuscript is not
corrupted from which I [Las Casas] have taken this [information], and he
says that he had undertaken to go to the Grand Khan, who, he thinks, was
near there or in the city of Cathay of the Grand Khan, which city is very
large according to what was told before he departed from Spain.”

The vessels having returned on Wednesday to the Rio de Mares from a
short exploration of the coast, the admiral at sunrise, on Thursday,
sent some of his men ashore “to visit the houses they saw there. They
found the inhabitants had all fled, but after some time they espied a
man. The admiral then sent one of his Indians ashore, who called to
him from a distance and bade him not to fear any harm as the Spaniards
were a friendly people, not injuring any one nor belonging to the Grand
Khan, but on the contrary had made many presents of their goods to the
inhabitants of the islands. The natives, having ascertained that no
ill treatment was intended them, regained confidence, and came in more
than sixteen canoes to the vessels, bringing cotton yarn and other
things, which the admiral ordered should not be taken from them, as he
wished them to understand that he was in search of nothing but gold,
which they called _nucay_. All day the canoes passed between the ships
and the shore. The admiral saw no gold among them, but remarks that,
having observed an Indian with a piece of wrought silver in his nose, he
conceived it to be an indication of the existence of that metal in the
country. The Indians informed them by signs that within three days many
traders would come there from the interior to purchase the goods of the
Spaniards to whom the traders would communicate news of the king, who, as
far as could be learned from the signs of the natives, resided at a place
that was a journey of four days from there. They informed the Spaniards
also that many persons had been sent to tell the king respecting the
admiral. These people were found to be of the same race and manners
as those already seen, without any religion that could be discovered.
The Spaniards never saw the Indians who were kept on board the vessels
engaged in any act of worship, but they would, when directed, make the
sign of the cross, and repeat the _Salve_ and _Ave Maria_, with their
hands extended toward heaven. The language is the same throughout these
islands and the people friendly toward one another, which the admiral
says he believes to be the case in all the neighboring parts, and that
they are at war with the Grand Khan, whom they call Cavila, and his
country Bafan. These people go naked as the others.... It is certain,
says the admiral, that this is the continent, and that we are in the
neighborhood of Zayto and Guinsay, a hundred leagues more or less distant
from the one or the other.”[152]

With his thoughts all aglow with his seeming power to prove the
correctness of his geographical conjecture that he had reached the
eastern coast of Asia, Columbus sent from this place, on the second of
November, Rodrigo de Jerez of Ayamonte, and Luis de Torres, a Jew, (the
latter having lived with the adelantado of Murcia, and who knew Hebrew,
Chaldaic, and some Arabic,) and two Indians, into the interior of the
island, with letters to the Grand Khan of Cathay. “He gave them strings
of beads to purchase provisions, and directed them to return within six
days. Specimens of spicery were intrusted to them that they might know if
any thing similar existed in the country. He took care to instruct them
how they should inquire for the king, and what they were to say to inform
him that the king and queen of Castile had dispatched him with letters
and a present for his majesty. Furthermore, the envoys were instructed to
obtain some knowledge of the country, and observe the ports and rivers,
with their distances from the place where the ships lay. Here the admiral
took this night the altitude with a quadrant, and found that he was
forty-two degrees from the equator, and by his calculation eleven hundred
and forty-two leagues from Ferro, and he was confident that it was the
continent.”[153]

Among the noticeable things which the embassadors observed while
journeying into the interior of Cuba was the common use of tobacco by the
natives. “The two Spaniards,” says Las Casas, “met upon their journey
great numbers of people of both sexes: the men always with a firebrand in
their hands and certain herbs for smoking. These were dry and were placed
in a dry leaf, after the manner of those paper tubes which the boys
in Spain use at Whitsuntide. Lighting one end, they drew the smoke by
sucking at the other. This causes drowsiness and a kind of intoxication,
and according to the statement of the natives relieves them from the
feeling of fatigue. These tubes they call by the name of _tabacos_.”[154]

While waiting the return of the embassadors to the Grand Khan, Columbus
acquired some knowledge of the productions of Cuba. “The soil is very
fertile, producing _mames_, a root like a carrot, tasting like chestnuts.
Beans are also found here but very dissimilar to ours; also cotton,
growing spontaneously among the mountains. I am of the opinion that it is
gathered at all seasons of the year, for I observed upon a single plant
blossoms, buds, and open pods. A thousand other productions I have also
observed, which doubtless are of great value, but it is impossible for me
to describe them.”

On the fifth of November, the party sent to the Grand Khan returned,
and gave these particulars of their journey: “After having travelled a
dozen leagues they came to a town containing about fifty houses, where
there were probably a thousand inhabitants; each house containing a
large number of people. The houses were built after the manner of large
tents. The inhabitants received them, after their fashion, with great
ceremony. The men and women flocked to behold them, and they were lodged
in their best houses. They showed their admiration and reverence by
touching the strangers, kissing their hands and feet, and manifesting
astonishment. They imagined them to be from heaven, and signified as
much to them. They were feasted with such food as the natives had to
offer. Upon their arrival at the town the chief men of the place led
them by the arms to the principal building; here they gave them seats,
and the Indians sat upon the ground in a circle round them. The Indians
who had accompanied the Spaniards explained to the natives the manner in
which their strange guests lived, and gave a favorable account of their
character. The men then left the building, and the women entered, and sat
around the Spaniards as the men had done. They kissed their hands and
feet and examined them to see whether they were flesh and bone like their
own.... No village was seen upon the road of a larger size than five
houses.... Great numbers of birds were observed, all different from those
of Spain except the nightingales, which delighted them with their songs.
Partridges and geese were also found in great number. Of quadrupeds they
saw none except dogs that could not bark. The soil appeared fertile and
under good cultivation, producing the _mames_ already mentioned and
beans very dissimilar to ours, as well as the grain called _panic_. They
saw large quantities of cotton, spun and manufactured. A single house
contained more than five hundred _arrobas_[155] of it. Four thousand
quintals might be collected here yearly.... These people are inoffensive
and peaceable. They are unclothed, but the women wear a slight covering
about their loins. Their manners are very decent, and their complexion
not very dark, but lighter than the inhabitants of the Canary Islands. ‘I
have no doubt, most serene sovereigns,’ says the admiral, ‘that were some
proper, devout, and religious persons to come among them and learn their
language, it would be an easy matter to convert them all to Christianity,
and I hope in our Lord that your highnesses will devote yourselves with
much diligence to this object, and bring as great a multitude into the
church, inasmuch as you have exterminated those who refused to confess
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.’

“I have observed that these people have no religion, neither are they
idolaters, but are a very gentle race, without the knowledge of any
iniquity. They neither kill, steal, nor carry weapons, and are so timid
that one of our men can put a hundred of them to flight, although they
readily sport and play tricks with them. They have the knowledge that
there is a God above, and are firmly persuaded that we have come from
heaven. They quickly learn such prayers as we repeat to them, and also to
make the sign of the cross.’ ...

“Along the Rio de Mares, which I left last evening, [Sunday, the eleventh
of November,] there is undoubtedly considerable mastic, and the quantity
might be increased, for the trees when transplanted easily take root.
They are of a lofty size, bearing leaves and fruit like the lentisk. The
tree, however, is taller and has a larger leaf than the lentisk, as is
mentioned by Pliny, and as I have myself observed in the island of Scio,
in the Archipelago. I ordered many of these trees to be tapped in order
to extract the resin, but as the weather was rainy all the time I was on
the river, I was unable to procure more than a very small quantity, which
I have preserved for your highnesses.... Great quantities of cotton might
be raised here, and sold profitably, as I think, without being carried
to Spain, but to the cities of the Grand Khan, which we shall doubtless
discover, as well as many others belonging to other sovereigns. These may
become a source of profit to your highnesses by trading there with the
productions of Spain and of the other countries of Europe. Here also is
to be found plenty of aloe, which, however, is not of very great value,
but the mastic assuredly is, as it is found nowhere else than in the
previously mentioned island of Scio, where, if I rightly remember, it is
produced to the amount of fifty thousand ducats annually.”

Columbus further remarks, that at this point, near the river which he had
called Rio del Sol, “he found the weather somewhat cold, and, as it was
in the winter, he thought it not prudent to prosecute his discoveries any
farther toward the north.”[156]

[Illustration: A copy of a part of the map of the New World (tabvla
terre nove) contained in the edition of Ptolemy’s Geography printed at
Strasburg in 1513. (This part of the original is 9½ inches long.)]

Speaking of his explorations along the coast of Cuba, in his letter
to Rafael Sanchez, the admiral says: “I sailed along its coast toward
the west, discovering so great an extent of territory that I could not
imagine it to be an island, but the continent of Cathay.... I continued
on my course, still expecting to meet with some town or city, but after
having gone a great distance, and not arriving at any, and finding myself
proceeding toward the north, which I was desirous to avoid on account of
the cold, and, moreover, meeting with a contrary wind, I determined to
return to the south, and therefore put about and sailed back to a harbor
that I had observed.”[157]

On Monday, the twelfth of November, they had sailed by sunset eighteen
leagues, east by south, to a cape which Columbus called Cabo de Cuba.
“On the following Wednesday he entered a spacious and deep harbor,”
containing so many islands that they could not be counted.... He declares
that it is his opinion these islands are the innumerable ones which, on
the maps, are placed at the extreme part of the East, and says that he
believes they contain great riches, precious stones, and spicery, and
extend far to the south, spreading out on each side. He named this place
La Mar de Nuestra Senora, and the port, near the strait that extends to
these islands, Puerto del Principe.

On Wednesday, the twenty-first of November, when the vessels were about
eighty miles southeast of Puerto del Principe, “the admiral” says Las
Casas, “found they were forty-two degrees north of the equator as at
Puerto de Mares,[158] but he says here that he has stopped using the
quadrant until he should go on land that he might mend it. From this
statement it would seem that he doubted that he was so far from the
equator, and he had reason, for it was not likely since these islands
are in ⸺ degrees.[159] To know whether the quadrant was in good working
order, it is said that he took an observation to see if he was north as
high as Castile; and if this be true, and he was as high as Florida, what
is the situation of the islands already mentioned?[160] Moreover, it is
said that the heat was great. It is evident that if he were along the
coast of Florida, it should not have been hot, but cold.[161] And it is
also manifest that in no part of the world in the latitude of forty-two
degrees is great heat experienced except by some accidental cause, and
even this exception I [Las Casas] believe has never been known.”

A number of other places were sailed to by the inquisitive navigator,
which, in the chronological order of their discovery, he named Puerto de
Santa Catalina, Cabo del Pico, Cabo de Campana, and Puerto Santo. At
this last-named harbor, on Saturday, the first of December, “they planted
a cross in the solid rock.” Thence he sailed to Cabo Lindo, and thence to
Cabo del Monte. On Wednesday, the fifth of December, “he determined to
leave Cuba or Juana,[162] which hitherto he had taken for a continent on
account of its size, having sailed along the coast a hundred and twenty
leagues. He therefore left the shore and steered southeast by east, as
the land last discovered appeared in that direction. He took this course
because the wind always came round from the north to northeast, and from
there to east and southeast. It blew hard and they carried all sail,
having a smooth sea and a current favoring them, so that from morning to
one in the afternoon they had sailed eight miles an hour for nearly six
hours. The nights here are said to be nearly fifteen hours long. After
this they went ten miles an hour, and by sunset had sailed toward the
southeast eighty-eight miles, which are twenty-two leagues.”

On Thursday, the sixth of December, Columbus “found himself four leagues
from the harbor named Puerto Maria.” From this place he descried several
headlands to which he respectively gave the names of Cabo del Estrella,
Cabo del Elefante, and Cabo de Cinquin. “There appeared to be between
the two last-mentioned capes a very wide channel, which the sailors said
separated an island from the mainland. This island he named Tortuga. The
land here appeared high, and not mountainous, but even and level, like
the finest arable tracts. The whole or the great part of it seemed to be
cultivated, and the plantations resembled the wheat fields in the plain
of Cordova in the month of May.”

In the evening the ships entered the harbor “which he named Puerto de San
Nicolas, for it was the day of that saint.” On Friday he found the harbor
which he named Puerto de la Concepcion. This harbor “is about a thousand
paces or a quarter of a league wide at the mouth, without a bank or a
shoal, but exceedingly deep to the edge of the beach. It extends almost
three thousand paces, with a fine clear bottom. Any ship may enter it and
anchor without the least hazard. Here are two small streams, and opposite
the mouth of the harbor several plains, the most beautiful in the world,
resembling those of Castile, except that they surpass them. On this
account the admiral named the island Española.”[163]

On Wednesday, the twelfth of December, “a large cross was set up at the
entrance of the harbor upon a beautiful spot upon the western side,
‘as an indication,’ in the words of the admiral, ‘that your highnesses
possess the country, and particularly for a memorial of Jesus Christ, our
Lord, and the mark of Christianity.’ ... The admiral here ascertained
the length of the day and night, and found that from sunrise to sunset
there passed twenty glasses of half an hour each, although he says there
may be some error in the calculation, as the glass may not have been
turned quickly enough, or the contrary. He states further, that he took
an observation with the astrolabe and found the latitude to be seventeen
degrees....

“The people here were all naked, king as well as subjects, the females
showing no evidences of bashfulness. Both sexes were more handsome than
those they had hitherto seen. Their color was light, and if they were
clothed and protected from the sun and air they would almost be as fair
as the inhabitants of Spain. The temperature of the air was cool and
exceedingly pleasant. The land is high, covered with plains and valleys,
and the highest mountains are arable. No part of Castile could produce a
territory comparable to this in beauty and fertility. The whole island
and that of Tortuga are covered with cultivated fields, like the plain of
Cordova. In these they raise _ajes_, which are slips set in the ground,
at the end of which roots grow like carrots. They grate these to powder,
knead it, and make it into bread of a very pleasant taste, like that of
chestnuts. The stalk is set out anew and produces another root, and this
is repeated four or five times. The largest and most excellent that had
been met with anywhere (the admiral says they are also found in Guinea)
were those of this island, being of the size of a man’s leg. The natives
here, according to the statement of the admiral, were stoutly built and
courageous, very different from the timid islanders of the other parts;
agreeable in their intercourse and without any religion.... They saw a
native whom the admiral took to be the governor of the district, and whom
the Indians called the cacique. He had a plate of gold as large as one’s
hand, with which he seemed desirous of bartering. He carried it to his
house and had it cut into pieces, which he traded away one by one.”

One of the caciques of the island sent a messenger to Columbus bearing as
a present to him “a girdle, to which was attached, instead of a pouch, a
mask having the nose, tongue, and ears of beaten gold.”

“I think,” Columbus writes, “no one who has seen these parts can say
less in their praise than I have said. I repeat that it is a matter of
wonder to see the things we have beheld, and the multitudes of people in
this island, which I call Española, and the Indians Bohio. The natives
are singularly agreeable in their intercourse and conversation with
us, and are not like the others, who, when they speak, appear to be
uttering menaces. The figures of the men and women are fine, and their
color is not black, although they paint themselves. The most of them
paint themselves red, others a dark hue, and others different colors,
which, I understand, is done to keep the sun from injuring them. The
houses and towns are very attractive, and the inhabitants live in each
settlement under the rule of a sovereign or judge, to whom they pay
implicit obedience. These magistrates are persons of excellent manners
and great reserve, and give their orders by a sign with the hand, which
is understood by all the people with surprising quickness.”

On Monday, the twenty-fourth of December, as Columbus’s ship, the Santa
Maria, was running along the north side of Española, off the headland
named Punta Santa, “at the end of the first watch, about eleven at night,
when the vessel was about a league distant from the point of land, the
admiral lay down to sleep, having taken no rest for two days and a night.
As the sea was calm, the man at the helm left his post to a boy, and
also went off to sleep, contrary to the explicit orders of the admiral,
who had throughout the voyage forbidden, in calm or storm, the helm to
be intrusted to a boy. The admiral was free from any dread of rocks or
shoals, for the Sunday before, when he sent the sailors in boats to the
king who had invited him to visit him, they had passed three and a half
leagues to the east of Punta Santa, and had surveyed the whole coast for
three leagues beyond that point, and ascertained where the vessels might
pass, a thing never done before in the whole voyage. But as it pleased
our Lord, at midnight there being a dead calm and the sea perfectly
motionless, as in a cup, the whole crew, seeing the admiral had retired,
went off to sleep, leaving the ship in the care of the boy already
mentioned. The current carried her imperceptibly toward the shoals in the
neighborhood, upon which she struck with a noise that could have been
heard a league off.”

Although every thing was done to keep the damaged vessel afloat by
Columbus and the few men who remained on board, “she opened between her
ribs and slowly settled down on the shoal.” On the morning of Christmas
the ship was unloaded with the assistance of the natives, who with their
canoes conveyed the goods in her to the beach. These were afterward
stowed in some houses which the cacique of the region had offered to
Columbus for that purpose. The same ruler afterward gave the admiral a
large mask, with pieces of gold at the ears, eyes, and other parts of it,
and also some jewels of the same metal. “All these things had a great
effect upon the admiral in assuaging his grief for the loss of his ship,
and he became convinced that our Lord had permitted the shipwreck in
order that he might select this place for a settlement.

“‘And to this end,’ he says, ‘so many favorable things conspired, that
it cannot be called a disaster, but a great turn of good fortune, for
if we had not run aground, we should have kept off without anchoring
here, the place being in a large bay inside of two or three shoals.
Neither should I otherwise have been induced to leave any men in these
parts during the voyage; even if I had, I could not have spared them the
needful provisions and materials for their fortification. Many of my crew
have solicited me for permission to remain, and I have to-day [Wednesday,
the twenty-sixth of December] ordered the construction of a fort, with
a tower and a ditch, all to be well built, not that I think such a
fortification necessary as a defence against the inhabitants, for I have
already stated that with my present crew I could subjugate the whole
island, which I believe to be larger than the kingdom of Portugal, and
twice as populous, but that I think it prudent, since the territory is
at such a distance from our country, and that the natives may understand
the genius of the people of your highnesses and what they are able to
perform, so that they may be held in obedience by fear as well as by
love. For this purpose I have directed that a quantity of timber for
the construction of the fort shall be provided, also bread and wine be
left to suffice for more than a year, seed for planting, the long-boat
of the ship, a calker, a carpenter, a gunner, a cooper, and many other
persons of the number of those who have earnestly desired to serve your
highnesses, and oblige me by remaining here and searching for the gold
mine.’”

The admiral further remarks “that every piece of the ship was saved, for
not even so much as a thong, board, or nail was lost, for she was as
complete as when she first sailed, except that which was lost by cutting
her to get out the casks and merchandise. These were carried on shore and
well secured, as has already been mentioned. He adds that he hopes to
find, on his return from Castile, a ton of gold collected by those who
remained, by trading with the natives, and that they will have succeeded
in discovering the mine and the spices, and all these in such quantities
that before three years the king and queen may undertake the recovery of
the holy sepulchre. ‘For I have before proposed to your highnesses,’ he
writes, ‘that the profits of this undertaking should be employed in the
conquest of Jerusalem, at which your highnesses smiled and said you were
pleased, and had the same inclination.’”

“He left on the island of Española, which the Indians called Bohio, a
fort and thirty-nine men, whom he states to have been great friends
of King Guacanagari. Over these he placed Diego de Arana, a native of
Cordova, Pedro Gutierrez, groom of the king’s wardrobe, and Rodrigo de
Escovedo, a native of Seville and nephew of Fray Rodrigo Perez, with all
the powers the king and queen had delegated to him. He left them all the
goods which had been sent for trafficking, a great quantity, and every
thing belonging to the ship which had been wrecked. The goods he directed
should be traded away for gold.”

In commemoration of the day of Christ’s nativity, on which his ship was
wrecked at this place, he called the settlement Villa de la Navidad (city
of the Nativity). He further writes in his journal that “he had heard of
another island behind that of Juana, toward the south, in which there was
a still greater quantity of gold, and where it was found in grains of the
size of a bean.... This island was called by the Indians Yamaye.”[164]

“It was the admiral’s intention to coast farther along the island of
Española, which he might have done upon his homeward course, but as
he considered that the captains of the two caravels were brothers,
namely, Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yañez, and that they had a
party attached to them, and that they and their partisans had manifested
considerable haughtiness and avarice, disobeying his commands regardless
of the honors he had conferred upon them, which misdemeanors, as well as
the treachery of Martin Alonso, in deserting him,[165] he had winked at,
without complaining, in order not to throw impediments in the way of the
voyage—he thought it best to return home as quickly as possible. He adds
that he had many faithful men among his crews, but resolved to overlook
for the time the behavior of the refractory ones, and not at such an
unfavorable season undertake to punish them.”

On Tuesday, the fifteenth of January, while the caravels were anchored in
the bay which he called the Golfo de las Flechas (the Gulf of Arrows),
he describes the weapons of the natives. “The bows,” he says, “are equal
in size to those of France and England, and the arrows like the javelins
used by the inhabitants of the other islands, which are made of the
stalks of the cane while it is in seed. They are very straight, about
a yard and a half in length, and doubled, with a sharp piece of wood,
a span and a half long, at the end. At the point of this some attach a
fish’s tooth, but the most of them grass.... The bows of the Indians
appear to be made of yew.” The quantity of sea-weed which he found
growing in this bay led Columbus to infer that the Indies were near the
Canary Islands, not more than four hundred leagues distant.

On Wednesday morning, the sixteenth of January, they set sail from
the Golfo de las Flechas, to go to the island of Carib. “After sailing
sixty-four miles, as they estimated, the Indians on board signified that
the island was to the southeast, when they altered their course, and
proceeded in that direction, and after sailing several leagues the wind
freshened and blew very favorably for their return to Spain. The crews
began to grow despondent at leaving their homeward course, on account of
the leaky condition of the vessels, (for there was no remedy for it but
the help of God,) and the admiral found himself constrained to change his
course again, and steer directly for Spain.”[166]

Columbus, afterward writing to Rafael Sanchez respecting his explorations
along the coast of Española, remarks that the island of Española is
“greater in circuit than all of Spain, from Colibre in Catalonia, near
Perpignan, round the coast of the sea of Spain, along Granada, Portugal,
Galicia, and Biscay, to Fuenterabia, at the cape of Biscay.... Each
native, as far as I can understand, has one wife, with the exception of
the king and princes, who are permitted to have as many as twenty. The
women appear to do more work than the men. Whether there exist any such
thing here as private property, I have not been able to ascertain. I have
seen an individual appointed to distribute to the others, especially food
and such things.

“People of an extraordinary description I did not see, neither did I hear
of any, except those of the island Caris, which is the second island on
the way from Española to India. This island is inhabited by a people who
are regarded by their neighbors as exceedingly ferocious. They feed upon
human flesh. These people have many kinds of canoes with which they make
incursions upon all the islands of India, robbing and plundering wherever
they go. Their difference from the others consists in their wearing long
hair like that of women, and in using bows and arrows of cane; these last
constructed, as I have already related, by fixing a piece of sharpened
wood at the larger end. On this account they are considered very
ferocious by the other Indians, and are much feared by them.”[167]

Speaking of the pecuniary profits of the voyage Columbus wrote: “I am
enabled to promise the acquisition, by a trifling assistance from their
majesties, of any quantity of gold, drugs, cotton, and mastic, which
last article is found in the island of Scio; also, any quantity of aloe,
and as many slaves for the service of the marine as their majesties may
need. The same may be said of rhubarb and a great variety of other things
which, I have no doubt, will be discovered by those I have left at the
fort, as I did not stop at any single place, unless obliged to do so by
the weather with the exception of Villa de la Navidad, where we remained
some time to build the fort and provide the necessary means for the
defence of the place.

“Although the discoveries actually accomplished appear great and
surprising, yet I should have achieved much more had I been furnished
with a suitable fleet. Nevertheless the great success of this undertaking
is not to be ascribed to my own merits, but to the holy catholic faith
and to the piety of our sovereigns, the Lord often granting to men what
they never imagine themselves capable of accomplishing, even that which
appears impracticable, for he is accustomed to hear the prayers of his
servants and those who love his commandments. In this way has it happened
to me that I have succeeded in an undertaking never before accomplished
by man.”[168]

On Thursday night, the fourteenth of February, a violent tempest arose,
“the waves crossing and dashing against one another so that the vessel
[the Nina] was overwhelmed, and not able to get out from between them.
The foresail was set very low, in order to carry her somewhat out of her
dangerous situation. They stood under it for three hours, going twenty
miles, when the wind and sea increasing, they began to drive before it,
not having any other deliverance. At the same time the Pinta, in which
was Martin Alonso Pinzon, began to scud likewise, and they soon lost
sight of her, although the two caravels made signals to each other with
lights, until from the fury of the storm they were no longer visible.”
The fear of being lost now overcame Columbus and his men. They prayed and
made many vows. “The admiral ordered that lots should be cast for one of
them [if they safely reached land] to go on a pilgrimage to Santa Maria
of Guadalupe and carry a wax taper of five pounds’ weight. He made them
all to take an oath that the one on whom the lot fell should perform the
pilgrimage. For this purpose as many peas were selected as there were
persons on board. One of the peas was marked with a cross, and all were
shaken together in a cap. The first who put his hand into the cap was the
admiral, and he drew out the crossed pea. So the lot fell on him, and he
considered himself as bound to accomplish the pilgrimage. Another lot
was taken for a pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Loretto, in the province of
Ancona, the territory of the pope, where is the house in which Our Lady
has performed so many miracles. This lot fell on a sailor of Puerto de
Santa Maria, called Pedro de Villa. The admiral promised to furnish him
with the money for his expenses. A third lot was determined upon for
the selection of a person who should watch a whole night in Santa Clara
de Moguer, and have a mass said there. This lot fell on the admiral.
After this he and all the crew made a vow to go in procession, clothed
in penitential garments, to the first church dedicated to Our Lady which
they should meet with on arriving on land, and there pay their devotions.
Besides these general vows, every individual made a private one, all
expecting to be lost, so terrible was the violence of the hurricane.
Their danger was increased by the want of ballast in the vessel, ...
which the admiral had neglected to supply among the islands, because he
wished to husband his time in making discoveries, and expected to take in
ballast at the island of Matinino, which he intended to visit. The only
thing that they could do in this emergency was to fill with sea-water
such empty casks as they could find, and by doing this they obtained some
relief.

“Here the admiral speaks of the circumstances which caused him to fear
that our Lord would suffer them to perish, and of some which made him
hope that he would bring them safe to land, and not allow the important
information they were carrying to the king and queen to be lost. He seems
to have felt the greatest anxiety to have his wonderful discovery known,
so that the world might be convinced that his assertions had been correct
and that he had accomplished what he had professed himself able to do.
The thought of this not being done gave him the greatest disquietude,
and he was constantly apprehending that the most trifling thing might
defeat his whole intention. He ascribes this to his want of faith and
confidence in a divine providence, but comforts himself by reflecting
upon the many mercies God had shown him in having enabled him to succeed
in his project, when so many adversities and hindrances opposed him in
Castile, and afterward to accomplish his great discovery. And as he had
made the service of God the aim and business of his undertaking, and as
he had hitherto favored him by granting all his desires, he indulges in
the hope that he will continue to favor him, and will give him a safe
return. He also remembered that God had delivered him on the outward
voyage, when he had much greater reason to fear; that the eternal God
gave him resolution and courage to withstand his men when they conspired
against him and with a unanimous and menacing determination resolved to
turn back. With these thoughts, and the consideration of other wonderful
favors he had enjoyed, he says he ought not to be in fear of the tempest;
but he adds that his apprehensions and the anguish of his mind would not
allow him to rest. Besides, he continues, his anxiety was increased by
reflecting upon the condition of his two sons whom he had left at their
studies in Cordova,—these would be left orphans in a foreign land, and
the king and queen being ignorant of the services he had rendered them
by the voyage, would not feel any inclination to provide for them. On
this account, and that their highnesses might be informed that our Lord
had granted success to the undertaking in the discovery of the Indies,
and might know that storms did not prevail in those regions (which was
apparent from the plants and trees growing down to the brink of the
sea), he devised the means of acquainting them with the circumstances
of the voyage in case they should perish in the storm. This he did by
writing an account of it on parchment, as full as possible, and earnestly
entreated the finder to carry it to the king and queen of Spain. The
parchment was rolled up in a waxed cloth and well tied. A large wooden
cask being brought, he placed the roll inside of it, and threw the cask
into the sea, none of the crew knowing what it was, but all thinking that
it was some act of devotion.”[169]

On the sixteenth of February the Nina reached the Azores, and two days
afterward was riding at anchor at the island of Santa Maria. Departing
from the Azores on the twenty-fourth of February, the Nina again
encountered another storm, which caused Columbus to take refuge in the
mouth of the river Tagus, on the fourth of March. From this roadstead he
sent a courier overland to Spain bearing the intelligence of his arrival
at this haven on the coast of Portugal, and another to the king of
Portugal to ask permission to anchor in the harbor of Lisbon.

When, on the sixth of March, it became known in Lisbon, says Ferdinand
Columbus, “that the ship came from the Indies, such throngs of people
went aboard to see the Indians and to hear the news, that the vessel
could not contain them, and the water was covered with boats, some of
the people praising God for the success of so great an undertaking, and
others storming because the Portuguese had lost the discovery through
the king’s incredulity.... The next day the king wrote to the admiral
congratulating him on his safe return, and expressing the desire, since
the admiral was in his dominions, that he would visit him [at Valparaiso,
nine leagues from Lisbon].... The king ordered all the nobility of his
court to go out to meet him, and when the admiral came into the presence
of the king, he honored him by commanding him to put on his cap and to
sit down. The king, having heard the particulars of his fortunate voyage,
offered him all he stood in need of for the service of their catholic
majesties, although he thought that as the admiral had been a captain in
the service of Portugal, that the discovery belonged to him. To which the
admiral answered that he knew of no agreement by which he could obtain
it, and that he had strictly obeyed his orders, which were that he should
not go to the mines of Portugal or to Guinea. The king said that it was
all well, and he did not doubt but justice would be done. Having spent
considerable time in this conversation, the king commanded the prior of
Crato, the greatest man then about him, to entertain the admiral, and
show him all civility and respect, which was done accordingly. Having
remained there all Sunday, and all Monday until after mass, the admiral
took leave of the king.... As he was on his way to Lisbon, he passed a
monastery, where the queen was, who sent him an earnest entreaty that
he would not pass by without seeing her. She was much pleased to see
him, and bestowed upon him all the favor and honor that were due to the
greatest lord. That night a messenger came from the king to the admiral,
to inform him that if he wished to go by land to Spain he would attend
him, provide lodgings on the way, and furnish him all that he might
require, as far as the borders of Portugal.

“On Wednesday, the thirteenth of March, two hours after daylight, the
admiral set sail for Seville, and, on Friday following, at noon, arrived
at Saltes, and came to anchor in the port of Palos,[170] from which
he had departed on the third of August, the previous year, 1492, seven
months and eleven days preceding his return.”[171]

Desiring as early as possible to make known his return and his remarkable
discoveries, Columbus, as soon as his vessel came to anchor, sent
letters to several of his friends, in which he gave brief descriptions
of the people and of the islands which he had found, as he believed, in
the eastern part of Asia. One of these letters, that addressed on the
fourteenth of March to Rafael or Gabriel Sanchez, treasurer of Spain, was
shortly afterward translated into Latin and printed at Rome. The title
given to the letter expresses the popular belief respecting the situation
of the discovered islands: “A letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our
age is greatly indebted, respecting the islands of India lately found
beyond the Ganges.”[172]

Conscious of the greatness of his discovery, Columbus enthusiastically
closes his letter with these words: “And now the king, the queen, the
princes, and all their dominions, as well as the whole of Christendom,
ought to give thanks to our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has granted us
such an achievement and success. Let processions be ordered, let solemn
festivals be celebrated, let the churches be filled with boughs and
flowers.”

When his father landed at Palos, “he was received there,” says Ferdinand
Columbus, “by all the people in procession, giving thanks to God for
his fortunate success, which, it was hoped, would contribute greatly to
propagate the Christian religion and enlarge their majesties’ dominions.
All the inhabitants of the place considered it a matter of no little fame
that the admiral had sailed from that port, and that most of the men he
had with him belonged to it, though many of them, through [Martin Alonso]
Pinzon’s fault, had been mutinous and disobedient.... The admiral then
proceeded toward Seville, intending to go from there to Barcelona where
their catholic majesties were. He was compelled to tarry a little along
the way thither, though it were ever so little, to satisfy the curiosity
of the people where he went, who came from the neighboring towns to the
road along which he journeyed to see him, the Indians, and the other
things he brought. Proceeding in this manner, he reached Barcelona about
the middle of April, having previously sent their highnesses an account
of the good fortune attending his voyage, which exceedingly pleased
them, and they appointed him a most impressive reception as a man that
had performed for them an extraordinary commission. All the court and
city went out to meet him. Their catholic majesties sat in public in
great state, on costly chairs, under a canopy of gold-cloth; and when he
approached to kiss their hands they arose as to a great lord, and were
unwilling to give him their hands, and caused him to sit down by them.
When he had given them a brief account of his voyage, they permitted him
to retire to his apartment, to which he was attended by all the court.
And he was so highly honored and favored by their highnesses, that when
the king rode about Barcelona, the admiral was on one side of him, and
the Infante Fortuna on the other, for before this, no one rode by the
side of his majesty but the Infante, who was his near kinsman.”[173]

Galvano, speaking of the enthusiasm created by Columbus’s return, says:
“Hereupon there arose so extraordinary a desire to travel among the
Spaniards that they were ready to leap into the sea to swim, if it had
been possible, unto these new lands.”[174]




CHAPTER V.

1493-1506.


The Spanish sovereigns, in order to obtain the privilege of extending
their sway over the islands discovered by Columbus, immediately sent
embassadors to Rome to request Pope Alexander VI. to confirm the title of
Spain to the recently found lands, for it was then believed that the pope
had sole and absolute authority to dispose of all countries inhabited by
heathen peoples. Pope Martin V. and his successors had already granted to
the crown of Portugal the possession of all the lands it might acquire by
right of discovery beyond Cape Bojador toward the East. Pope Alexander
VI., to reward the Spaniards for wresting Spain from the Moors, issued
a bull, on the fourth of May, 1493, establishing a line of limitation,
running from the north to the south pole, distant one hundred leagues
west of the Azores and the Cape Verd Islands, giving to Spain all the
lands she had discovered or might discover west of it, which had not been
acquired by any Christian power before the preceding Christmas, and to
Portugal all the territory, on the same conditions, which lay east of
it. These territorial concessions of the pope caused the possessions of
Spain, in the western hemisphere, to be called the West Indies, and those
of Portugal, in the eastern hemisphere, the East Indies. The position of
the line of demarkation displeased the Portuguese. To settle the dispute
which it caused, the two countries sent commissioners to Tordesillas,
Spain, who agreed, on the seventh of June, 1494, that the position of the
line should be changed so that it should pass, north and south, three
hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verd Islands.

Meanwhile in Spain a fleet of seventeen ships had been fitted out to sail
to the Indies in the West. About fifteen hundred Spanish adventurers
took passage on the different vessels, which were freighted with
agricultural and mining implements, horses, cattle, and stores of various
kinds, necessary for planting colonies on the newly-discovered islands.
Commanded by Columbus, the fleet weighed anchor in the roadstead of
Cadiz, on Wednesday, the twenty-fifth of September, 1493, and thence
sailed toward the West India archipelago.

After a voyage of thirty-eight days the fleet reached the island
of Dominica. The approach of Columbus to the field of his former
explorations is thus described: “On Saturday night, the second of
November, the admiral perceiving a great change in the sky and winds, and
having observed the heavy rains, and believing that he was near land,
ordered most of the sails to be furled, and commanded all to be upon the
watch, and not without cause for that same night, at daybreak, land was
descried seven leagues to the westward, a high mountainous island, which
he called Dominica (Sunday), because it was discovered on Sunday morning.
Shortly afterward he saw another island, northeast of Dominica, and then
another, and another after that, more northward. For this blessing which
God had been pleased to bestow on them, all the men assembled on deck
and sang the _Salve Regina_ and other prayers and hymns very devoutly,
giving thanks to God, because in twenty days after departing from Gomera,
[one of the Canary Islands,] they had made that land, estimating the
distance between them to be between seven hundred and fifty and eight
hundred leagues. Finding no convenient harbor in which to anchor on the
east side of Dominica, they stood for another island, which the admiral
called Marigalante, which was the name of his ship.”[175] Thence he
proceeded northward “to a large island which he called Santa Maria de
Guadalupe, to honor her and the request of the friars of the house of
that name, to whom he had made promise to call some island by the name of
their monastery.... Going ashore in the boat to view a village which they
had observed, they found none of the inhabitants in it, the people having
fled to the woods, except some children to whose arms they tied some
baubles to allure their fathers when they returned. In the houses they
found geese like ours, a great number of parrots, with red, green, blue,
and white feathers, as large as common cocks. They also found pumpkins,
and a kind of fruit which looked like our green pine-apples, but much
larger, and inside full of solid substance like a melon, and much sweeter
both in taste and smell, that grew on long stalks like lilies or aloes,
wild about the fields.... They also saw other kinds of fruit and herbs
different from ours; beds of cotton nets (_hamacas_), bows and arrows,
and other things....

“The next day, which was Tuesday, the fifth of November, the admiral sent
two boats ashore to capture some natives who might give him a description
of the country, and tell him how far off and in what direction Española
lay. Each boat brought back a youth. The youths agreed in saying that
they were not of that island, but of another called Borriquen, and that
the inhabitants of that island of Guadalupe were Caribbees or cannibals,
and had taken them prisoners from their own island. Soon after the boats
returning to shore, to take up some Christians they had left there, six
women were found with them, who had fled from the Caribbees, and came
of their own accord aboard the ships.... One of the women told them
that toward the south there were many islands, some inhabited, others
not, which both she and the other women, severally called Giamachi,
Cairvaco, Huino, Buriari, Arubeira, Sixibei. But the continent, which
they said was very great, both they and the people of Española called
Zuanta [Yucatan?], because in former times canoes had come from that land
to barter.... The same women gave them information where the island of
Española lay; for though the admiral had inserted it in his sea-chart,
yet for his further information he desired to hear what the people of
that country said of it.... Then the admiral landed and went to some
houses, where he saw ... a great deal of cotton, spun and unspun, looms
to weave, a great number of men’s skulls hung up, and baskets filled with
men’s bones.”[176]

On his way to the island of Española, Columbus discovered an island which
he called San Juan Baptista, but the Indians, Borriquen. On the twelfth
of November he arrived off the north coast of Española. On Thursday, the
twenty-eighth of the same month, the discoverer with his fleet entered
the harbor of the Villa de la Navidad, and found the place burnt and
deserted. The next morning “the admiral landed, much concerned to see the
houses and fort in ashes and nothing left belonging to the Christians
except some ragged clothing and similar things as are found in a place
plundered and destroyed. Seeing no one to question, the admiral went up
a river that was near with some boats.... Having found nothing but some
of the clothing of the Christians, he returned to Navidad, where he saw
the bodies of eight Christians, and of three other persons in the fields,
whom they recognized by their clothing, and they seemed to have been
dead about a month. While the Christians were searching for some other
tokens or writings of the dead, a brother of the cacique, Guacanagari,
came with some Indians to talk with the admiral. These could speak some
words of Spanish, and knew the names of all the Christians that had been
left there. They related that the latter soon began to quarrel among
themselves, and each to take as much gold and as many women as they
could obtain. Pedro Gutierrez and Escovedo thereupon killed a person
named Diego, and then they and nine others went away with their women to
a cacique, whose name was Caunaboa, who was lord of the mines, and he
killed them all. Then many days afterward he came with a great number of
men to Navidad, where there was only Diego de Arana with ten men, who had
remained with him to guard the fort, all the others being dispersed about
the island. The cacique, Caunaboa, coming there at night, set fire to the
houses where the Christians lived with their women, and the Christians,
being frightened, fled to the sea, where eight were drowned, and three
died ashore, whose bodies they showed to them. Guacanagari undertook
to defend the Christians, but he and his men were wounded and were
compelled to flee for their lives.”[177]

About the ninth of December Columbus sailed eastwardly from the site of
the Villa de la Navidad, and anchored before an Indian town, where he
determined to plant a colony. “He landed with all his men, provisions and
implements, which he had brought in the ships of the fleet, at a plain,
near a rock, on which a fort could easily be built. Here he erected a
town, and called it Isabela, in honor of Queen Isabella. This place was
deemed very suitable, inasmuch as the harbor was very large, though
exposed to the northwest, and had an attractive river a bow-shot from
it, from which canals of water might be cut to run through the middle of
the town, and beyond was an extensive plain, from which the Indians said
the mines of Cibao were not very distant. For these reasons the admiral
was eager to settle the colony. On account of the fatigue of the voyage
and that caused by his labor here, he did not have time to write in his
journal, from day to day, what happened, as had been his habit. He also
fell sick, which interrupted his writing from the eleventh of December to
the twelfth of March, 1494. Meanwhile he administered the affairs of the
town according to his ability. He intrusted Alonso de Hojeda with fifteen
men to discover the mines of Cibao. Afterward, on the second of February,
twelve ships of the fleet set sail for Castile, under the command of
Antonio de Torres.”[178]

In March Columbus with a body of armed men explored the country of Cibao.
“It is rough and stony,” writes Ferdinand Columbus, “full of gravel,
grassy, and watered by several rivers in which gold is found. The
farther they went into the country the more rugged and mountainous they
found it. On the tops of the mountains were grains of gold-sand, for, as
the admiral said, the great rains carry it down from the summits of the
mountains to the rivers in small sand.... The admiral, perceiving that
he was now eighteen leagues from Isabela, and the country he had left
behind him very craggy, ordered a fort to be built in a very pleasant and
defensible place, which he called the castle of San Tomas, to command the
country about the mines, and to be a place of safety for the Christians
who went there. The command of this new fort he gave to Don Pedro
Margarita, a person of some importance, with fifty-six men, among whom
were men of all trades to erect the fort, which was built with clay and
timber, which made it strong enough to resist the attack of any number
of Indians that might come against it.... On Sunday, the twenty-ninth of
March, Columbus arrived at Isabela, where melons were already grown fit
to eat, although it was not more than two months after the seed had been
put into the ground. Cucumbers came up in twenty days, and a wild vine of
that country, having been pruned, had produced grapes which were good and
large. The next day, being the thirtieth of March, a farmer gathered ears
of wheat, the seed of which he had sown at the latter end of January.
There were also pease, but much larger than those they sowed. All they
sowed came up above the ground in three days, and on the twenty-fifth day
they were eating them. The stones of fruit set in the ground sprouted
in seven days, and vine branches shot out in the same time, and in
twenty-five days thereafter they gathered green grapes....

“The admiral, having determined to go to discover the continent,
appointed a council to govern the island in his absence. The persons
composing it were Don Diego Colon, the admiral’s brother, with the title
of president; F. Boyl [Friar Buil] and Pedro Fernandez Coronel, regents;
Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal, rector of Bacca, and Juan de Luxan, gentlemen
of their catholic majesties.... On Tuesday, the twenty-ninth of April,
the wind being favorable, Columbus arrived at Cabo de San Nicolas, and
thence crossed over to the island of Cuba, running along the south coast
of it, and having sailed a league beyond Cabo Fuerte, he put into a large
bay which he called Puerto Grande....

“On Saturday, the third of May, the admiral resolved to sail from Cuba
over to Jamaica, that he might not leave it behind without knowing
whether the report of the abundance of gold there were true. The wind
being favorable, he discovered it on Sunday, when he was less than half
the distance to it. On Monday he came to anchor, and thought it was the
most attractive of all the islands which he had seen in the Indies. So
many people, in large and small canoes, came aboard his vessels that it
was quite astonishing. The next day he ran along the coast to search
for harbors. When the boats went to examine the havens, there came out
so many canoes and armed men to defend the country, that the men in the
boats were forced to return to the ships, not through fear, but to avoid
making enemies of them.... On Tuesday, the thirteenth of May, Columbus
determined to stand over again for Cuba to coast along it, intending
not to return until he had sailed five or six hundred leagues, and was
satisfied whether it were a continent or an island.... On Friday, the
thirteenth of June, the admiral perceiving that the coast of Cuba ran
far to the west, and that it was a matter of the greatest difficulty to
sail that way on account of the infinite number of islands and sand-bars
that were on all sides of them, and he also beginning to be in want of
provisions, for which reason he could not continue his voyage as he had
intended, he determined to return to the town he had begun to build in
Española. To supply himself with wood and water, he anchored at the
island Evangelista, which is thirty leagues in circuit, and seven hundred
from Dominica.”[179]

While Columbus was exploring the coast of Cuba, near the island of
Evangelista, on the twelfth of June, it is said that he, for the purpose
of furnishing indisputable evidence that he had reached the dominions
of the Grand Khan, sent Fernando Perez de Luna, his notary, with four
attesting witnesses, to the vessels, and had each person on board to make
a declaration under oath that he was convinced that the land he saw was a
part of the continent of Asia, and that he believed any one could go from
it by land to Spain.[180] The notary, when taking the depositions, it is
said, informed each person giving this testimony, that should he for any
malicious purpose afterward assert a different opinion, he would, if an
officer, be made to pay a penalty of ten thousand maravedis for such an
offence, and if a person of lower rank, he would receive a hundred lashes
and have his tongue cut out.[181] Strange as it seems, it was Columbus’s
belief that this watery expanse was really the gulf of the Ganges.[182]

Departing from the island of Evangelista, Columbus returned along the
coast of Cuba to Cabo de Santa Cruz, from which he steered to the island
of Jamaica. After leaving it, he discovered the two islands lying off the
east coast of Española, called respectively by the Indians Adamanai and
Mona. On the twenty-ninth of September, 1494, he returned to Isabela.

The people of the island of Española having acquired some knowledge
of the Spanish language, were able at this time to give Columbus
considerable information respecting their religion. From his
conversations with them he was enabled to write the following account of
their peculiar image-worship: “I could discover neither idolatry nor any
sect among them, though each one of their kings, who are very many, as
well in Española as on all the other islands and continent, has a house
apart from the town, in which there is nothing but some carved, wooden
images that are called _cemies_. There is nothing done in these houses
but what is for the service of the _cemies_, to which they repair to
perform certain ceremonies, and pray there, as we do in our churches.
In these houses they have a handsome, round table, made like a dish, on
which is some powder, which they lay on the heads of the _cemies_ with
a certain ceremony. Then through a cane, that has two branches, held to
their own nostrils they snuff up this powder. The words they use none
of our people understand. The powder intoxicates them, and they act as
if they were drunk. They also give the image a name, and I believe it is
that of their father or grandfather, or both; for they have more than
one, and some more than ten, all in memory of their forefathers, as I
have already said. I have heard them praise one more than another, and
have observed them to have more devotion, and show more respect to one
than another, as we do in processions in time of want; and the people
and the caciques boast among themselves of having the best _cemies_.
When they go to these _cemies_ they shun the Christians, and will not
permit them to enter these houses. If they suspect that they will come,
they take their _cemies_ and hide them in the woods for fear that they
should be deprived of them. What is most ridiculous, they have the
habit of stealing one another’s _cemies_. It happened once that the
Christians suddenly rushed into a house with them, and the _cemi_ cried
out, speaking in their language, which showed that it was artificially
made. The _cemi_ being hollow, they had attached a tube to it, which tube
extended to a dark corner of the house, where a man was concealed with
boughs and leaves who had spoken through the tube the words which the
cacique had commanded him. The Spaniards, suspecting something of the
kind, kicked down the _cemi_, and discovered that which has been related.
The cacique seeing that his deception was known to the Spaniards,
earnestly begged them not to speak of it to his subjects or to the other
Indians, because he made them obedient by this artifice.... Three large
stones are also in the possession of almost all the caciques, which are
highly venerated by them and their people. The one they say makes the
corn and the grain to grow, the second helps women in travail, and the
third procures rain or fair weather, whenever they desire to be benefited
in any one of these ways. I sent your highnesses three of these stones by
Antonio de Torres, and have three more to bring with me.

“When these Indians die, they have several ways of performing their
obsequies. The manner in which they bury their caciques is as follows:
They open his body and dry it at a fire in order to preserve it. Of
other persons they only take the head. They bury some in caves or
caverns, and place gourds of water and bread at their heads. Others they
burn in the house where they die, and they do not permit them to die
naturally, but strangle them at their last gasp. This is done to the
caciques. Others are turned out of the house, and are put in a _hamac_,
which is their bed, with bread and water at their heads, and they are
never visited again. Some who become dangerously ill are carried to the
cacique, who tells whether they are to be strangled or not, and what
he commands is done. I have taken pains to learn what they believe,
and whether they know what becomes of them after they are dead. This I
inquired of Caunaboa, who was the principal king of Española, an aged
man, intelligent and of much discernment. He and the rest answered that
they go to a certain valley, which every great cacique supposes to be
his country, where, they affirm, they find their parents and all their
ancestors; that they eat, have women, and enjoy themselves in pleasures
and pastimes.

“The admiral, having brought the island into a peaceable condition, and
built the town of Isabela, besides three forts in different parts of the
country, determined to return to Spain.... He went on board, on Thursday,
the tenth of March, 1496, with two hundred and twenty-five Spaniards and
thirty Indians, and sailed from Isabela, at daybreak, and steered along
the coast with two caravels, one called Santa Cruz, the other La Nina,
the same in which he went to discover the island of Cuba.... Having
supplied himself with bread, wood, and water, he set sail on Wednesday,
the twentieth of April, from the island of Guadalupe, with the wind very
scant, keeping near the latitude of twenty-two degrees, for at that
time they had not found out the way of running away north to catch the
southwest winds.”[183]

After sailing a month in the direction of Spain, “although there were
eight or nine pilots on board the two vessels, yet none of them knew
where they were; but the admiral was confident that they were only a
little west of the Azores.”

Columbus, speaking of the movements of his compasses at this time,
observes: “This morning the Dutch compasses varied, as they formerly
did, a point; and those of Geneva, which previously agreed with them,
varied only a little, but after sailing east varied more, which is a sign
that we are one hundred leagues or more west of the Azores, for when we
were just one hundred there were only a few weeds scattered in the sea,
and the Dutch needles varied a point, those of Geneva cutting the north
point, and when we are a little farther east-northeast they will alter
again.”[184] These noticeable differences in the variations of the
needles, Ferdinand Columbus says, the admiral assigned to “the different
kinds of loadstones used in making them.” ... “In this way,” he remarks,
“they continued their voyage, though all the pilots went like blind men.”
Columbus, when near Spain, confidently asserted that they would be in
sight of the coast on the following morning, which proved to be true,
“for which reason he was looked upon by the seamen as very expert and
almost prophetic in sea affairs.”[185] On Saturday, the eleventh of
June, 1496, the caravels arrived in the port of Cadiz.

“The admiral,” as soon as he had landed, “began to prepare for his
journey to Burgos, where he was favorably received by their catholic
majesties, who were there celebrating the nuptials of Prince Juan, their
son, who married Margarita of Austria.”

[Illustration: FIELD OF VOYAGES TO AMERICA.

ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.]

While Columbus was in Española, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
abrogated in part the concessions granted him, and issued letters-patent
on the tenth of April, 1495, permitting any of their subjects to
make voyages of discovery to the Indies.[186] Commissioned by their
highnesses, Amerigo Vespucci[187] went with a fleet of four vessels,
in 1497, to make discoveries. The account of the voyage is contained
in a letter written by him, in Lisbon, on the fourth of September,
1504. The publication of it made him famous as the discoverer of the
continent of America. Singular as it is true, the palpable discrepancies
found in the subsequent versions of Vespucci’s letter have led many
scholars to discredit the statements of the intelligent and enterprising
Italian.[188] Vespucci thus writes respecting his first voyage:

“The king, Don Ferdinand of Castile, having ordered four ships to
discover new lands toward the west, I was selected by his highness to go
in the fleet to aid in the discoveries.[189] We departed from the port of
Cadiz on the tenth day of May, 1497, and took our course across the great
gulf of the ocean-sea.[190] We spent eighteen months on the voyage, and
discovered much main-land and an endless number of islands, which were in
great part inhabited. As these are not spoken of by ancient writers, I
think that they had no knowledge of them....

“We reached a land which we judged to be firm land, distant from the
Canary Islands about a thousand leagues more to the west, within the
torrid zone, because we found the north pole at an elevation of sixteen
degrees above the horizon,[191] and that we were more than seventy-five
degrees west of the Canary Islands as our instruments showed.[192] We
anchored our ships a league and a half from the coast. We got out our
boats, and, having manned and armed them, we went on land.

“Before we went ashore we were greatly delighted in seeing many people
wandering along the beach. We saw that they were naked and that they
seemed to be frightened when they beheld us, likely, as I supposed,
by seeing us clothed, and of a different stature from their own.
They retired to a mountain, and we could not entice them to hold any
intercourse with us, notwithstanding we endeavored to induce them by
signs of peace and friendship....

“We sailed to the northwest[193] in which direction the coast extended,
always in sight of land, seeing continually, during the voyage, people on
the shore. After sailing two days, we found a secure place for the ships,
and anchored half a league from the land.... The natives were somewhat
timid, and it was a long time before we were able to dispel their fear
and induce them to come and talk to us.... Giving them such things as
looking-glasses, bells, beads, and other trifles, we enticed a number of
them to approach and enter into friendly relations with us....

“These people go entirely naked and wear not a particle of clothing. They
are of a medium size and very well proportioned. Their skin is reddish
like the color of a lion’s skin.... They do not allow any hair to grow
on their eyelids and eyebrows, nor on any part of their bodies; only
on their heads, for they think it very unbecoming. The men and women
are exceedingly quick in their movements, and are unconstrained in
their deportment. They walk and run rapidly. The women do not think it
a difficult thing to run a league or two.... These people are excellent
swimmers. The women surpass the men, for we have observed them many times
swimming unaided, fully two leagues out from land.

“The weapons of these people are bows and arrows. These are curiously
made. They have no iron or any other hard metal on them. They use instead
the teeth of animals or fish.... They are expert bowmen, and hit with
their arrows whatever they shoot at. The women in some parts of the
country handle the bow with considerable skill. Their other weapons are
lances and clubs with elaborately carved heads. When they go to make
war their wives accompany them, not to fight, but to carry provision on
their backs. Sometimes a woman will convey a burden in this manner thirty
or forty leagues, which the strongest men there cannot do as we have
frequently observed....

“These people, although they appear ignorant as talkers, are very
sagacious and crafty in any matter in which they are interested. They do
not talk much, and when they do, it is in a low tone.... Their languages
differ so much that we found people living within the space of a hundred
leagues who could not understand one another’s speech.... They do not
partake of food at appointed times nor in such quantities to satisfy them
during equal intervals. Whenever their appetites demand food, whether in
the middle of the night or day, it does not matter to them, they appease
their hunger.... They take their food from earthen basins made by them,
or from gourds cut in half.

“They sleep in certain nets made of cotton, very large, suspended in the
air.... These people are clean and neat in their persons, for they are
continually bathing.... They live together in common, and make their
houses like cottages, which are very strongly built with the largest
trees and covered with palm leaves.... We found one which contained
six hundred persons, and we saw the occupants of thirteen houses, who
must have numbered four thousand souls. New sites for these houses are
selected every seven or eight years. When we asked why they changed
the location of their dwellings, they said it was because the intense
heat of the sun caused painful diseases to spread among them when the
ground about their houses became permeated and foul with filth; which
explanation seemed quite reasonable to us.

“The riches of these people are the feathers of birds of different
colors, ornaments made of fish bones, and white and green stones, with
which they adorn their cheeks, lips, and ears.... Some of these people,
when they inter their dead, place water and food at the head of the
corpse.... In some parts of the country there is a very inhuman custom of
disposing of a person about to die. His relatives carry him into a great
wood, and, fastening one of their sleeping nets to two trees, put him
in it. Having swung him in it during the day, they, at the approach of
night, depart to their homes, leaving with him water and food sufficient
for his wants during the succeeding five or six days. Should the ill man
partake of the provisions and recover sufficient strength to enable him
to make his way back to the village, his relatives honor his return with
ceremony....

“For their infirmities they have various kinds of medicine very different
from those we use.... I often observed that when a person was stricken
with fever and grew worse, that they bathed him with much cold water
from head to foot, and then built a great fire around him, and made
him walk about the inclosed space for an hour or two until he became
quite fatigued, when they allowed him to sleep. Many were cured by this
treatment.... Blood-letting is an art known to them. They do not take
blood from the arm except in the arm pit. They generally take it from the
loins or the calf of the leg.... They have no grain seed nor corn, but
use instead the root of a tree, from which they make flour, which is very
good, and which they call _Iuca_, and another which they call _Cāzabi_,
and another which they call _Ignami_. Very little meat is eaten by them
except human flesh.... They devour with fierce avidity their enemies,
whom they kill or capture, whether men or women. They thought it very
strange when they learned that we did not eat the flesh of our enemies....

“We landed in a port[194] where we found a village built above the water
like Venice. About forty-five bell-shaped houses were erected here upon
very large piles, and connected one with the other by draw-bridges....
When we were descried by the people they were seemingly terrified, and
to protect themselves they immediately drew their bridges and shut
themselves up in their houses. While we were observing them and wondering
at their actions, we beheld about twenty-two canoes (_canoe_) approaching
us from the direction of the sea. These canoes are boats which they
use, and are made from a single tree. The people in them rowed toward
our boats, no little astonished at our forms and clothing. As they kept
at some distance from us, we made signs to induce them to come nearer.
Failing to assure them of our peaceful intentions, and seeing that they
would not approach any nearer, we rowed toward them. But they did not
remain where they were, but rowed to the land, where, by signs, they
intimated that we should wait for a short time until they returned.

“They hastened away to a mountain, but did not stay there any length of
time. Returning they brought with them sixteen young girls, and, entering
their canoes, rowed to us, and placed four girls in each of our boats.
We were much surprised at this.... They then kept their canoes alongside
of our boats, and we were led to believe that these people were thus
manifesting their friendship. Not suspecting any thing different, we
observed a great number of people swimming toward us from the houses.
Then some old women appeared at the doors of the houses shrieking and
pulling their hair as if in great distress. Suspecting some treachery,
we took up our arms. All at once the girls in our boats plunged into the
sea, and the people in the canoes rowed away, shooting their arrows at
us. Those who swam to us carried lances with them concealed under the
water. Discovering their treachery, we not only defended ourselves, but
vigorously attacked them. We upset in our boats many of their canoes and
killed many people. In a short time those who were not hurt left their
canoes and swam to the shore. They had about fifteen or twenty killed and
wounded, and we five slightly wounded.... We took two girls and two men
prisoners. When we entered their houses we found only two old women and
a sick man. We took from the houses many things of little value, but did
not burn the houses from humane motives....

“This country is thickly inhabited and contains a great many rivers. The
animals in it are quite different from those in our country, except the
lions, panthers, stags, hogs, goats, and deer, and some of these are
somewhat different from ours in form.... But how can I describe the birds
here, which are so many and of so many kinds, and the color of their
feathers so different, that the sight of them amazes one.

“The country is very attractive and fruitful, and covered with very great
woods and forests, in which the trees are always green, for they never
lose their foliage. There are unnumbered fruits very different from
those in our country. This land lies within the limits of the torrid
zone, below the line describing the tropic of Cancer, where the pole is
elevated twenty-three degrees above the horizon, at the end of the second
climate.[195] ... In this country we made a baptismal font, and baptized
many of the people, who called us _caribi_, meaning men of great wisdom.

“The country is called Lariab by the natives. We sailed along its coast
always in sight of land and ran on the whole course toward the northwest
eight hundred and seventy leagues.[196] ... We found gold in some places
but not much. The discovery of the country and the knowledge that gold
was in it satisfied us....

“On our return we sailed toward the sea going between the north and east,
and after seven days we reached some islands.... We landed on one of
them, where we found many people, who called the island Iti [Hayti?]....
We set sail for Spain with two hundred and twenty-two slave-prisoners,
and arrived at the port of Cadiz on the fifteenth of October, 1498,[197]
where we were well received, and sold our slaves. This is what happened
to me in this my first voyage that may be considered noteworthy.”[198]

“Shortly after the departure of the fleet with which Vespucci went to
the New World, Columbus complained to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
that the permission given by them in 1495 to those who desired to go on
voyages of discovery toward the west was prejudicial to the privileges
previously granted him by their Spanish majesties. The latter therefore
revoked their letters-patent of the tenth of April, 1495, on the second
of June, 1497, declaring that it should “have no force nor effect at any
time, or in any manner whatever, so as to be prejudicial to the said
admiral, and to whatever we have thus granted and confirmed to him.”[199]

“The fitting out of the fleet [for Columbus’s third voyage to the Indies]
was delayed much longer than was necessary through the negligence and
bad management of the king’s officers, and particularly that of Don
Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville. Hence it happened
that Don Juan, who was afterward bishop of Burgos, was, from that time
onward, a bitter enemy to the admiral and his affairs, and was the chief
person among those who brought him into disgrace with their catholic
majesties.[200] ... The admiral made his preparations for the voyage
with all possible diligence, and on the thirtieth of May, 1498, set
sail from the bay of San Lucar de Berrameda, with six ships, freighted
with provisions and other necessaries for the relief of the planters in
Española and the peopling of that island.”[201]

On Thursday, the fifth of July, Columbus steered westward from the
islands of Cape Verd, and on the last day of the month altered his course
and stood to the north. “One day about noon as he was thus sailing
[off the coast of Venezuela, South America, north of the mouths of the
Orinoco river], Alonso Perez Nirando, a sailor of the town of Huelva,
while going up to the round-top, saw the peaks of three mountains to the
westward, distant about fifteen leagues. Not long afterward they beheld
land extending northeastwardly as far as they could see. When they had
given thanks to God and said the _Salve Regina_ and other prayers used
by seamen in times of distress or joy, the admiral called the discovered
island, la Isla de Trinidad (the island of the Trinity), for he had
thought of giving this name to the first land they should find on the
voyage, and now God had graciously granted him the sight of three
mountains near together as has been mentioned. The fleet stood directly
west to reach a point of land on the south side of the island, and then
coasted along that side of it until the anchors were cast, five leagues
beyond the cape, which Columbus called Punta de la Galera (Point of the
Galley), which name was suggested by a rock on the headland, resembling,
at a distance, a galley under sail. On the following morning, Wednesday,
Columbus continued his course westward, for there was only one cask of
water on board his ship, and one on each of the other vessels, and at the
last anchorage no convenient place had been found to obtain more. At the
next headland, which he called Punta de la Playa (Point of the Strand),
the ships anchored and the crews went to a small brook and obtained a
supply of fresh water. No town or people were seen here, although they
had observed many houses and towns along the coast.... This day, which
was the first of August, when the vessels were sailing between Punta de
la Galera and Punta de la Playa, they discovered the continent, distant
about twenty-five leagues as they guessed. Inasmuch as they thought it
was another island, they called it Isla Santa (Holy Island).”

When the ships anchored at the southwestern extremity of the island
of Trinidad, which point of land Columbus called Punta del Arenal, “a
large canoe,” the admiral writes, “came from the eastward, containing
twenty-four men, all in the prime of life, fully armed with bows, arrows,
and shields. As I have said, they were all young, well proportioned, and
not dark black, but whiter than any other Indians that I had seen....
They wore their hair long and straight, cut in the Spanish fashion. Their
heads were encircled with cotton scarfs elaborately colored, like the
head-dresses of the Moors. Some wore these scarfs round their bodies as
a covering in the place of breeches. When I reached Punta del Arenal I
found that the island of Trinidad was separated from the land of Gracia
(_la tierra de Gracia_)[202] by a strait two leagues wide....

“I discovered beyond the point which I called Punta de la Aguda,
one of the most attractive countries in the world, and very densely
populated.... Some of the natives immediately came in canoes to the
ship to request me in the name of their king to come on land. When they
saw that I paid no attention to them, they came in great numbers in
their canoes to the ship, many of them wearing pieces of gold on their
breasts, and some of them bracelets of pearls on their arms. When I saw
these I was exceedingly pleased, and I made many inquiries to learn
where the people found them. They informed me that they were obtained in
the neighborhood and also at a place north of the country.... Desiring
to get some pearls like those I had seen, I sent some men ashore for
that purpose.... They related that when the boats reached the shore,
two chiefs, whom they took for father and son, came to them from the
throng of the people and conducted them to a very large house, at two
springs, not round and tent-shaped as the other houses. In this house
were many seats, on which they seated our men and themselves. They then
caused bread to be brought with many kinds of fruit and various wines,
both white and red, not made from grapes but apparently from different
fruits.... The men were congregated at one end of the building and the
women at the other. Great vexation was felt by both parties because they
could not understand each other’s language, for they each desired to ask
questions concerning their respective countries.”

Columbus, describing that part of South America which he called Gracia,
now known as Venezuela, and also referring to the Orinoco River pouring
its flood of fresh water into the Gulf of Paria, which he called Golfo
de las Perlas (Gulf of Pearls), remarks: “I think that if the mentioned
river does not flow from the earthly paradise that it comes from a vast
extent of land in the south, of which nothing hitherto has been known.”

In the letter containing this information respecting South America the
admiral speaks of sending to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, to
whom the letter was addressed, a map of the country (_la pintura de la
tierra_).[203]

The channel between the island of Trinidad and the land of Gracia (which
the natives called Paria), Columbus called la Boca de la Sierpe (the
mouth of the Serpent). The fleet then sailed from the Gulf of Paria
through its northern outlet, which Columbus called la Boca del Drago (the
mouth of the Dragon), and passed by the cape which he called Cabo de las
Conchas and the island which he named Margarita. “Although,” as Ferdinand
Columbus remarks, “the admiral saw that the country of Paria extended
much farther westward, nevertheless he says that from that time forward
he could not give as good a description of it as he wished on account of
his eyes being too much inflamed by constant watching. Therefore he was
compelled to obtain the most of his information concerning it from the
sailors and pilots.”[204]

When Columbus arrived, at the end of August, at the island of Española,
where he intended to recruit his failing health, he found the colonists
rebelling against the authority of his brother Bartolomé, whom he had
left there as adelantado, or lieutenant-governor, when he sailed for
Spain in 1496. Columbus at once took steps to put an end to the sedition.
Meanwhile complaints were sent to their Spanish majesties, King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella, who, to adjust the differences existing between
the two contending factions, sent Francisco de Bobadilla to Española
to discover the cause of the insurrection and to punish by fine and
imprisonment those whom he should find culpable. Summoning the admiral
to appear before him at San Domingo, he, as soon as Columbus arrived,
ordered him to be put in irons and to be confined in the fortress. Having
drawn up certain charges against Columbus, he sent him in chains to
Spain. About the middle of November, 1500, the vessel arrived at Cadiz.
When the news of Columbus’s humiliation at the hands of Bobadilla became
known, the people everywhere censured the latter for the unwarranted
abasement of the distinguished discoverer. The king and queen immediately
sent orders for Columbus to be set at liberty, and afterward received
him with many gracious acknowledgments of his important services, and
publicly declared that Bobadilla should account to them for his ill
treatment.[205]

When the information contained in Columbus’s letter respecting the large
and valuable pearls possessed by the people of Paria became known in
Spain a number of capitalists immediately fitted out a fleet to go to the
Land of Pearls. The command of the vessels was given to Alonso de Hojeda,
who had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage. The cosmographer,
Juan de la Cosa, and Amerigo Vespucci went with Hojeda. Vespucci, in his
account of the voyage, says: “We departed from the port of Cadiz, three
ships in company, on the sixteenth day of May, 1499.... In forty-four
days we arrived at a new land, which we judged to be main-land, and the
continuation of that previously mentioned. It lay in the torrid zone
south of the equator, where the south pole is elevated five degrees.”
They sailed from their first place of anchorage and ran southeastwardly
along the coast forty leagues. The strong currents running from the
southeast to the northwest hindered the progress of the vessels so much
that the explorers determined to change their course and to sail to the
northwest. Following the trend of the coast in this direction, they,
after sailing some time, reached a beautiful bay, at the entrance of
which was a large island. About eighty leagues beyond this harbor they
entered another, where they went on land and obtained one hundred and
fifty pearls and some gold from the friendly natives. At another place
the inhabitants of the country “had their cheeks stuffed with a green
herb which they were continually chewing as animals chew their cud, so
that they were scarcely able to speak. Hanging from the neck of each
native were two dried gourd-shells, one filled with the herb which the
people had in their mouths, the other containing a white meal like chalk
dust. The natives carried small sticks which they wetted at intervals in
their mouths and then put them into the meal and then into the gourds
containing the herb.” Then they again filled their cheeks with the herb.

At another place the explorers remained forty-seven days, where they
obtained “one hundred and nineteen marks of pearls” in exchange for some
small trifles. From a native, Vespucci obtained an oyster containing one
hundred and thirty pearls. The fleet sailed along the coast to where it
was “fifteen degrees north of the equator.” Thence the explorers steered
for Española to obtain provisions. Departing from the island on the
twenty-second of July, 1500, they sailed for Spain, and arrived at the
port of Cadiz on the eighth of September.[206]

When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella heard that the Portuguese had
reached India by sailing around Africa, they commissioned Columbus to
explore the western coast of Paria, where he conceived a navigable strait
could be found through which the vessels of Spain might sail to Cathay.
Four caravels composed the fleet with which he sailed from Cadiz on the
ninth of May, 1502. On the fifteenth of June, the vessels came in sight
of one of the Caribbean islands called by the natives Mantinino. Thence
they sailed to the island of Dominica, and thence to Española. Departing,
on the fourteenth of July, from the port of Brazil, on the south side
of the island of Española, Columbus sailed toward the Bay of Honduras,
eastward of which he imagined was a strait through which he might sail
to the Indian Ocean and reach Cathay. “We came to certain islands,” says
Ferdinand Columbus, who had accompanied his father to the New World,
“where we went ashore on the largest, called Guanaia, whence those that
make sea-charts took occasion to call all those islands Guanaia, which
are almost twelve leagues from the continent, near the province now
called Honduras, though the admiral then called it Cabo Casinas.” While
the fleet was anchored in one of the roadsteads of the group of islands
called Guanaia, a large log-boat crowded with Indians and filled with
certain commodities arrived there. Describing the capture of this highly
valued prize, Ferdinand Columbus remarks: “Fortune so ordered it that
a canoe, as long as a galley and eight feet wide, all of one tree, and
like the other boats in shape, put in there, loaded with commodities
brought from the country toward the west and bound for Nueva España.[207]
In the middle of it was a covering like an awning, made of palm leaves,
resembling those of the Venetian gondolas, which protected all beneath
it, that neither rain nor sea-water could wet the goods. Under the awning
were the women and children. Although there were twenty-five men in the
canoe, they had not the courage to defend themselves against those in our
boats who pursued them. The canoe being taken without any opposition it
was brought to the admiral’s caravel.... He commanded that such articles
should be taken as were thought to be the most desirable and valuable, as
quilts, shirts of cotton without sleeves, curiously made and dyed with
different colors, apron-cloths, and large sheets in which the Indian
women in the canoe wrapped themselves as the Moorish women, formerly in
Granada, were in the habit of doing. There were also long wooden swords,
with grooved edges on each side, in which sharp pieces of flint were
compactly fastened with thread and a bituminous substance, and these cut
naked men as if they were made of steel; also copper hatchets to cut
wood, like those of stone which the other Indians use; also bells of the
same metal, and dishes and crucibles to melt it in. For food they had
such roots and grain as the people of Española eat, and a kind of liquor
made of maize, like the English beer, and an abundance of cacao-nuts,
which in New Spain pass for money, which they seemed to value very much,
for when they were brought aboard among the other goods, I observed that
when any of these nuts fell, the Indians all stooped to pick them up, as
if they were things of value.... Notwithstanding the admiral had heard
so much from those in the canoe concerning the great wealth, politeness,
and ingenuity of the people westward toward New Spain, yet thinking that
he could sail to those countries lying to the leeward, when he thought
fit from Cuba, he would not go that way at this time, but adhered to
his intention of discovering a strait in the continent to pass into the
South Sea,[208] by which he could sail to the countries that produce
spice. Therefore he resolved to sail eastward toward Veragua and Nombre
de Dios, where he imagined the strait to be.... He was deceived in the
undertaking, for he did not conceive it to be an isthmus, or a narrow
neck of land, as it really was, but a small bay extending from sea to
sea.”[209]

On the coast of Veragua, now the isthmus of Panama or Darien, Columbus
found the ruins of an immense building covered with tables of strange
hieroglyphics and unique reliefs. These vestiges of an ancient
civilization made so profound an impression on the mind of the admiral
that he selected a curiously elaborated piece of the wall, and brought it
away in one of his caravels. “This was the first place, in the Indies,”
says Ferdinand Columbus, “where they saw any sign of an edifice. It was a
great mass of wall of imagery seemingly composed of lime and stone. The
admiral ordered a piece of it to be brought away to show the evidence of
its antiquity.”[210]

On the fifth of January, 1503, they cast anchor near a river which the
Indians called Yebra, and the admiral Belem or Bethlem. Westward of it
was a river which the natives called Veragua. Columbus, having determined
to build a town at this point, began, about the end of February, to erect
“houses upon the river of Belem, about a cannon-shot from its mouth,
within a trench, on the right bank of the river, at the mouth of which
there is a little hill. Besides these houses, which were all of timber
and covered with the leaves of palm trees growing along the shore,
another large house was built to serve as a store-house and magazine,
in which were stored several cannon, some powder, provisions, and other
necessaries for the use of the planters....

“The customs of the Indians here are somewhat similar to those of the
natives of Española and the neighboring islands; but the people of
Veragua and its neighborhood, when they talk to one another and eat turn
their backs, and are always chewing an herb, which, as we think,” says
Ferdinand Columbus, “makes their teeth to decay and rot. Their food is
fish; these they take with nets and hooks.... They have an abundance
of maize, which is a kind of grain growing in an ear, or hard head
like millet, of which they make white and red wine, as beer is made in
England, and mix their spice with it as pleases their palates. It has a
pleasant taste like a sharp, lively wine.”[211]

“In Cariay and the adjacent country,” says Columbus, “there are great
enchanters of a very dreadful kind.... I saw there, built on a mountain,
a sepulcher as large as a house and elaborately sculptured. The body
lay uncovered with the face downward. The people told me of other very
excellent works of art.... They said that there were great mines of
copper in the country, of which metal they make hatchets and other
manufactured articles, both cast and soldered. They also make forges
from it, and all the apparatus of goldsmiths, and also crucibles. The
inhabitants wear clothes. I saw in that province large sheets of cotton
elaborately and skillfully made, and others very delicately colored with
pencils. They informed me that in the interior, towards Cathay, that the
people there have them interwoven with gold.... One thing I dare declare,
for there are many to attest it, that in the land of Veragua I saw more
indications of gold in the two first days [of my stay there] than I had
found during four years in Española.”[212]

The Spaniards, however, were soon attacked by the natives, and were in
such distressing circumstances that Columbus was compelled to abandon
his purpose of leaving a colony on this part of the continent and to
take his men on board the ships and to return to Española. Speaking of
the return-voyage, Ferdinand Columbus writes: “Thus rejoicing that we
were all together again, we sailed along the coast eastward. Although
all the pilots were of the opinion that we might return to San Domingo
by standing away to the north, nevertheless the admiral and his brother
knew that it was requisite to run a considerable distance along this
coast before they steered across the gulf that is between the continent
and Española, at which our men were displeased, thinking that the admiral
designed to sail directly for Spain, whereas he neither had provisions
nor were his ships fit for the voyage.[213] But as he knew best what was
to be done, we held on our course until we came to Porto Bello, where
we were obliged to leave the ship Biscaina, on account of its leaky
condition, being all worm-eaten through and through. Steering along the
coast, we passed by the port we called Retrete, and a country near which
there were many small islands, which the admiral called Las Barbas, but
the Indians and pilots call that the territory of the cacique Pocorosa.
We held on this course ten more leagues to the last land we saw of the
continent, called Marmora, and on Monday, the first of May, 1503, we
stood to the north.... Although all the pilots said we should be east of
the Caribbee islands, yet the admiral feared we should not make Española,
which proved to be true.... We reached an Indian town on the coast of
Cuba, called Mataia, where, having obtained some refreshment, we sailed
for Jamaica.”[214]

On his return to the island of Jamaica, in June, 1503, Columbus,
describing his voyage along the isthmus of Darien, wrote to King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, saying: “On the thirteenth of May I reached
the province of Mango, which is contiguous to that of Cathay, and
thence I steered for the island of Española.”[215] Peter Martyr[216]
also seems to have held the opinion that Columbus’s explorations were
along the continent of Asia. Writing in 1510, the first decade of the
New World, he remarks: “The opinion of Christopher Columbus respecting
the magnitude of the sphere and the opinions of the ancients concerning
the under-navigation of the world seem to be adverse. Nevertheless the
parrots and many other things brought from there indicate that the
islands savor only of India, either being near it or else of the same
nature.”[217]

With this fourth voyage, the zealous and enthusiastic navigator ended
his life-work. On the twelfth of September, 1504, Columbus for the last
time set sail from the attractive field of his numerous explorations
and arrived at San Lucar, on the seventh of November, broken down in
health, aged, and the victim of many unjust accusations and bitter
disappointments. Two years afterward, on the twentieth of May, 1506, he
died at Valladolid, being about seventy years old, leaving to another the
discovery, by the way of the west, of a navigable route to the remote
coast of Cathay.

As intended by him, when he set sail on his first voyage, Columbus
afterward made a map on which he delineated “all the sea and the lands
of the ocean-sea” (_del mar Océanus_) discovered by him.[218] Although
the admiral’s chart is lost, there are several maps extant, which, in
part, represent the islands of Juana, Jamaica, Española, and the smaller
ones, as he evidently had outlined them on his new sailing chart (_carta
nueva de navegar_). A map of the world, in the Estense library, at
Modena, made between the years 1501 and 1504,[219] and the map of the
New World (_tabula terre nove_), in the edition of Ptolemy’s geography,
printed in 1513, at Strasburg,[220] exhibit the islands, discovered by
Columbus on his first voyage, and of which he speaks in his journal of
1492 and 1493. The high latitudes in which he placed the Rio de Mares and
other rivers of Juana, when he made his discoveries “toward the north,”
are designated on these maps. On the Ptolemy map the name _c doffun de
abril_ at the southeast point of Cuba appears to designate the same
cape as that of _c de fvndabril_ on the map of the world made by Johann
Ruysch, the German cartographer, contained in the edition of Ptolemy’s
geography, printed at Rome in 1508.[221] Both of these misspelled
names are evidently anomalous forms of the Spanish designation, _C. de
Fuenterabia_. The names on Ruysch’s representation of the island of Cuba
correspond more closely to the Spanish orthography of the designations
given by Columbus to the places he visited than those which are inscribed
on the two maps previously mentioned.[222]

The earliest map extant representing the territory discovered in
the western hemisphere is a map of the world drafted by the Spanish
cartographer, Juan de la Cosa.[223] It was found by Baron de Walckenaër
in the possession of a dealer in old books and wares, from whom he
bought it for a small sum of money. Baron von Humboldt shortly afterward
made its discovery known in his notable work on the geography of the
new continent.[224] When the library of Baron de Walckenaër was sold,
in Paris, in 1853, La Cosa’s map was purchased for the queen of Spain
for four thousand and twenty francs. It is now in the Naval museum, in
Madrid.[225] The famous map-maker drafted the whole world, as then known,
on an ox-hide, five feet nine inches long by three feet wide, on a scale
of fifteen Spanish leagues to a degree. The map is attractively colored
and brightened with gold. It may rightly be called the geographical
frontispiece of the history of the discovery of America.[226]

The map bears the inscription “_Juan de la cosa la fizo enel puerto de S:
mjᵃ en año de. 1500._”—Juan de la Cosa made it in the port of Santa Maria
in the year 1500. A picture of St. Christopher bearing the Christ-child
across the water ornaments the space above the inscription.[227] Most
prominent of the islands of the “Mar Oceanus” delineated on the map are
Cuba, Habacoa,[228] and La Española. The coast of South America, as
far as it had been explored, is well represented by the painstaking
map-maker.[229]

La Cosa, having seen a copy of the map made by Giovanni Caboto (John
Cabot), to display the fields of the English discoveries of 1497 and
1498, attempted to show in what part of the New World they were. As
outlined by him, the land explored by Cabot trends eastwardly from the
sea discovered for the English (_mar descubierta por inglese_), to the
Cape of England (Cavo de Inglaterra). As La Cosa had nothing else than
his imagination to guide him in delineating the coast of North America
between the field of the English discoveries and South America, his
extension of the main-land from the one to the other has no geographical
significance. Unable to determine definitely the position and extent of
the territory of the New World, La Cosa projected it as accurately as his
information respecting the explored parts of its sinuous coast gave him
knowledge. Ignorant of the limits of the New Land he honorably darkens
that part which might be deemed its cartographic development with several
shades of meaningless colors.[230]




CHAPTER VI.

1496-1498.


The notable part which England took in searching for a navigable passage
to Cathay, by exploring the sea toward the west, was incited by the
success attending the explorations of Columbus in the New World. For it
is said that when the news reached England that the Genoese seaman had
discovered the coasts of India there was great talk in the court of King
Henry VII., and that men declared with much admiration that it was more
divine than human to sail toward the west to go to the East where spices
grow[231]. The bold projector, who obtained for England the distinguished
honor of being the second European power to enter the western hemisphere
with her ships, was Giovanni Caboto (John Caboto), a Venetian[232],
who had lived a number of years in London. With confessed confidence
he explained to King Henry and his learned counsellors the grounds of
his belief that the eastern coast of Asia could be reached by sailing
in a direct westward course from England, and how this course would be
a shorter way than the one taken by Columbus. He proposed to undertake
the voyage at his own expense should the king grant him the necessary
license.

These overtures of Caboto appear to have been made about the beginning of
the year 1496. Ruy Gonzales de Puebla, the Spanish ambassador, residing
in England, having learned what Caboto had proposed to King Henry, at
once communicated the information to their majesties, King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella of Spain. Their royal highnesses, in a letter to their
representative at the English court, dated at Tortosa, the twenty-eighth
of March, 1496, thus refer to what he had written them:

“You say that a person like Colon has come there to place before the king
of England another undertaking similar to that of the Indies, without
prejudice to Spain or Portugal. If in this way he helps him, he will be
as free to go to the Indies as we were. We believe that this undertaking
is thrown in the way of the king of England by the king of France in
order to withdraw him from his other affairs. See that the king of
England be not deceived in this or in a similar matter. The French will
endeavor as best they can to lead him into such enterprises, inasmuch as
they are very uncertain, and are not easily prosecuted. Likewise see that
those ...[233] he is not able to undertake this thing without prejudice
to us and the king of Portugal.”[234]

On the fifth of March, 1496, King Henry VII. complied with Caboto’s
request as set forth in the following petition:

“To the kyng our souvereigne lord

“Please it your highnes of your moste noble and haboundant grace to
graunt unto John Cabotto, citezen of Venes, Lewes, Sebestyan and Sancto
his sonneys your gracious lettres patentes under your grete seale in due
forme to be made according to the tenour hereafter ensuyng. And they
shall during their lyves pray to god for the prosperous continuance of
your moste noble and royale astate long to enduer.”[235]

The letters-patent granted to Giovanni Caboto and his sons, Lodovico,
Sebastiano, and Sanctus, to his and their heirs and deputies,
commissioned them to sail, with five ships of any burden, under the
banners, flags, and ensigns of England, to all parts, regions and gulfs
of the eastern, the western, and the northern seas, in order to seek,
discover, and explore whatever islands, countries, regions, or provinces
of the heathen and of the infidels, in whatever part of the world they
were situate, which were then unknown to all Christians. As set forth in
the document, the cost and expense of the expedition were to be defrayed
by Caboto and his sons.[236]

With this commission Giovanni Caboto set sail from the port of Bristol,
in the spring of 1497, with two ships, one of which was named the
Matthew.[237] Sailing westward from England he reached a land which he
believed to be that of Cathay, where he planted the flag of England
and that of Venice. Having explored the coast of the country for
three hundred leagues, he returned to England, where the news of his
discoveries was enthusiastically received by the interested people.

A brief description of this voyage is contained in a a letter written by
Lorenzo Pasqualigo, in London, on the twenty-third of August, 1497, to
his brothers, Alvise and Francesco, residing in Venice:

“The Venetian, our countryman, who went with a ship from Bristol to
search for a new island, is returned, and says that seven hundred leagues
from here he discovered firm land (_Terra ferma_), the territory of the
Grand Khan. He coasted for three hundred leagues and landed; saw no
human beings, but he has brought here to the king certain snares which
had been set to catch game, and a needle for making nets; he also found
some felled trees, by which he judged there were inhabitants. He returned
to his ship in doubt, and he was three months on the voyage, and on his
return saw two islands to starboard, but would not land, time being
precious, as he was short of provisions. This has greatly pleased the
king. He [Caboto] says that the tides are slack there and do not flow as
they do here.

“The king has promised him, in the spring, ten ships, armed to his order,
and at his request has conceded him all the prisoners, except those
confined for high treason, to man his fleet. The king has also given him
money with which he may amuse himself until that time, and he is now in
Bristol with his sons and his wife, who is also a Venetian.[238] His name
is Juam Talbot and he is called the great admiral. Great honor is paid
him; he dresses in silk, and these English run after him like insane
people, so that he can enlist as many of them as he pleases, and a number
of our own rogues besides.

“The discoverer of these places planted on this newly found land a
large cross, with one flag of England and another of Saint Mark, on
account of his being a Venetian, so that our banner has floated very far
afield.”[239]

Raimondo di Soncino, the minister of the duke of Milan, at the court of
England, in a letter, written on the twenty-fourth of August, 1497, also
speaks of the return of Caboto, saying that he “found two very large
and fertile islands, having likewise discovered the Seven Cities, four
hundred leagues from England, on the western passage. This next spring
his majesty intends to send him with fifteen or twenty ships.”[240]

The discovery of the two islands mentioned by Soncino is spoken of in
two inscriptions placed on a large map of the world, preserved in the
National library in Paris. The Spanish inscription reads: “This land was
discovered by Ioan Caboto, a Venetian, and by Sebastian Caboto, his son,
in the year of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, M.CCCC. xciiii
[M.CCCC. xcvii?], on the twenty-fourth of June, in the morning, to which
they gave the name, Prima tierra vista (First land seen), and to a large
island, which is by the said land, they gave the name of Sant Joan (Saint
John), because it was discovered the same day.”[241]

[Illustration: A copy of a part of a map of the world in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, known as the Cabot map of 1544. (The
original is about one-third larger than this copy.)]

The map, on the margin of which this inscription appears, seems to be
a copy of one made by Sebastiano Caboto, in 1544, if the following
statement of another Spanish inscription placed on the chart be true:
“Sebastian Caboto, captain and chief pilot of his sacred christian
catholic majesty, the emperor, Charles V. of that name, and king, our
sovereign, made this large planisphere, in the year of the birth of
our Saviour, Jesus Christ, 1544, drawn with degrees of latitude and
longitude, and with winds like a marine chart, copying in part the maps
of Ptolemy, and in part those of the modern discoverers, Spaniards as
well as Portuguese, and in part those made by his father and by him.”[242]

As will be seen on the map, the inscription _Prima tierra uista_ is
placed opposite the tract of land on the forty-eighth parallel of north
latitude, now known as Cape Breton Island. Evidently to obviate a
misconception respecting the situation of the land first described, the
words _prima uista_ (first seen) are inscribed on the peninsula to which
the former inscription directs the eye. On this map also is seen a large
island, lying northwest of the land of Prima Vista, bearing the name, Yᵃ
de S. Juan (Island of St. John).

In a letter written in London, on the eighteenth of December, 1497, by
Raimondo di Soncino to the duke of Milan, a very interesting account
is given of Caboto’s explorations in the western hemisphere: “Perhaps,
your excellency in the press of so much business will not be disturbed
to learn that his majesty [King Henry VII.] has gained a part of Asia
without a stroke of the sword. In this kingdom is a popular Venetian
called Messer Joanne Caboto, a man of considerable ability, most skillful
in navigation, who having seen the most serene kings, first him of
Portugal, then him of Spain, that they had occupied unknown islands,
thought to make a similar acquisition for his majesty [the king of
England]. And having obtained the royal privileges which gave him the use
of the land found by him, provided the right of possession was reserved
to the crown, he departed in a little ship, from the port of Bristol, in
the western part of this kingdom, with eighteen persons who placed their
fortunes with him. Passing Ibernia [Ireland] more to the west and then
ascending toward the north, he began to navigate the eastern part of the
ocean. Leaving (for some days) the north to the right hand, and having
wandered enough he came at last to firm land (_terra ferma_) where he
planted the royal banner, took possession for his highness, made certain
marks and returned.

“The said Messer Joanne, as he is a foreigner and poor, would not be
believed, if his partners, who are all Englishmen and from Bristol, did
not testify to the truth of what he tells. This Messer Joanne has the
representation of the world on a map (_in una carta_), and also on a
globe (_in una sphera solida_), which he has made, and he shows by them
where he arrived, and going toward the East, has passed much of the
country of Tanais.

“And they say that the land is fertile and temperate, and think that
red-wood (_el brasilio_) grows there, and the silks, and they affirm that
there the sea is full of fish that can be taken not only with nets, but
with fishing-baskets, a stone being placed in the basket to sink it in
the water, and this, I have said, is told by the said Messer Joanne.

“And the said Englishmen, his partners, say that that they can bring
so many fish that this kingdom will have no more business with Islanda
(Iceland), and that from that country there will be a very great trade
in the fish which they call stock-fish (_stochfissi_). But Messer Joanne
has his thoughts directed to a greater undertaking, for he thinks of
going, after this place is occupied, along the coast farther toward the
East until he is opposite the island called Cipango, situate in the
equinoctial region, where he believes all the spices of the world grow,
and where there are also gems. And he says that he was once at Mecca,
where from remote countries spices are carried by caravans, and that
those carrying them being asked where those spices grew, said they did
not know, but that they came with other merchandise from remote countries
to their home by other caravans, and that the same information was
repeated by those who brought the spices in turn to them. And he argues
that if the oriental people tell to those of the south that these things
are brought from places remote from them, and thus from hand to hand,
presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it follows that the last carry
to the northern, toward the west. And he tells this in a way that makes
it quite plain to me and I believe it. And what is a greater thing, his
majesty, who is learned and not prodigal, places confidence in what he
says, and since his return, provides well for him, as this Messer Joanne
tells me.

“And in the spring he says that his majesty will arm some ships and
will give him all the criminals so that he may go to this country and
plant a colony there. And in this way he hopes to make London a greater
place for spices than Alexandria. And the principals of the business are
citizens of Bristol, great mariners that now know where to go. They say
that the voyage will not take more than fifteen days, if fortune favors
them after leaving Ibernia. I have talked with a Burgundian, a companion
of Messer Joanne, who affirms the same, and who is willing to go, since
the admiral (_almirante_), as Messer Joanne is already styled, has given
him an island, and has also given another to his barber, a Genoese, and
they regard the two as counts, and my lord, the admiral, the chief. And
I believe that some poor Italian friars will go on the voyage, who have
the promise of being bishops. And I, being a friend of the admiral, if I
wished to go, could have an archbishopric.”[243]

In order to secure the king’s permission to go on the proposed voyage,
Giovanni Caboto again addressed a petition to King Henry VII., requesting
his majesty to grant him letters-patent to fit out six ships, in any of
the ports of England, and “theym convey and lede to the Londe [land] and
Isles of late founde” by him. The request was granted, and the king,
on the third day of February, 1498, in the thirteenth year of his
reign,[244] licensed him to take six ships as he desired, and “all suche
maisters,[245] maryners, pages, and subjects” as would willingly “goo and
pass with hym in the same shippes to the seid Londe or Iles.”[246]

Having obtained his letters-patent, Giovanni Caboto, in a short time,
had five ships manned and provisioned for one year. Early in the summer
of 1498 he set sail to return to the field of his first explorations.
Pedro de Ayala,[247] in a letter dated London, July 25, 1498, addressed
to their Spanish majesties, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, writes
as follows concerning Caboto’s second voyage: “I think your highnesses
have already heard that the king of England has equipped a fleet in
order to discover certain islands and firm land (_tierra firme_), which
they have told were discovered by certain persons of Bristol, who fitted
out some ships during the past year for the same purpose. I have seen
the map which the discoverer has made, who is another Genoese like
Colon, and who has been in Seville and in Lisbon soliciting aid for
this undertaking. The people of Bristol have, for the last seven years,
sent every year two, three, or four caravels to search for the island
of Brazil [Red-wood], and the Seven Cities, according to the fancy of
this Genoese. The king determined to send the fleet, because in the past
year they brought certain news of having found land. The fleet consists
of five ships that carried provision for one year. The news has come
that the vessel in which Friar Buil[248] went has returned to Ireland
in great distress, the ship being leaky. The Genoese has continued his
voyage. I have seen the course he steered and the extent of it, and I
think that what they have found or what they are in search of, is what
your highnesses already possess, for it is the cape which was given to
your highnesses by the convention with Portugal. It is expected that they
will return toward September. I write this because the king of England
has spoken to me on the subject, and he thinks that your highnesses will
be greatly interested in it. I think the land is not farther distant than
four hundred leagues. I told him that in my opinion the land was already
in the possession of your highnesses, and though I gave my reasons he did
not like them. I believe that your highnesses are already informed of
this matter, and I do not now send the chart or map of the world which
that man has made, for in my opinion it is false, since it makes it
appear as if the land in question were not the said islands.”[249]

The history of Giovanni Caboto terminates with the information contained
in Pedro de Ayala’s letter. Nothing definite is known respecting his
death.

From the ambiguous and contradictory information furnished by
contemporaneous writers concerning the voyages of Sebastiano Caboto,
it appears that he sailed to the New Land, either in the years 1497
and 1498, with his father—or in 1499, in command of a fleet of vessels
fitted out in the port of Bristol, England. For it is said that, in the
fourteenth year of King Henry’s reign,[250] Sebastiano Caboto set sail
on a voyage to an island where he knew he could obtain many things of
value: “This year one Sebastian Gabato a genoas sonne borne in _Bristow_
professing himselfe to be experte in knowledge of the circute of the
worlde and Ilandes of the same as by his Charts and other reasonable
demonstrations he shewed, caused the king to man and victual a shippe at
_Bristow_ to search for an Ilande whiche he knewe to be replenished with
rich commodities: in the ship diverse merchauntes of _London_ adventured
smal stockes, and in the company of this shippe, sayled out of _Bristow_
three or foure smal shippes fraught with slight and grosse wares as
course cloth, caps, laces, points.”[251]

Peter Martyr, speaking of the voyage, says: “He fitted out two ships in
England at his own expense, and with three hundred men steered toward
the north, until, in July, he found vast icebergs floating in the sea
and almost perpetual daylight, though on the land the snow and ice had
melted. Therefore he was compelled to turn the sails, as he says, and to
go toward the west, and yet he held to the south, the shore bending, that
he almost reached the degree of the latitude of the strait of Hercules,
and proceeded so far to the west that he may have had the island of Cuba
on his left hand, being almost to its degree of longitude.[252] Steering
along this coast, which he called Bacallaos, he found, as he says, the
currents of the sea running toward the west, but gently, as those found
by the Spaniards navigating in the southern waters. It is not only likely
to be true, but it may be accepted as a fact, that between these regions
[Bacallaos and the West Indies] there is a great space still unexplored
that offers a way [to the East], where the water flows from east to
west. These currents, I think, are made to flow round the earth by the
impulsion of the heavens, and are not thrown up and swallowed again by
Demorgorgon breathing.[253] Perhaps, they may be caused, as it is said,
by influx and reflux.

“Cabotto himself called these regions Baccallaos (_Baccallaos Cabottus
ipse terras illas appellavit_), because in the sea there he found great
shoals of certain large fish resembling tunnies, which name was given
them by the natives.[254] These fish were so numerous that sometimes
they retarded the progress of his ships. He found the people of these
regions covered only with skins, but the natives were not wholly
destitute of reason. He also relates that in these regions there is a
great number of bears which eat fish. They plunge into the water where
they see a shoal of fish and fasten their claws between the scales of
the fish, and in this way convey them to the shore, where they devour
them. The hunger of the bears being appeased, they do not annoy men. He
declares further that in many places he saw copper (_orichalcum_) among
the natives.”[255]

Gomara, the Spanish historian, says: “But he who made this land more
widely known was Sebastian Gaboto, a Venetian.[256] He equipped two ships
in England (he having been taken there when he was little), (_do tratava
desde pequeño_,) at the cost of King Henry VII., who desired the trade in
spices the same as the king of Portugal. Others say at his own expense,
and that he promised King Henry to go by the north to Cathay, and to
bring spices there in less time than the Portuguese from the south. He
also went to see if there was any land in the Indies on which a colony
might be settled. He took three hundred men and steered a course by the
way of Iceland, above the cape of Labrador, going as far as fifty-eight
degrees, though he says much farther, stating that in the month of July
it was so extremely cold and that there were so many icebergs floating
in the sea, that he did not dare to go farther.... So Caboto, having
inspected the cold and strange country, changed his course to the west,
and returning again to the Baccalaos (_los Baccalaos_), he followed the
coast as far as thirty-eight degrees, and then returned to England.”[257]

Galvano, the Portuguese historian, says that when Sebastiano Caboto
returned from the north, he diminished “the altitude till he came
to thirty-eight degrees, and from there returned to England. Others
will have it that he went as far as the point of Florida, which is in
twenty-five degrees.”[258]

In the discourse of Sir Humphrey Gilbert respecting “a new passage to
Cataia,” it is said: “Furthermore, Sebastian Cabota by his personall
experience, and trauell, hath set foorth, and described this passage,
in his Charts, whiche are yet to be seene in the Queenes Maiesties
priuie Gallerie, at Whitehall, who was sent to make this discoverie by
King Henrie the seauenth, and entered the same fret: affirming, that he
sailed very far westward, with a quater of the North, on the north side
of Terra de Labrador[259] the eleuenth of June, vntil he came to the
septentrional latitude of 67½ degrees and finding the seas still open
said that he might, and would have gone to Cataia, if the mutinie of the
Maister and Mariners had not ben.”[260]

It is further related that in the eighteenth year of the reign of King
Henry VII.,[261] three Indians were brought to England from the islands
discovered by Sebastiano Caboto: “Thys yeare, were brought vnto the Kyng
three men taken in the new founde Ilands, by Sebastian Gabato, before
named in Anno 1468, these men were clothed in Beastes skinnes, and eate
raw Flesh, but spake such a language as no man could vnderstand them,
of the which three men, two of them were seene in the Kings Court at
Westminster two yeares after, clothed, like Englishmen, and could not bee
discerned from Englishmen.”[262]

The field of the discoveries of Giovanni Caboto, represented on the map
made by Juan de la Cosa, in 1500, and on the one of 1544, in the National
library, in Paris, was apparently the Atlantic coast of Cape Breton
Island[263] and of Nova Scotia. The part of the peninsula designated
Prima Vista, (First Seen,) on the map of 1544, appears to be the same as
that which on La Cosa’s chart is denominated Cavo de Inglaterra (Cape of
England). The coast, from Cape Breton southwestward to the Bay of Fundy,
the sea discovered for the English (_mar descubierta por inglese_),[264]
is delineated by La Cosa with approximate accuracy.

The information given by Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Galvano respecting
the voyage of Sebastiano Caboto, makes the fact evident that the latter
sailed northwestwardly along the coast of Labrador almost to the sixtieth
parallel, where he was so far to the west “that he had the island of
Cuba on his left hand” and had nearly reached the longitude of the
island. On his return, after running along the coast of Baccallaos, he
sailed southward, but too far east of the mainland to see its coast,
and reached the latitude of the thirty-eighth parallel; whence he
steered for England. If Sebastiano Caboto had explored any part of the
present coast of the United States he certainly would have imparted some
information respecting its physical features, its inhabitants, its flora
and fauna, to the inquisitive chroniclers of his age. The descriptions
of the regions explored by him only apply to the more northern parts of
the continent, represented on the map of 1544, to which territory was
given the name La Tierra de los Bacallaos (Land of Codfish).[265] On the
planisphere of 1544, the following statement is inscribed concerning the
country discovered by Sebastiano Caboto. “The people wear clothes made
of the skins of animals, use bows and arrows, lances, darts, knob-headed
clubs, and slings in their wars. The country is very sterile. In it are
many white bears, and deer as large as horses, and many other animals of
the same class; also immense numbers of fish such as soles, salmon, very
large lings, a yard in length, and many other kinds of fish, but the most
numerous are those called bacallaos. In this country there are falcons
as black as ravens, eagles, partridges, linnets, and many other birds of
different kinds.”[266]

“This much concerning Sebastiano Gabotes discouerie may suffice for
a present cast,” says Hakluyt, “but shortly, God willing, shall come
out in print all his owne mappes and discourses, drawne and written by
himselfe, which are in the custodie of the worshipfull master Williā
Worthington, one of her Maiesties Pensioners who (because so worthie
monumentes shoulde not be buried in perpetuall obliuion) is very willing
to suffer them to be ouerseene and published in as good order as may bee,
to the encouragement and benefite of our Countriemen.”[267] The English
collector also remarks that “the map of Sebastiano Caboto cut by Clement
Adams, concerning the discovery of the the West Indies, ... [is] to be
seene in her Maiesties priuie gallerie at Westminster, and in many other
anchient merchants houses.”[268]

Although three hundred years have passed since Hakluyt promised the early
publication of Sebastiano Caboto’s maps and discourses, they are still
covered with the pall of oblivion.[269]




CHAPTER VII.

1497-1521.


While the Spanish and the English expeditions had failed to find the
attractive shores of Cathay by sailing westwardly across the Atlantic,
the Portuguese were more fortunate in their long-continued attempts to
reach the dominions of the Grand Khan by sailing eastwardly. Restricted
by the papal decree to the prosecution of her voyages of discovery on
the east side of the line of demarkation, Portugal zealously persisted
in seeking along the coast of Africa a way to the Orient. Vasco da Gama,
an intrepid navigator, was placed in command of an expedition, and
sailed from Lisbon, in March, 1497, in the path marked out by Bartolomeu
Dias, in 1487. When Da Gama came to the Cape of Good Hope, or the Stormy
Cape (Cabo Tormentoso), he realized that the windy headland was rightly
named. The hazardous attempts which he repeatedly made to pass the stormy
promontory so impressed his sailors with his extreme venturesomeness that
they endeavored to persuade him to turn back. It is said that this made
Da Gama comport “himself very angrily, swearing that if they did not
double the cape, he would stand out to sea again as many times until the
cape was doubled, or there should happen whatever should please God.”
Having achieved his bold purpose, on the twenty-second of November, 1497,
Da Gama made himself famous in reaching the remote coast of India, on
the seventeenth of May, 1498, and entered the harbor of Calicut,[270]
three days afterward. Returning on the homeward voyage, he arrived at
Lisbon, about the beginning of September, 1499.

To perfect and enjoy the privileges of her inaugurated commerce with
India, Portugal immediately fitted out a fleet of merchantmen to carry
her commodities to the distant country over the sea-path explored
by her daring navigators. Pedro Alvarez Cabral was given command of
thirteen ships, with which he sailed on the ninth of March, 1500, with
instructions to hold his course out at sea at some distance from the
coast of Africa, in order to avoid the troublesome currents and delaying
winds which had previously deterred mariners from encountering the perils
of the unexplored route near the main-land. Cabral proceeded southward,
but near the Cape Verd Islands lost sight of one of his ships, and while
seeking her he lost his course. Fortunately, on Wednesday afternoon,
on the twenty-second of April, he descried the summit of a round and
high mountain on the eastern coast of Brazil, which he called Monte
Pascoal.[271] Perceiving the next morning that he had anchored opposite
the mouth of a river, he sent Nicolao Coelho to examine it. From this
anchorage he sailed in search of a safe harbor, and on Saturday, the
twenty-fifth of April, found the roadstead which he called Porto Seguro,
which was in seventeen degrees of south latitude, according to the
observation made there. On the first of May a large wooden cross was
erected to which was affixed the declaration of Cabral’s discovery of
the country for the king of Portugal. Cabral, having dispatched Gaspar
de Lemos with a small vessel to Lisbon with the report of his discovery,
set sail, on the third of May, for India. Cabral called the discovered
country Terra de Vera Cruz (Land of the True Cross), which name was
shortly afterward changed to Terra de Santa Cruz (Land of the Holy
Cross), and subsequently Brazil was substituted for it.[272]

In the year 1500 the Portuguese sailed in a different direction to seek
a short route to Cathay. The Portuguese historian, Galvano refers to
the expedition, saying: “In this same year 1500 it is said that Gaspar
Cortereal[273] begged permission of King Emmanuel to discover the New
Land (Terra Nova). He departed from the island Terceira with two ships
equipped at his own expense, and he sailed to that region which is in the
north in fifty degrees of latitude, which is a land now called after his
name. He returned home in safety to the city of Lisbon. Sailing a second
time on this voyage the ship was lost in which he went, and the other
vessel came back to Portugal. His brother Miguel went to seek him with
three ships at his own cost, and when they came to that coast, and found
so many entrances of rivers and havens, each ship entered a different
river, with this regulation and command, that they all three should meet
again on the twentieth of August. The other two ships did as commanded,
and they, seeing that Miguel Cortereal came not on the appointed day
nor afterward in a certain time, returned to this realm and never heard
any thing more concerning him.... But that country is called Terra dos
Cortereals unto this day.”[274]

Damião de Góes, the Portuguese historian, says Cortereal called this
region Terra Verde (Greenland), on account of its remarkable verdure, and
the vast forests stretching all along the coast.[275]

Ramusio, speaking of the exploration of the coast of North America says:
“In the part of the New World, which runs toward the north and northwest,
opposite our habitable part of Europe, many captains have navigated, and
the first (by that which one knows), was Gaspar Cortereale, a Portuguese,
who, in 1500, went with two caravels intending to find some strait of the
sea whence by a shorter voyage than that taken around Africa he would be
able to go to the Spice Islands. He sailed so far forward that he came
to a place where it was extremely cold, and he found, in the latitude
of sixty degrees, a river closed with snow, to which he gave the name,
calling it Rio Nevado. But he had not sufficient courage to pass much
beyond it. The whole of this coast, which runs two hundred leagues from
Rio Nevado as far as to the port of Malvas, in fifty-six degrees, he saw
full of people and along it many dwellings.”[276]

The earliest account of Gaspar Cortereal’s voyage of 1501, from which he
never returned, is contained in a letter written by Pietro Pasqualigo,
the Venetian ambassador at the court of Portugal, to his brothers in
Italy, dated October 19, 1501. The writer says: “On the eighth of the
present month, one of the two caravels which his most serene majesty sent
the past year under the command of Gaspar Corterat, arrived here, and
reports the finding of a country distant west and northwest, two thousand
miles, heretofore quite unknown.

“They ran along the coast between six hundred and seven hundred miles
without arriving at its termination, on which account they concluded
it to be the same continent that is connected with another land which
was discovered last year in the north, but which the caravel could not
reach on account of the ice and the vast quantity of snow, and they are
confirmed in this belief by the multitude of great rivers they found,
which certainly could not proceed from an island. They report that this
land is thickly peopled, and that the houses are built of very long
beams of timber, and covered with the skins of fishes. They have brought
hither along with them seven of the inhabitants, including men, women,
and children; and in the other caravel, which is looked for every hour,
they are bringing fifty more. These people, in color, figure, stature,
and expression, greatly resemble gypsies. They are clothed with the skins
of different beasts, but chiefly of the otter, wearing the hair outside
in summer, and next to the skin in winter. These skins, too, are not
sewed together, nor shaped to the body in any fashion, but wrapped around
the arms and shoulders as they were taken from the animals.... On this
account their appearance is wholly barbarous; yet they are very sensible
to shame, gentle in their manners, and better made in their arms,
legs, and shoulders than can be expressed. Their faces are punctured in
the same manner as the Indians; some have six marks, some eight, some
fewer. They use a language of their own, but it is understood by no one.
Moreover, I believe that every possible language has been addressed to
them. They have no iron in their country, but manufacture knives out of
certain kinds of stones, with which they point their arrows.

“They have also brought from this island a piece of a broken sword inlaid
with gold, which we can pronounce undoubtedly to have been made in
Italy; and one of the children had in his ears two pieces (_todini_) of
silver, which likewise appear to have been made in Venice, a circumstance
inducing me to believe that their country belongs to the continent, since
it is evident that if it were an island where any vessel had touched
before this time we should have heard of it.[277]

“They have plenty of salmon, herring, cod, and other fish of the same
kind. They have an abundance of timber, principally pine, fitted for
masts and yards of ships, on which account his serene majesty anticipates
the greatest profit from this country, both in providing timber for
ships, of which he, at present, stands in great need, and from the men
that inhabit it, who appear admirably fitted to endure labor, and will
probably be the best slaves which have been found up to this time.

“This arrival appeared to me to be an event of which it was right
to inform you; and if on the arrival of the other caravel I receive
any additional information, it shall be transmitted to you in like
manner.”[278]

Gaspar Cortereal, who was expected to return to Lisbon in the second
caravel, never reached Portugal. Miguel, his brother, sailed from Lisbon
in May 1502, with three ships, to search for Gaspar and the missing
vessel, but he was never heard of again, and it was conjectured that both
of the brothers had been slain by the savages from whom they had taken so
many of their relatives to serve as slaves in Portugal.

No little enthusiasm was created at the court of Portugal by Cabral’s
report of the discovery of the Land of the True Cross. King Emmanuel at
once ordered three vessels to be equipped to sail to the new country.
Having heard of the voyages made by Amerigo Vespucci to the Land of
Pearls (Terra delle Perle), he wrote to Vespucci in Seville, and
solicited him to enter his service. The illness of the explorer did not
then permit him to accept the tempting offer of the king of Portugal.
However, when he was afterward visited by the king’s ambassador, Giuliano
di Bartolomeo del Giocondo, Vespucci consented to go to Lisbon and to be
commissioned by King Emmanuel to accompany the fleet that was prepared
to sail to Terra de Vera Cruz. His departure from Spain, he says, was a
matter of regret to all who knew him, because there he was honored, and
there the king had a right to claim his services.[279] Narrating the
incidents of his third voyage to the New World, Vespucci writes:

“We departed from the port of Lisbon, three ships in company, on the
tenth of May, 1501, and took our course directly for the Grand Canary
Islands.... From there we sailed to the coast of Ethiopia, and arrived at
the port called Beseneghe, in the torrid zone.... We left this port of
Ethiopia and steered to the southwest.... In sixty-seven days we reached
land lying seven hundred leagues southwest of that port.... The season
was very unfavorable for the voyage, particularly when we approached the
equator, where, in the month of June, it is winter.... It pleased God,
however, to show us a new country on the seventeenth of August. Then we
anchored at the distance of a half league from the coast. We got out our
boats and went on land to see if the country were inhabited, and if it
were, by what class of people. We found that it was inhabited by a people
of a lower condition than that of beasts.... We took possession of it in
the name of his majesty. It lies five degrees south of the equator....
We sailed in a southeasterly direction, on a line parallel with the
coast, making many landings, but never discovering any natives who could
converse with us. Running on this course, we found the land made a turn
to the southwest. As soon as we doubled the cape, which we named the Cape
of St. Augustine, we began to sail to the southwest.... This cape is
eight degrees south of the equator.”[280]

While the explorers were sailing along the east coast of Brazil, they
arrived at a place where they anchored five days. “Here,” says Vespucci,
“we found carmine stems very large and green, and some already dry on the
tops of the trees. We left this port, always sailing to the southwest in
sight of the land, making many anchorages and treating with innumerable
people. We went so far toward the south that we were beyond the tropic
of Capricorn where the south pole is elevated thirty-two degrees above
the horizon. We had entirely lost sight of the Little Bear, and the Great
Bear was very low, almost on the verge of the horizon.[281] We steered
by the stars of the south pole, which are many, and much larger and
brighter than those of our pole. I traced the figures of the greater part
of them, particularly those of the first and greater magnitude, giving
an explanation of the circuits which they made around the pole, together
with a description of their diameters and semi-diameters, as may be seen
in my four journeys. We ran about seven hundred and fifty leagues along
this coast.... We saw a great number of redwood (verzino) and cassia
trees, and of those which produce myrrh.... We found ourselves in such
a high southern latitude, that the south pole was elevated above the
horizon fifty-two degrees.... The cold [on the seventh of April, 1502]
was so severe that no one in the fleet could endure it.... We agreed
that the superior captain[282] should make signals for the fleet to turn
about, and that we should depart from this land and steer our course in
the direction of Portugal.”

After touching at the port of Sierra Leone, and at the Azores, the
explorers reached the port of Lisbon on the seventh day of September,
1502.[283]

Vespucci was again sent by the king of Portugal, in 1503, with a fleet
of six ships commanded by Gonçalo Coelho, to discover an island “toward
the east called Melaccha, which we know lies in the sea,” says Vespucci,
“thirty-three degrees from the south pole.” Departing from the port of
Lisbon on the tenth of May, the vessels stood for the Cape Verd Islands.
After going to Sierra Leone on the coast of Africa, the fleet sailed
toward the southwest. On this course one of the vessels struck on a rock,
and was abandoned by the crew. On the east coast of Brazil, the fleet
entered the harbor which the Portuguese called the Bay of All Saints
(Bahia de todos os Santos). At a harbor two hundred and sixty leagues
farther south, or in eighteen degrees south latitude, a fortress was
erected, and garrisoned with twenty-four men. The fleet then sailed for
Portugal, and entered the port of Lisbon on the eighteenth of June,
1504.[284]

The opinion of Columbus that a strait could be found to the south or
southwest of Cuba through which ships might sail to Cathay, induced
Vicente Yañez Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Solis in 1506 to search along the
coast bordering the Bay of Honduras for a navigable passage to the Indian
Ocean.[285] They held the same course as the admiral, says Herrera, “and
sailing as far as the islands Guanajos steered westward as far as Golfo
Dulce, but did not see it, for it lies hid. However, they observed the
inlet the sea makes between the land that forms the bay and the coast of
Iucatan.... From where they descried the Sierras of Caria, they steered
northward and discovered a great part of the main-land of Iucatan.”[286]

The unique and peculiarly shaped map made by the German cartographer,
Johann Ruysch, contained in the edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s geography,
printed at Rome, in 1508,[287] is the earliest engraved chart on which
appear the fields of discovery, in the western hemisphere, entered by
Columbus, Cabot, Cortereal, Cabral, Vespucci, and other early explorers
of the coast of the new continent.

Geographically ignorant of the longitude of the discovered part of
North America, then called the New Land (Terra Nova), Ruysch represents
it as if it were a part of the eastern coast of Asia, between the
two hundred and eightieth and the three hundredth meridians. Better
informed respecting its latitude, he delineates it as extending from
the forty-fifth to the fifty-fifth parallel of north latitude.[288]
Immediately north of the New Land is the Greenland Sea (Sinus
Grvenlantevs), and beyond it, Greenland (Grvenlant), discovered by the
Northmen. South of the New Land, between the fortieth and twenty-fifth
parallels is the unnamed and falsely represented island of Cuba, on the
west side of which is a scroll bearing the information: “As far as this
the ships of Ferdinand, king of Spain, have come.” South of this island
and that of Española (Spagnola) is the discovered part of South America,
then denominated the Land of the Holy Cross or the New World (Terra
Sancti Crucis sive Mundus Novus). The inscription on the represented
territory embraces the following information: “At different places this
region is inhabited, and it is supposed by many to be another world.
Women and men appear either entirely naked or clad with interwoven leaves
and the feathers of birds of various colors. They live together in
common without any religion or king. They are continually at war among
themselves. They eat the human flesh of captives. They exercise so much
in the salubrious air that they live more than one hundred and fifty
years. They are rarely sick, and then they cure themselves solely with
the roots of plants. Here lions are born, and serpents and other terrible
monsters found in the forests. Very large quantities of pearls and gold
are in the mountains and rivers. From here Brasil-wood, or verzini, and
cassia are carried away by the Portuguese.” Below this inscription is
another which contains the following statement: “Portuguese navigators
have inspected this part of this land, and have sailed as far as the
fiftieth degree of south latitude without seeing the southern limit of
it.”

On the scroll on the western part of the delineated territory of
South America this information is inscribed: “As far as this Spanish
navigators have come, and they have called this land, on account of its
greatness, the New World. Inasmuch as they have not wholly explored it
nor surveyed it farther than the present termination, it must remain thus
imperfectly delineated until it is known in what direction it extends.”

On the upper part of the right margin of the map the following fiction
respecting the configuration of the earth at the north pole is inscribed.
“It is said in the book concerning the fortunate discovery[289] that at
the arctic pole there is a high magnetic rock, thirty-three German miles
in circumference. A surging sea surrounds this rock, as if the water
were discharged downward from a vase through an opening. Around it are
islands, two of which are inhabited.”

North of Greenland is another inscription containing a popular fiction
of the dangers besetting ships in the Arctic Ocean: “Here a surging
sea begins; here the compasses of a ship do not hold, nor are ships
which have iron about them able to turn about.” Among the perils of the
Greenland Sea were the deceptions practised by the savages inhabiting the
islands in it: “It is said that those who came formerly in ships among
these islands for fish and other food were so deceived by the demons that
they could not go on land without danger.”

The four voyages of Amerigo Vespucci had acquainted him with so many
unknown peoples and places in the New World that he was induced by his
own inclinations and the suggestions of his friends to write an account
of the explorations of the different expeditions with which he had been
sent by the sovereigns of Spain and Portugal. In his letter, dated in
Lisbon, the fourth of September, 1504,[290] he speaks of the intended
publication of his voyages in a volume in the style of a geography (_un
uolume in stilo geografia_), and calls the composition (_zibaldone_), “Le
Quattro Giornate” (The Four Journeys).

The earliest known work containing an account of Vespucci’s four voyages
is entitled “Cosmographiae introductio” (Introduction to geography),
printed in St. Dié, in Lorraine, on the twenty-sixth of April, 1507.[291]
This rare Latin book was the work of a German scholar named Martin
Waldseemüller, a professor of geography in the gymnasium in St. Dié,[292]
who having translated his surname into Hylacomylus[293] affixed this
Greek pseudonym to his writings. On the reverse page of the fifteenth
leaf of Hylacomylus’s Introduction to geography is the notable suggestion
that the land in the western hemisphere visited by Amerigo Vespucci
should be called Amerige or America. The enthusiastic geographer, having
described Europe, Asia, and Africa, remarks:

“And as now these parts have been more widely surveyed, and another
fourth part has been found by Americus Vesputius (as will be perceived
by what follows), I can not see why any one can justly forbid the calling
of this part Amerige or America, that is, the land of Americus, from
Americus, the discoverer, an intelligent man, as Europe and Asia have
taken their names from women.”[294]

The name America in a short time became a popular designation for the
continent in the western hemisphere.[295]

Although Vespucci repeatedly mentions in his letter that he held
subordinate positions under the superior captains commanding the
different fleets with which he had sailed to the New World, twenty-one
years after his death he was unjustly accused by Johannes Schoner, in
a little geographical work, as having contrived to have the continent
called by his name.[296] Schoner’s imputation was evidently caused by
a spirit of ill-will, for he attempted, it would seem, to lessen the
importance of the discoveries made by Spain and Portugal, by placing on a
globe, made by him in 1520, this inscription designating South America:
“America vel Brasilia sive papagalli terra” (America or Brasil or the
land of parrots).[297] Later still a number of writers in turn undertook
to defame Vespucci by asserting that he did not make the voyage of 1497,
and to support their arguments quoted the erroneous statements of the
different versions of his letter. The assumptions of these writers,
however, are not corroborated by the Italian text of Vespucci’s letter,
in part presented on the preceding pages, nor are they verified by later
researches in the archives of Spain and Portugal.[298]

[Illustration: Map of the New World in the Latin work, “Legatio
Babylonica, Oceani Decas,” by Pietro Martire d’Anghiera, printed in
Seville in 1511. (Size of the original, 7½ × 11 inches.)]

When the Spaniards were exploring the West India archipelago a report
became current that on one of the more northward islands there was a
fountain, the water of which possessed extraordinary virtues. Peter
Martyr heard the rumor, and wrote, in 1511, to the bishop of Rome,
saying: “There is an island about three hundred and twenty-five leagues
from Española, as they say who have searched for it, named Boiuca or
Agnaneo, on which is a never-failing spring of running water of such
marvelous efficacy that when the water is drunk, perhaps, with some
attention to diet, it makes old people young again. And here I must beg
your holiness not to think that this is said jestingly or thoughtlessly,
for they have reported it everywhere as a fact, so that not only all the
common people but also the educated and the wealthy believe it to be
true.”[299]

The island of Boiuca appears to be partly outlined on the small map in
Peter Martyr’s “Legatio Babylonica,” printed at Seville in 1511. It is
designated on the latter as a part of the island of Beimeni,—“Isla de
beimeni parte.”[300]

Among those who gave credence to the fiction of the marvellous virtues
of the spring of Boiuca was Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish cavalier,
who had attained considerable military fame in the West Indies.[301]
He had sailed from Spain in 1493 to Española in one of the ships of
Columbus’s second expedition. In 1509 he took part in the subjugation of
the Island of Borriquen, afterward called Porto Rico, of which he was
made governor. Beguiling himself with the hope that he could renew the
vigor of his youth by bathing in the stream of life-giving water, and at
the same time add honor to his name by becoming the discoverer of the
island on which the fountain was said to be, Juan Ponce fitted out three
vessels and sailed from the port of St. German, Porto Rico, on Thursday,
the third of March, 1512, to search for the island Boiuca, which some
called Bimini. “It is certain,” says Herrera, the Spanish historian,
“that Juan Ponce de Leon besides intending to make new discoveries,
as all the Spaniards at that time aspired to do, was also intent on
finding the fountain of Bimini and a river in Florida; the Indians of
Cuba and Española affirming that old people bathing themselves in them
became young again, and it was a fact that many Indians of Cuba, firmly
believing that there was such a stream, had found that island not long
before the Spaniards, and had passed over to Florida in search of the
river, and there built a town, where their descendants reside to this
day. This report so affected all the princes and caciques in those parts
that it was a hobby to find a river which wrought such a wonderful change
as made old people young, so that there was not a river or a brook,
scarcely a lake or a puddle, in all Florida, in which they did not bathe
themselves.”[302]

The explorations and discoveries of Juan Ponce are thus described by
Herrera: “On Sunday, the twenty-seventh of March, the day of the Feast
of the Resurrection, commonly called the Feast of Flowers, (_que era Dia
de Pascua de Resurreccion, que comunmente dicen de Flores_,) they saw an
island and passed by it. On Monday, the twenty-eighth, they steered in
the same direction, fifteen leagues, until Wednesday, when the weather
became foul. They then stood west-northwest until the second of April.
The water grew shallower until they came into nine fathoms, a league
from the land, which was in thirty degrees and eight minutes. Thinking
this land was an island they called it La Florida, because it had a very
pretty landscape of many green groves, and it was level and regular,
and because they discovered it at the time of the Floral Feast (_Pascua
Florida_).[303] Juan Ponce wished the name to conform to these two facts.
He went on land to learn the language and to take possession.

“On Friday, the eighth, they sailed again the same way, and on Saturday,
south by east, until the twentieth, when they saw some Indian huts from
the place where they had cast anchor. The next day the three ships sailed
along the coast and entered a current which was so swift that it drove
them back, although they had the wind strong.[304] The two ships, near
the land, dropped their anchors, but the force of the stream was so
great that it strained the cables. The third vessel, a brigantine, being
farther out, either found no bottom or was not sensible of the current,
which carried her so far from the shore that they lost sight of her,
although the day was bright and the weather fine.

“Juan Ponce being called by the Indians went ashore and the latter at
once undertook to possess themselves of the boat, the oars, and the
arms. This was tolerated till one of the Indians stunning a sailor with
a stroke of a cudgel on the head, when the Spaniards were compelled to
fight. They had two of their men wounded with darts and arrows pointed
with sharp bones, and the Indians received little injury. Night parting
them, Juan Ponce, with considerable difficulty, got his men together
and sailed thence to a river, where they wooded and watered, and waited
for the brigantine. Sixty Indians came to attack them, one of whom was
taken to give information and to learn the Spanish language. The river
they called Rio de la Cruz, (River of the Cross), planting there a stone
cross, bearing an inscription.”[305]

On the twenty-third of September, after having coasted in different
directions along the Flowery Land, Juan Ponce determined to return to
Porto Rico. Before he set sail, he sent Juan Perez de Ortubia to make a
further search for the rejuvenating fountains on the island of Bimini.
Not long after Juan Ponce’s return to Porto Rico, Ortubia arrived
there and reported that he had found the island, but not the wonderful
spring.[306]

Juan Ponce de Leon went to Spain and obtained from the crown the
appointment of adelantado of Bimini and Florida. When he heard, while
living at Porto Rico, the reports of the success of Hernando Cortes in
Mexico, he fitted out, in 1521, two ships, and sailed to Florida to take
possession of it and to settle a colony on its attractive shores. But the
natives valiantly opposed the occupation of their country and drove the
ambitious invader, with the loss of many men, to his ships. Juan Ponce
was wounded in the thigh by an arrow. The vessels sailed to Cuba, where
the impoverished and disabled Spaniard not long after died.[307]

The exploration of Central America was continued in 1511 by Vasco
Nuñez de Balboa, a native of Xeres de los Caballeros, Spain, who had
accompanied Rodrigo de Bastidas when he sailed on his voyage of discovery
to the New World, in October, 1500. In 1510 the Indian village on the
isthmus of Darien, west of the Gulf of Uraba, was made the seat of the
government of this part of the continent by the Spaniards, and called
Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa was appointed
alcade of the new colony. This ambitious and avaricious adventurer
penetrated the dense forest belting the northern coast of the isthmus,
and invaded the interior, where he found a wealthy cacique, named
Comogre. The Indian chief entertained Vasco Nuñez and his fourscore
followers with generous hospitality in his large and attractive palace,
a wooden building one hundred and fifty paces long and eighty wide.
He presented his indigent guest with four thousand ounces of golden
ornaments and sixty slaves. “This gold, with as much more obtained
at another place,” says Peter Martyr, “our men weighed on the porch
of Comogre’s palace, to separate the fifth part due to the king’s
exchequer, for it was a law that the fifth part of the gold, pearls,
and precious stones should be given to the royal treasurer, and the
remainder be divided among the discoverers. While our men were wrangling
and contending about the division of the gold, the eldest son of Comogre,
the cacique, who was present and whom we commended for wisdom, approached
with some appearance of anger him who was weighing the treasure, and
struck the balances with his fist, scattering the gold all over the
porch.” Pointing southward toward the mountains, he told them that beyond
those _sierras_ was a great sea, on which people sailed with ships as
large as theirs, and that the adjacent country contained great quantities
of gold.

Balboa heard this surprising announcement with delight, and, ambitious to
be honored as the discoverer of the unnamed sea and the country abounding
with rich mines, began to plan to go there and achieve the notoriety
that would make his name forever famous. On the first of September,
1513, Vasco Nuñez, with one hundred and ninety men and a number of
Indian guides, embarked at Santa Maria de la Antigua and set sail in a
brigantine for the Indian village of Coyba. Here he began his toilsome
and dangerous march across the isthmus. After enduring untold hardships
the pertinacious Spaniard and his small body of wayworn followers arrived
at the foot of the Sierra de Quarequa, intercepting the view of the
unseen ocean.[308] While climbing the rugged slope of the intervening
mountain, on the twenty-fifth of September, Balboa commanded his men
to halt and to remain where they were until he had reached the summit
and surveyed the wide expanse of the great ocean billowing between the
isthmus and the remote shores of India. When the enthusiastic Spaniard
ascended to the top of the mountain and beheld the Mar del Sur (Sea of
the South), he fell upon his knees and thanked God for honoring him as
its discoverer, “as he was a man of moderate ability, little knowledge,
and humble birth.” Calling to his men to come to him, he ordered them,
after surveying the discovered sea, to construct a wooden cross, and to
plant it where he had kneeled and rendered thanks for the honor conferred
on him. A mound of stones was built near the cross as a monument to
commemorate the discovery of the ocean and the adjacent country for
his majesty, the king of Spain. Descending the southern slope of the
mountain, Balboa and his followers made their way to the shore of the
bay, which he called San Miguel, where the proud discoverer, with a
banner embellished with the picture of the Holy Virgin and Child and
the insignia of Spain, marched into the sea, and took possession of it
in the name of his sovereign, King Ferdinand. Having explored a part of
the southern coast of the isthmus, Vasco Nuñez and his men reëntered the
wilderness and arrived at Santa Maria de la Antigua on the nineteenth of
January, 1514.

In the following year Gaspar Morales and Francisco Pizarro crossed the
isthmus with sixty men, and visited the island which Balboa had called
Isla Rica. In 1516, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, ambitious of obtaining
greater fame, and having two hundred men and considerable money at his
command, transported the timber, rigging, and other appendages of two
brigantines across the isthmus, and after putting the vessels in sailing
condition, launched them upon the recently discovered ocean. After a
short cruise among the islands near Isla Rica, Balboa returned to the
Spanish settlement at Acla, on the north coast, where he was arrested on
some false charges and put in irons by Pedrarias Davila, “as a traitor
and an usurper of the territories of the crown of Spain.” The enmity of
Pedrarias was so bitter toward the innocent officer that the Spanish
governor of Darien ordered Balboa to be executed. In 1517, at the age of
forty-one years, in the _plaza_ of Acla, the discoverer of the South Sea
was publicly beheaded.[309]

To further explore the coast of Brazil, it is said that Juan Diaz de
Solis sailed from Lepe, Spain, on the eighth of October, 1515. Descrying
the continent at Cape San Roque, in five degrees south latitude, he
steered southward along the coast to Rio de Janeiro, (River of January,)
in twenty-three degrees south latitude. Thence he coasted farther
southward and entered a large bay of fresh water, which he called Mar
Dulce, that was afterward called Rio de la Plata. While exploring this
stream, De Solis, with some of his crew, went on land, and while ashore
was attacked by the natives, and falling into their hands he and his men
were roasted and devoured. The vessel returned to Cape St. Augustine,
and having loaded with Brazil-wood, sailed to Spain.[310]

The greed of gold, silver, and pearls,—the master passion governing
Spanish capitalists and the horde of moneyless adventurers at this time
in the New World,—was the cause of the fitting out of three vessels, in
1517, to go in search of new countries west of the island of Cuba. This
fleet, under the command of Francisco Hernando de Cordoba, set sail,
with one hundred and ten soldiers, about the beginning of February, from
San Cristobal, on the north side of the island, and after a voyage of
twenty-one days came in sight of the northeastern part of the peninsula
of Yucatan, where an Indian town was seen, to which the Spaniards gave
the name El Gran Cairo. Near this place three temples, built of stone
and lime, were found, in which were many clay idols “some of them having
terrible shapes, seemingly representing Indians committing horrible
offences. In these temples,” says Bernal Diaz del Castillo,[311] who was
connected with the expedition, “we also found wooden boxes containing
other gods with hellish faces, several small shells, some ornaments,
three crowns, and a number of trinkets, some in the shape of fish, others
in the shape of ducks, all made of an inferior kind of gold. Seeing all
these things, the gold and the good architecture of the temples, we
felt overjoyed at the discovery of the country.” At a town, which the
Spaniards called San Lazaro, although they were aware that the Indians
called it Campeachy, they were invited to land by the inhabitants, “who
wore fine mantles made of cotton.” “They took us” Diaz remarks “to some
large edifices, which were strongly built of stone and lime and were in
many ways attractive. These were temples, the walls of which were covered
with figures representing snakes and all kinds of gods. About an altar we
saw several fresh spots of blood. On some of the idols there were figures
like crosses. There were some paintings representing groups of Indians.
All these greatly astonished us, for we had neither seen nor heard of
such things before.”

While the explorers were taking in water, near a village called
Potonchan, now Champoton, on the western side of the peninsula, where
there were some wells, maize-plantations, and stone buildings, the
inhabitants visited them. “They all wore cotton cuirasses which reached
to their knees. They were armed with bows, lances, shields, and swords.
The latter,” Diaz further remarks, “were shaped like our broad swords,
and are wielded with both hands.” They also had slings for throwing
stones. They had bunches of feathers on their heads, and had their bodies
decorated with white, brown, and black colors. Speaking of an engagement
which the Spaniards had with the natives, Diaz says: “As soon as it was
daylight we saw more companies of armed natives moving toward the coast
with flags. They wore feather head-dresses, and were provided with drums,
bows, lances, and shields. They joined themselves to the others who had
arrived in the night. They divided themselves into corps, surrounded us
on all sides, and began to assail us with so many arrows, lances, and
stones, that more than eight of our men were wounded in the first onset.
They then rushed furiously forward and attacked us man to man; some
with their lances, others with their swords and arrows, and with such
terrible impetuosity that we were compelled to show them opposition. We
dealt them many a good thrust and blow, continuing at the same time an
incessant fire with our matchlocks and crossbows; for while some loaded
others fired. At last, by heavy blows and thrusts we forced them back,
but they did not retreat farther than was necessary to keep us strongly
surrounded.... Perceiving how closely we were hemmed in on all sides by
the enemy, who not only kept getting fresh troops but were plentifully
supplied in the field with meat, drink, and numbers of arrows, we soon
concluded that all our valiant fighting would not benefit us. All of
us were wounded. Many were shot through the neck, and more than fifty
of our men were killed. In this critical position we determined to cut
our way manfully through the enemy’s ranks and get to the boats, which
fortunately lay on the coast near us. We therefore resolutely closed our
ranks and broke through those of the enemy. You should then have heard
the whizzing of their arrows, the terrible yells of the Indians, and how
they incited one another to fight.... Many of our men were wounded while
climbing into the vessel, especially those who clung to its side, for the
Indians pursued us in their canoes, and persistently assailed us. With
the utmost exertion and the help of God we escaped from the hands of this
people.”

“Our vessels,” Diaz further relates, “were taken to Santiago of Cuba,
where the governor [Diego Velasquez] resided. Here the two Indians were
brought on shore whom we had taken with us from Punta de Cotoche, as
already related, called Melchorejo and Juanillo. When, however, we
brought forth the box with the crowns, the golden ducks, the fish, the
idols, more noise was made about them than they really merited, so that
they became the common topics of conversation throughout the islands of
St. Domingo and Cuba; indeed, the report concerning them reached Spain.
There it was said that none of the discovered countries were as rich as
this one, and in none had there been found houses built of stone. The
earthen gods, it was said, were the heathen relics of ancient times;
others ventured to affirm that they [the people of Yucatan] were the
descendants of the Jews who had been shipwrecked off this coast, whom
Titus and Vespasian had driven from Jerusalem.... Diego Velasquez closely
questioned the two Indians whether there were any gold-mines in their
country. They answered in the affirmative; and when they were shown some
of the gold-dust found in the island of Cuba, they said there was an
abundance of it in their country. This was not true, for it is well known
that there are no gold-mines on the Punta de Cotoche, or anywhere in the
whole of Yucatan. They were likewise shown the beds in which the seeds
of that plant are sown from whose root the cassava-bread is made, which
in Cuba is called _yuca_. They assured us that the same plant grew in
their country, and was called by them _tale_. As the cassava-root in Cuba
is called _yuca_, and the ground in which it is planted by the Indians
_tale_, so from these two words originated the name of the country,
Yucatan; for the Spaniards, who were standing around the governor at the
time that he was speaking to the two Indians, said: ‘You see, sir, they
call their country Yucatan.’ And from this circumstance the country
retained the name of Yucatan, although the natives call it by a different
name.”[312]

“It was in the year of our Lord 1518,” says Diaz, “after Diego Velasquez
had heard the good account we gave of the newly-discovered country called
Yucatan, that he determined to send another expedition to it. For this
purpose he selected four vessels, among which were the two in which we
soldiers had accompanied Cordoba on our late voyage to Yucatan, purchased
at our expense.... Our account that the houses in the newly-discovered
country were built of stone and lime had originated an extraordinary
conception of its riches, besides the Indian Melchorejo had indicated
by signs that it contained gold-mines. All these things created a great
desire among the inhabitants and soldiers on the island [Cuba] who
possessed no official authority over the Indians to go in search of
a rich country like this one; consequently, in a very short time, we
mustered two hundred and twenty men.”

Commanded by Juan de Grijalva, the vessels sailed on the first of May,
1518, from the port of Santiago, Cuba. After touching at different
points, the fleet at last arrived off the coast of Champoton, on the
west side of Yucatan, where the Indians had attacked the Spaniards on
the last voyage and had driven them to their vessels. Here they had
another engagement with the natives, but the Spaniards were victorious
and put the enemy to flight. They then proceeded southward to the bay
called La Boca de Terminos, where Diaz relates “we found temples built of
stone and lime, full of idols made of wood or clay, with other figures,
some representing women, some serpents; also the horns of various kinds
of wild animals. We concluded that an Indian village was near it....
We have, however, deceived ourselves, for the district was entirely
uninhabited.”

At a promontory, beyond the bay, toward the west, about thirty Indians
visited the explorers, bringing with them broiled fish, fowl, fruit, and
maize-bread. “They also,” Diaz relates, “brought pans filled with red-hot
embers, on which they strewed incense, and perfumed us all. After this
ceremony was ended they spread some mats on the ground, over which they
laid a piece of cotton cloth. On this they put some trifling ornaments
of gold in the shape of ducks and lizards, with three necklaces made of
gold.... They next presented us with some mantles and waistcoats, such as
they wore, and begged of us to accept them, saying that they had no more
gold to give us, but that farther toward the setting of the sun there was
a country where it was found in great abundance, at the same time often
repeating the word Culba, and Mexico. We however did not understand what
they meant.”

At a town called Aguajaluco they saw Indians hurrying to and fro
with large shields made of large tortoise-shells, which glittered so
brilliantly in the sun that some of the Spaniards thought that they were
of inferior gold. At an island, beyond one which they called Isla Blanca,
Diaz relates: “We found two houses which were strongly built of stone and
lime. Both were ascended by flights of steps, and had altars, on which
stood several abominable idols, to which, on the previous evening, five
Indians had been sacrificed. Their dead bodies still lay there, cut open,
with the arms and legs chopped off, while every thing near was besmeared
with blood. We contemplated this sight in utter astonishment, and gave
the island the name of Isla de los Sacrificios.”

At another island farther to the west, Diaz says: “We found a temple
on which stood the great and abominable-looking god Tetzcatlipuca,
surrounded by four Indians, dressed in wide, black cloaks, their hair
hanging as our canons or Dominicans wear it. These were the priests, who
had that very day sacrificed two boys, whose bodies they had cut open
and then offered their bleeding hearts to this horrible idol. They were
about to perfume us in the same way they had done their gods; but though
the perfume smelled like our incense, we would not permit them so shocked
we were at the sight of the two boys whom they had recently killed,
and we were disgusted with their abominations. Our captain questioned
Francisco, the Indian whom we had brought with us from the Rio de
Banderas, concerning the purport of all these things, for he seemed to be
an intelligent person, we having, at that time, as I have already stated,
no interpreter. Our captain interrogated him by signs. Francisco answered
that this sacrifice had been ordered by the people of Culua; but, as it
was difficult for him to pronounce this word, he repeatedly said, Olua,
Olua. In honor of our commander, whose Christian name was Juan, and as
the day was the feast of St. John, we gave this small island the name of
San Juan de Ulua.”

Sailing northward along the coast of Mexico, “we first came,” says Diaz,
“in sight of Tusta, and two days after, of the more elevated mountains
of Tuspa, both of which take their names from two towns close to these
mountains. Along this part of the coast we saw a number of towns lying
from six to nine miles inland. It is now the province of Panuco.” On
account of the approach of winter, the scarcity of provisions, and the
leaky condition of one of the vessels, the explorers determined to return
to Cuba; Pedro de Alvarador having previously set sail for the island.

Speaking of their subsequent explorations in the vicinity of the mouth
of the Guacasualco River (now called Rio Coatzacoalcos, in Tehuantepec),
the Spanish writer says: “As soon as the inhabitants of Guacasualco and
the neighboring districts learned that we offered our goods for barter,
they brought us all their golden ornaments, and took in exchange green
glass beads, on which they set a high value. Besides ornaments of gold,
each Indian had with him a copper axe, which was very highly polished,
with the handle curiously carved, that served equally as an ornament
and, on the field of battle, as a weapon. At first we thought that these
axes were made of an inferior kind of gold. Therefore we began to take
them in exchange, and in the space of two days collected more than six
hundred, with which we were no less pleased, as long as we were ignorant
of their real value, than the Indians were with our glass beads.... We
set sail for Cuba, and arrived there in the space of forty days.... We
were most graciously welcomed by the governor, Diego Velasquez, who was
highly delighted with the additional gold we brought him. Altogether, it
was well worth 4,000 _pesos_; so that, with the 16,000 brought over by
Alvarado, the whole amounted to 20,000 _pesos_.[313] Some made this sum
greater, some less; but one thing is certain, the crown officials took
only the fifth of the last-mentioned sum. When they were about to take
the fifth also of the Indian axes, which we had mistaken for gold, they
grew exceedingly angry on finding them only to be of a fine quality of
copper. This caused the people to laugh at our trading transactions.”[314]

Immediately after the return of Juan de Grijalva, in 1518, from
this voyage, Diego Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, issued orders
for the fitting out of a larger fleet than the one commanded by the
former officer. Respecting the person who was to have command of this
expedition, Diaz says that “the matter was secretly settled with Hernando
Cortes, by two confidants of Diego Velasquez, Andres de Duero, secretary
to the governor, and Almador de Lares, the royal treasurer.... Duero
and the royal treasurer, therefore, employed all their cunning to
influence the governor. They took every opportunity of placing Cortes
in the most favorable light, extolling his great courage, in a word,
declared him to be the most capable person whom he could intrust with
the command.... Their efforts were crowned with success, for Diego
Velasquez conferred the appointment of captain-general of the expedition
on that gentleman.... After Hernando Cortes had been appointed captain,
he immediately began to collect all kinds of arms and ammunition, as
matchlocks, crossbows, powder, and the like. With the same diligence
he took care to provide a large stock of goods to barter, and other
necessaries for our expedition.” On the eighteenth of February, 1519,
the fleet was on its way toward the west. On the island of Cozumel,
near the eastern coast of Yucatan, Cortes reviewed his troops. “Without
counting the pilots and marines,” says Diaz, “our number amounted to
five hundred and eight men. There were one hundred and nine sailors,
and sixteen horses.... Our squadron consisted of eleven vessels of
different tonnage.... The number of crossbow men was thirty-three, and
of those bearing matchlocks thirteen. To these add our heavy guns and
four falconets, and a great quantity of powder and balls. Respecting
the precise number of crossbow men I cannot aver, though it matters not
whether there were a few more or less.... I have now said all that need
be respecting our armament; indeed, Cortes was very particular about the
merest trifles in these preparations.

“As Cortes paid attention to every circumstance, he ordered me and Martin
Camos of Biscay into his presence, and asked us what our opinion was
of the word _Castilan_, _Castilan_, which the Indians of Campeachy had
so often repeated when we landed there, under the command of Francisco
Hernandez de Cordoba. We again informed him of every transaction that
had taken place there. He said that he had often turned this matter
over in his mind, and could not help thinking but that the inhabitants
must have some Spaniards among them, and he thought it would not be
amiss to question the caciques of Cozumel upon this subject. This Cortes
accordingly did, and desired Melchorejo, who by this time had gained
some little knowledge of the Spanish, and perfectly understood the
language of Cozumel, to question the chiefs about it. The statements
made by them were alike, and plainly indicated that there were several
Spaniards in the country, whom they had seen; that they as slaves served
the caciques, who lived a march of two days inland; and that it was
within a few days that some Indian merchants had talked to them.” Some
days afterward Cortes learned that the two Spaniards were Geronimo de
Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero. Aguilar being informed of the presence of
the Spaniards joined them and served Cortes in the important position of
an interpreter.[315]

When the Spaniards were in camp at the island of San Juan de Ulua,
Cortes was visited, on Easter-day, by one of the farmer-generals of
the Mexican empire, named Teuthlille. “He was accompanied” says Diaz,
“by another person of distinction called Quitlalpitoc. We subsequently
learned that they were governors of the provinces of Cotastlan, Tustepec,
Guazpaltepec, Tlatateteclo, and other districts lately subdued. They were
followed by a great number of Indians carrying presents of fowls and
plants. Teuthlille, having ordered the others to stand aside, advanced to
Cortes and bowed three times very reverentially in the Indian fashion,
which he did when he turned toward us standing nearest him. Cortes
cordially welcomed them, after which he embraced them. He desired them to
tarry a while and told them that he would give them a definite answer [in
reply to the question which their sovereign, the great Montezuma,[316]
had sent them to ask: who the Spaniards were and what they came to seek
in his country]. Meanwhile Cortes ordered the altar to be arranged as
prettily as possible. Francisco Bartolomé and Father Juan Diaz performed
mass. The two governors and the principal personages of their _suite_
were present during the services, after which Cortes partook of dinner
with them.

“After the table had been cleared, Cortes assisted by Aguilar and Doña
Marina[317] entered into conversation with the Mexican officials and the
caciques, telling them, that we were Christians, the subjects of the
greatest monarch of the world, named Emperor Charles,[318] that he had
many great personages among his subjects and servants, that we had come
by his command to their country, of which and its powerful sovereign,
who then reigned, his majesty had long before heard. Cortes speaking
of himself said that he was desirous to become the friend of their
sovereign, and had to disclose many things to him, in the name of his
majesty, the emperor, which their monarch would listen to with delight.
In order that a good understanding might be established between him
[Cortes] and his [Montezuma’s] subjects, they should acquaint him with
the place where this monarch resided, that he [Cortes] might pay his
respects to him and make the necessary disclosures. Teuthlille answered
in a rather imperious tone, saying: ‘Inasmuch as you have lately arrived
in this country, it would be more becoming that before desiring an
interview with my monarch, you should accept this present, which we have
brought you in his name, and then disclose your wishes to me.’ He then
took from a box, a quantity of gold-trinkets, of beautiful and artistic
workmanship, and more than twenty packages of stuffs very prettily made
of white cotton and feathers. These they presented to Cortes, besides
various other costly gifts which, on account of the number of years that
has intervened, I cannot now remember, together with provisions, as
fowl, fruit, and dried fish. Cortes accepted all these with a pleased
expression, and presented these gentlemen in return with glass beads
resembling brilliants, and other things that we had brought from Spain.
He begged them to request the inhabitants of the different districts to
begin trading with us, for we possessed various articles which we desired
to exchange for gold. This they promised to do.

“Cortes then ordered an arm-chair, beautifully painted and adorned
with inlaid work, to be brought, also some pieces of precious stones,
wrapped in cotton cloth, perfumed with musk, a necklace of imitation
pearls, a scarlet cap, with a medal, on which was represented the holy
St. George on horseback, with lance in hand, killing the dragon. Cortes
then addressed Teuthlille, and said that he presented the chair to his
monarch, Montezuma, that he might sit in it when he should pay him a
visit, and the string of pearls to wind around his head on the same
occasion, all of which presents were from our sovereign, the emperor,
who had sent them to Montezuma in token of friendship and as a proof of
the esteem in which he held him. Cortes further remarked that Teuthlille
should inform us where and when he, Cortes, could personally have an
audience with the monarch. Teuthlille accepted the presents, and said in
reply that his master, Montezuma, as he also was a great monarch, would
in turn be equally delighted to learn something about our great emperor;
that he would hasten to lay the presents before him, and to return with
his answer.

“Teuthlille had with him very skillful painters, for there were such in
Mexico, and he ordered them to paint the portrait and entire person of
Cortes, with the dress he wore; also the pictures of all the other chief
officers, the soldiers, our ships, horses, Doña Marina, and Aguilar, even
our two dogs, the cannon, the balls, in short, every thing that they
could see that belonged to us. The paintings they took along with them to
show to their monarch.”

After an absence of about six or seven days, Teuthlille returned, as Diaz
further observes, “with more than a hundred Indian porters, all heavily
laden, accompanied by a great Mexican cacique, who, in countenance,
stature, and deportment, greatly resembled Cortes, and on that account
had been selected by his monarch to accompany the deputation. For, as
it was related, when Teuthlille presented the picture representing
Cortes, all the grandees who were present with their monarch, Montezuma,
immediately observed that he resembled a person of distinction named
Quintalbor. This was the same person who now accompanied Teuthlille. We
therefore called one the Cortes of this place, and the other the Cortes
of that place. We must now, however, tell what the embassadors did
when they came into the presence of Cortes. First of all they touched
the ground at his feet with their hands. They then perfumed him and
all the Spaniards who were present, with pans made of clay. Cortes
gave them a very cordial reception, and desired them to sit down at
his side. Quintalbor, the cacique, was commissioned to discuss matters
jointly with Teuthlille. The two, therefore, told Cortes that he was
most welcome to visit their country, and after considerable talking on
both sides, they produced the presents”[319] sent him by Montezuma.
As is further related by the Spanish historian, Juan de Torquemada, a
contemporary of Diaz, “the embassador of Montezuma ordered mats to be
spread on the ground before Cortes, and over them some cotton cloth,
on which he arranged the presents, comprising many cotton shirts, and
great quantities of other cotton stuffs, beautifully manufactured, and
interwoven with feathers of the most splendid colors. There were shields
made of the purest white stuffs, decorated with feathers, gold, silver,
and pearls, surpassing everything in beauty and skilled workmanship that
ever was seen. There was also a helmet, tastefully carved out of wood,
filled with grains of gold; also a casque, made of thin plates of gold,
decorated with tassels, and with stones resembling the emerald. There
were numerous large bunches of feathers of different colors, set in
silver and gold; fans for keeping off flies, made of the rarest feathers;
a thousand lockets of gold and silver of the most curious and beautiful
workmanship; bracelets and military decorations of gold and silver,
splendidly embossed with green and bright yellow feathers; leather made
of deer skin, curried and colored in the best possible manner; shoes and
sandals of the same leather, sewed with thin gold-wire, and the soles of
beautiful white and blue stone. There were other kinds of shoes, very
tastefully made of cotton; mirrors of marcasite, globular-shaped, of the
size of one’s fist, and most ingeniously set in gold, the small frame
itself being very valuable, and worthy of the acceptance of any crowned
head; coverings and curtains to beds, manufactured of variously colored
cotton, more glossy and of a finer texture than silk; a number of other
gold and silver trinkets; a necklace of gold, decorated with more than
a hundred emeralds, rubies, and various ornaments of gold; a second
necklace of many large pearls and emeralds, all of the most exquisite
workmanship; numerous gold trinkets in the shape of frogs and animals;
jewels in the form of medals. The cases were even more valuable than
the precious stones they contained. There was also a quantity of large
and small grains of gold. The most valuable of these presents, however,
were two round plates, one of gold, on which was a sun with rays and the
zodiac. This weighed more than one hundred marks.[320] The other plate
was of silver, which in a similar manner represented the moon. It weighed
about fifty marks. The two disks were massive and of the thickness of
the Spanish coin of four silver reals, and as large as carriage-wheels.
Those who saw these splendid presents said that, without considering the
beautiful workmanship, the value of the gold and silver alone amounted to
twenty-five thousand _castellanos de oro_; so that the full value of all
these presents may rightly be estimated at fifty thousand ducats.”[321]

“When Quintalbor, the great cacique, and Teuthlille, presented these
gifts to Cortes,” as Diaz further relates, “they begged him to accept of
them in the same spirit of friendship with which their monarch sent them,
and to distribute them among his _teules_.[322] Thereupon they began to
tell what their monarch had particularly commissioned them to say, which
was as follows: ‘He, Montezuma, was delighted with the arrival of such
courageous men in his provinces, for, according to the accounts he had
received, and judging from the occurrence at Tabasco [where Cortes had
had an engagement with the natives], we certainly must be brave men. He
wished very much to see our great emperor who was so powerful, of whom,
although residing at so great a distance, he had already gained some
knowledge, and he would send him a present of some valuable stones. He
was likewise ready to furnish us with every thing we might require during
our stay. Respecting Cortes visiting him, the undertaking should not
engage our thoughts, for it was not necessary, and would be attended with
great difficulties.’

“Cortes thanked them most sincerely for their kindness, gave each several
shirts made of Holland linen, some blue beads, and other trifles, and
requested them when they returned to their great monarch to tell him
that our emperor and master would deem it very unkind, after we had
come from such distant countries and crossed such vast seas, solely
with the intention of paying our respects to Montezuma, if we returned
without accomplishing this object. He wished, therefore, to proceed to
his residence, and to receive personally his commands. The embassadors
answered that they would convey these messages to their monarch, and
that a visit to him was unnecessary. Cortes thereupon gave them out
of our poverty a cup of Florentine workmanship, gilded and ornamented
with wreaths of leaves in relief, and the shirts made of Holland linen,
and other things, all of which were to be presented to Montezuma,
together with Cortes’s message. The two emissaries then departed, while
Quitlalpitoc alone remained behind in our camp, commissioned, as it
appeared, by the two other officials of Montezuma, to provide provisions
for us from the neighboring districts.

“After the Mexican embassadors had taken their departure, Cortes ordered
two vessels to sail farther northward and explore the coast. The command
of these was given to Francisco de Montejo, with orders to follow the
same course taken by Grijalva.... Montejo departed, and sailed to the
Rio Grande, near Panuco, as far as we had gone with Grijalva. On account
of the strong currents he could not proceed any farther. He therefore
returned to San Juan de Ulua....

“One morning the Indians, who had dwelt near us in huts, and had
furnished us with provisions and brought gold to barter, secretly
departed with Quitlalpitoc. This, we subsequently learned, was done by
the orders of Montezuma. He had forbidden all intercourse with Cortes,
believing that he was obeying the commands of his idol-gods. These were
named Tetzcatlipuca and Huitzilopochtli; the former being the god of
hell, and the latter the god of war, to whom Montezuma daily sacrificed
a number of children in order that the gods might disclose to him what
he should do with us. He intended to take us prisoners should we not
re-embark—employing some to educate children, and sacrificing the others.
His idol-gods, as we afterward learned, advised him not to listen to
Cortes, and to pay no attention to the message that we had sent him
respecting the cross and the image of the Blessed Virgin. This was what
caused his men to go away so secretly.

“This being the condition of affairs, we daily expected that hostilities
would begin, and we were therefore the more vigilant. It happened one
day, while I was standing sentinel on the sand-hills with another
soldier, that we espied five Indians coming along the shore. Not to
alarm the camp with so trifling a matter, we allowed them to advance.
They all appeared very good-humored, made their obeisance to us after
their fashion, and requested us, by signs, to conduct them to the camp.
Thereupon I said to my companion: ‘I will take them there, while you
remain where you are,’ for at that time my legs were not so infirm as
they are now, in my old age. When I presented them to Cortes, they
manifested the utmost reverence, and continually repeated the word
_Lopelucio_, _Lopelucio_, which in the Totonac language means lord,
great god. In dress and language these people differed entirely from
the Mexicans whom Montezuma had sent to our camp. They had large holes
bored in their under-lips, in which they wore pieces of a speckled, blue
stone, or thin plates of gold. The holes in their ears were quite large,
from which depended similar ornaments. Neither Aguilar nor Doña Marina
understood their language. The latter asked them whether there were any
_naëyavatos_ or interpreters with them. Thereupon two of them answered
that they understood the Mexican language. Then the talking began. They
bid us welcome, and said that their ruler had sent them to inquire who we
were, and that he would be delighted to be of any use to such powerful
men as we were. They said that they would have waited on us earlier,
if they had not shunned the people of Culhua, namely, the Mexicans
(meaning as much as villains), who had been with us. It is likely that
these people had heard of our battles at Tabasco and Potonchan. They at
least knew that the Mexicans had secretly departed from us three days
before this time. Cortes learned many things from them which were of the
greatest importance to him, particularly the information respecting the
enemies and opponents of Montezuma. Cortes, therefore, was very friendly
to these people. He gave them a number of presents, and desired them to
return to their ruler and to tell him that he would in person shortly
visit him.”

The indomitable commander now advanced northward along the coast as far
as Chiahuitzla, near the roadstead where his ships were anchored. A short
distance from this place Cortes began to build the city to which he gave
the name Villa Rica de Vera Cruz (the Rich Town of the True Cross). From
the port of the new city, Cortes, on the twenty-sixth of July, 1519,
dispatched a ship to Spain, under the command of Alonso Puertocarrero
and Francisco de Montejo, carrying letters to the emperor, Charles V.,
with accounts of the invasion of New Spain. With these communications
were sent some of the presents that Cortes had received, besides several
cotton and agave-scrolls of Mexican hieroglyphics. “Our agents took
charge of the letters,” Diaz remarks, “and were bound by a promise not to
touch at the Havannah under any pretext whatever, or to enter the harbor
of El Marien, where Francisco de Montejo had possessions. This was done
in order that Diego Velasquez might not receive any intelligence of our
movements.”

The resolute officer, having ordered his ships to be destroyed, began
about the middle of August his march toward the city of Mexico,[323]
with his small band of about five hundred followers, fifteen horsemen,
and seven pieces of artillery. He took with him thirteen hundred native
warriors from Cempoalla, besides a thousand porters to transport the
camp-baggage, provisions, and munition.

In the province of Xocotlan the invaders came to an Indian town called
by the Spaniards Castilblanco, governed by a cacique who was subject to
Montezuma. The hospitable ruler described to Cortes the situation of the
city of Mexico, which was built on an island surrounded by water, and
approachable on foot by three bridged causeways.

“A certain place in this province,” says Diaz, “I shall never forget.
Here a vast number of human skulls were piled in the best manner
imaginable. There must have been more than one hundred thousand; I
repeat, more than one hundred thousand. In the same orderly way the
remaining human bones were piled in another corner of the square. The
latter it would have been impossible to count. Besides these bones there
were human heads hanging from beams on both sides of the square.” On
the first, second, and fifth days of September, near the village of
Tehuacacinco, Cortes had victorious engagements with the Tlascallans.

“It also happened,” Diaz further remarks, “that the powerful king
of Mexico, Montezuma, either in the great goodness of his heart, or
because he began to fear our approach to his metropolis, dispatched
five men of distinction to our camp in the province of Tlascalla to
congratulate us on our advance, and to assure us of the great delight
he felt when he heard of the splendid victories we had gained over such
large armies. This message was sent with a valuable present of gold
trinkets, differently elaborated, worth about one thousand _pesos_, and
also packages of cotton stuffs, as much as twenty men could carry. He
also wished us to know, that it was his desire to become a subject of
our emperor, that he was greatly pleased to learn that we were so near
his metropolis, and that he was every way well-disposed toward Cortes
and all the _teules_, his brothers. He likewise wished to be told by us
what annual tribute in gold, silver, jewels, and cotton stuffs he was to
forward to our great emperor, which tribute would save us the trouble
of coming to Mexico, adding that he should indeed be pleased to see us,
but that our march would be a hazardous undertaking through a sterile
and rocky country, and that the fatigues which we should have to undergo
grieved him the more when he considered how impossible it was for him to
remove the hindrances from the way.”

Cortes shortly afterward marched into the city of Tlascalla, where, when
they entered it, “the streets and balconies could scarcely contain the
number of men and women” who welcomed them. “Delight was depicted on
every countenance,” and “twenty baskets full of roses” were “presented
to Cortes and the soldiers, whom the citizens thought were officers, and
particularly to those who were on horseback.” Here Cortes was told by one
of the principal men of the place “that Montezuma had strong garrisons
in every town, besides the warriors who marched out from the metropolis
to the field of battle. Every province was compelled to pay him tribute
in gold, silver, feathers, precious stones, cotton stuffs, as well as
Indians of both sexes, some of whom he took into his service, and some he
sacrificed. He was a monarch so powerful and wealthy that he accomplished
and obtained all he desired. His palaces were filled with riches and
_chalchihuis_ stones,[324] which he seized wherever he went. In short,
all the wealth of the country was in his possession.”

Cortes was further told that the city of Mexico “was abundantly supplied
with fresh water from the spring of Chapultepec, which was about two
miles from the city, whence the water was partly conveyed to the houses
by means of pipes, and partly in boats through the canals, when it was
sold in small quantities to the inhabitants. Respecting the weapons
of this nation, they included two-edged lances that were projected by
means of a thong and penetrated any cuirass. The warriors were excellent
marksmen with the bow and arrow, and carried pikes with blades of flint,
which were very ingeniously made, and were as sharp as razors. Besides
these weapons, they carried shields, and wore cotton cuirasses. There was
also a great number of slingers, who were provided with round stones,
long pikes, and sharp swords which were wielded with both hands.

“To explain all these things, the caciques exhibited large pieces of
_nequen_,[325] on which were pictured their battles and their art of
warfare. When Cortes and we considered that we had gained sufficient
information concerning these things, the conversation turned to subjects
of greater importance. Our friends told us how and whence they came
into this country, and how they settled there; how it had happened,
notwithstanding their nearness to the Mexicans, that they resembled them
so little, and lived in perpetual warfare with each other. A tradition
was also handed down from their forefathers that in ancient times a race
of men and women lived here who were immense in stature with large bones,
and who were a very bad and evil-disposed people, whom they had mostly
exterminated by continual war, and the few that had been spared, had in
the course of time died.

“In order to give us a conception of the huge frames of these people,
they dragged forth a bone, or rather a thigh-bone, of one of the giants,
which was very strong, and measured the length of a man of good stature.
This bone was still entire from the knee to the hip-joint. I measured it
with my own person, and found it to be of my own length, although I am a
man of considerable height. They showed us many similar pieces of bones,
but they were all worm-eaten and decayed. We, however, did not doubt for
a moment, that the country was once inhabited by giants. Cortes remarked
that we ought to forward these bones to his majesty in Spain at the very
earliest opportunity.”

Montezuma again sent embassadors to Cortes bearing presents. They said
“that their monarch could not but feel astonished that we” as Diaz
relates, “had made so long a stay among a poor and uncivilized people,
who were not fit for slaves, but so viciously disposed, so treacherous
and thievish, that some day or night when we least apprehended it they
would kill us merely for the sake of plunder. Montezuma begged us to
visit his city, where, at least, we might enjoy the good things it
offered, even though these should be below our deserts, and not equal
to what he could wish.... Cortes thanked the embassadors in a very
flattering manner for their civilities and the expressions of friendship
they had conveyed to him from their monarch, and he desired them to tell
their sovereign that in a short time he would pay his respects to him.”

At Cholula, to which Cortes next marched, a plot was concocted to kill
the Spaniards, but being warned, they were on their guard and severely
punished the inhabitants for their treacherous conduct. Describing the
city, Diaz says: “Cholula had more than a hundred very high towers,
they were all _cues_ or temples, in which human sacrifices were offered
and idols stood. The principal temple was even higher than the one in
the city of Mexico, though the latter was really magnificent and very
high. The temple [at Cholula] is said to have contained one hundred
courts, and an idol of enormous dimensions, (the name of which I have
forgotten), which was in great repute, and people came from various
places to sacrifice human beings to it and bring offerings for the dead.
I well remember when we first entered the city and beheld the elevated
white temples, how the whole place reminded us all of Valladolid.[326]
... I must add a word or two respecting the wooden cages we saw in this
city. They were constructed of heavy timber, and filled with grown men
and little boys, who were fattening for the sacrifices and feasts. Cortes
ordered these diabolical cages to be pulled down, and sent the prisoners
to their homes.”

While Cortes was on his way to the city of Mexico from Cholula, another
embassy from Montezuma met him, bringing him again presents of gold and
cotton fabrics. Montezuma desired the embassadors to express his regrets
for the many hardships which Cortes was compelled to endure on his
wearisome journey to see his person, that he would send to the port on
the coast a great quantity of gold, silver, and jewels for the emperor,
that he would present Cortes himself with four loads of gold, and one
load for each of his companions, but that he forbade him to enter the
city of Mexico, as all his troops were under arms to oppose him. “On
this occasion” says Diaz, “Cortes again told the embassadors that he
was surprised that their sovereign, who had called himself our friend
so often and was so powerful a monarch, should so frequently change his
mind, to desire a thing one day and not want it the next. Respecting the
presents of gold for our emperor and ourselves, Cortes told them that we
were thankful for Montezuma’s kind intentions, and also for the gifts
they brought with them, and that he would certainly some day render their
monarch valuable services in return. He asked them if it were right
after we had advanced within so short a distance of the metropolis to
return home without fulfilling our monarch’s commission. He said that
Montezuma should place himself in our position and consider, had he sent
embassadors to a monarch of his own rank, whether he would be pleased, if
they returned home after going almost to his palace without seeing that
monarch or fulfilling their commission to him.... Therefore he begged
that their monarch would not thereafter send any more embassadors with
such messages. Cortes further said that he was determined to see and
speak to Montezuma personally, and to inform him of the object of our
mission. All that we asked was only an audience, for the moment our stay
in his metropolis became irksome to him we would depart and return to the
place whence we had come.... With this answer Cortes sent the embassadors
back to their monarch, and we continued our march....

“After Montezuma learned our answer to his message he dispatched his
nephew, Cacamatzin, prince of Tezcuco, to us, in great pomp to bid us
welcome.... The conference being ended, we continued our march. We were
accompanied by the caciques and their numerous attendants, besides all
the inhabitants of the neighborhood, who had come to meet us, so that we
could hardly move for the vast crowds of people.

“The next morning we reached the broad high road of Iztapalapan, from
which we for the first time beheld the number of cities and villages
built in the lake [of Tezcuco], and the still greater number of large
towns on the main-land and along the level causeway, which ran in a
straight line to the city of Mexico. Our astonishment was exceedingly
great, and we could not but remark to one another, that all the buildings
resembled the fairy castles of which we read in Amadis of Gaul; so high,
majestically, and splendidly did the temples, towers, and houses of the
city, all built of massive stone and lime, rise above the water of the
lake. Indeed, many of our men believed what they saw was the creation
of a dream. And the reader must not be surprised at the manner in which
I have expressed myself, for it is impossible to speak composedly of
things which we have never before seen or heard of, or could have dreamed
of.... We now entered the city of Iztapalapan, where we were quartered in
palaces of large dimensions surrounded by spacious courts, and built of
hewn stone, cedar, and other sweet-scented wood. All the apartments were
curtained with cotton drapery.

“After we had seen all these things we visited the gardens adjoining the
palaces, which were so exceedingly attractive that I could not gratify
myself enough by walking about in them and contemplating the number of
trees which exhaled the most delightful odors, and the rose-bushes, the
different flower-beds, and the fruit-trees which stood along the paths.
Here was a pond of fresh water connected with the lake by a small canal.
The canal was constructed of stone of different colors, and decorated
with numerous figures, and was wide enough to hold the largest canoes.
In the basin various kinds of water-fowl were swimming to and fro, and
every thing was so charming and so beautiful that we could find no words
to express our astonishment.... But now there is not a vestige of all
these things remaining, and not a stone of the beautiful city left in
its place.... Iztapalapan was a city of considerable magnitude, built
partly in the water and partly on the land. Its site is now all dry land,
and where vessels once sailed to and fro seeds are sown and harvests
gathered. Indeed, the whole face of the country is so completely changed
that he who had not seen these places previously, would hardly believe
that waves had once rolled over the spot where fertile maize-plantations
are now, so wonderfully has every thing been changed here in a short
space of time.

“On the following morning we left Iztapalapan, accompanied by all the
principal caciques already mentioned. The road on which we marched was
eight paces wide, and, if I rightly remember, ran straight to the city
of Mexico. Notwithstanding the breadth of the causeway it was much too
narrow for the great throngs of people that were constantly arriving from
different places to gaze at us, and we could hardly move forward. Besides
the tops of all the temples and towers were crowded with spectators, and
below them the lake was covered with canoes filled with Indians, for
all the people were eager to catch a glimpse of us. And who can wonder
at this curiosity, for neither men like us nor horses had ever been seen
here before.

“When we surveyed all this splendor we scarcely knew what to think,
and we doubted whether all that we beheld were real. A succession of
large cities stretched along the banks of the lake [of Tezcuco], from
which much larger ones rose magnificently above the water. Innumerable
canoes were plying near us. At regular intervals we crossed new bridges,
and before us lay the great city of Tenustitlan Mexico in all its
grandeur.[327] And we, who were beholding this spectacle, who were
passing through this dense concourse of human beings, were a mere handful
of men, in all four hundred and fifty, our minds filled with the warnings
of the inhabitants of Huexotzinco, Tlascalla, and Tlalmanalco, and the
caution they had given us not to expose our lives to the treachery of
the Mexicans. I ask the kind reader to reflect a moment, and then to
say whether he believes any men in this world ever attempted so bold an
undertaking.

“When we had arrived at a place where another narrow causeway led
toward Cojohuacan we were met by a number of caciques and distinguished
personages, all attired in rich raiment. They had been dispatched by
Montezuma to meet us and bid us welcome in his name. As a manifestation
of their good-will they touched the ground with their hands and kissed
it. We now halted for a few minutes to permit the princes of Tezcuco,
Iztapalapan, Tlacupa, and Cojohuacan, to get in advance to meet
Montezuma, who was slowly approaching, surrounded by other grandees of
the kingdom, seated in a splendid portable chair. When we arrived at a
place near the city, where there were several towers, the monarch raised
himself in his chair, supported by a number of distinguished caciques,
who held over his head a canopy of very great value, decorated with green
feathers, gold, silver, _chalchihuis_ stones and pearls. The bordering of
the canopy ornamented with these things was exceedingly attractive.

“Montezuma, according to his habit, was richly attired. His half boots
were profusely decorated with jewels, the soles were of solid gold. The
four grandees who supported him were also richly clad. They must have
put on this clothing somewhere on the road, before they went to attend
Montezuma, for they were not so magnificently dressed when they first
came to meet us. Besides these distinguished caciques, there were many
other grandees around the monarch, some of whom held the canopy over his
head while others again occupied the road before him, and spread cotton
cloths that his feet might not touch the bare ground. No one of his
attendants ever looked at him full in the face. Every one in his presence
stood with eyes downcast, and it was only his four nephews and cousins,
who supported him, that dared to look up.

“When it was announced to Cortes that Montezuma was approaching, he
alighted from his horse and advanced to meet him. Many compliments
passed between them. Montezuma welcomed Cortes, who, through Doña
Marina, said, in turn, that he hoped his majesty was in good health.
If I still remember rightly, Cortes, who had Doña Marina next to him,
wished to concede the place of honor to the monarch, who, however, would
not accept of it, but yielded it to Cortes, who then took a necklace of
precious stones of very beautiful colors and shapes, strung upon gold
wire and perfumed with musk, and placed it on the neck of Montezuma. Our
commander was then about to embrace him, but the grandees, who surrounded
Montezuma, held back Cortes’s arms, for they considered the act improper.
Our general then desired Doña Marina to tell the monarch that he [Cortes]
congratulated himself exceedingly on his good fortune of having seen so
powerful a monarch face to face, and to thank him for the honor of coming
to meet us. Montezuma replied in very appropriate words, and ordered
his two nephews, the princes of Tezcuco and Cojohuacan, to conduct us
to our quarters. He then returned to the city, accompanied by his two
other relatives, the princes of Cuitlahuac and Tlacupa, and the other
grandees of his large retinue. As they passed, we observed how all those
who composed his majesty’s escort held their heads bent forward, no one
daring to lift up his eyes in his presence, and also the deep veneration
with which he was regarded....

“We were quartered in a large building where there was room enough for
us all.... Near it were temples and Mexican idols. This building had
been purposely selected for us because we were termed _teules_, or
were thought to be, and that we might dwell among the gods as among
our equals. The apartments and halls were very spacious, and those set
apart for our general were furnished with carpets. Each one of us had a
separate bed, which could not have been better furnished for a gentleman
of the first rank. Each apartment was swept clean, and the walls were
newly plastered and decorated.

“When we had entered into the great court-yard of this palace, Montezuma
came to Cortes, and, taking him by the hand, conducted him to the
apartments where he was to lodge, which had been prettily decorated after
the fashion of the country. He then hung about his neck a chased necklace
of gold, most curiously wrought with figures of crabs. The Mexican
grandees were greatly amazed at all these uncommon favors which their
monarch bestowed upon our general.

“Cortes returned the monarch many thanks for so much kindness, and the
latter took leave of him with these words: ‘Malinche,[328] you and your
brothers must now do as if you were at home, and take some rest after
the fatigues of the journey.’ He then returned to his palace, which
was near.” This was on the eighth of November, 1519. Later in the day
Montezuma again visited Cortes, and held a long conversation with him. On
the following day Cortes had an audience with Montezuma in his palace.

“The mighty Montezuma,” Diaz further observes, “may have been about this
time in the fortieth year of his age. He was tall, slender, and thin;
but his body was well-proportioned. His complexion was not very brown,
almost the same as that of the inhabitants. His hair was not long,
excepting where it hung thickly over his ears, which were hid by it. His
black beard, though thin, was handsome. His face was somewhat long, but
he had a cheerful countenance, and his fine eyes had an expression of
amiability or of ill-will according to his humor. He was particularly
clean in appearance, and took a bath every evening. Besides a number of
concubines, who were all daughters of note and rank, he had two lawful
wives of royal extraction, whom, however, he visited secretly without
any one daring to observe him, except his most confidential servants....
In the halls adjoining his private apartments there was always a guard
of two thousand men of high station in waiting, with whom, however, he
never held any conversation unless to give them orders or to receive some
intelligence from them.... In cold weather when he dined a large fire
was made of the charcoal of the bark of trees, which emitted no smoke
but a delightful perfume. That his majesty might not feel any discomfort
from the heat of the fire, a screen was placed between him and it, made
of gold, and adorned with the different figures of their gods. The chair
on which he sat was somewhat low. It was filled with soft cushions and
beautifully carved. The table was higher, and suited to the seat. The
former was covered with white cloths, one of which was large. Four very
neat and pretty women held before the monarch a round pitcher, called by
them _xicales_, filled with water to wash his hands. The water was caught
in other vessels, and then the young women presented him with towels to
dry his hands. Two other women brought him maize-bread baked with eggs.
Before Montezuma began to dine, a wooden screen, elaborately gilded, was
placed before him, that no one might see him while eating. Then the young
women stood at a distance. Four elderly men of high rank came to his
table, whom he addressed from time to time or asked them some question.
Sometimes he would offer them a plate of his food, which was considered
a mark of great favor. The gray-haired, aged men, that were so highly
honored, were, as we subsequently learned, his nearest relatives, his
most trustworthy counsellors, and chief justices. Whenever he ordered any
viands to be given them, they ate standing with the greatest reverence,
not daring to look at him full in the face. The dishes in which the food
was served were of variegated and black porcelain, made at Cholula. While
the monarch was at table his courtiers and those who were waiting in the
adjoining halls maintained strict silence....

“Sometimes during dinner he had ugly humpbacked dwarfs to act as buffoons
and perform antics for his amusement. At other times he had jesters to
enliven him with their witticisms. Others again danced and sung before
him. Montezuma took great delight in these entertainments, and ordered
the broken victuals and pitchers of cacao-liquor (chocolate) to be
distributed among the performers. When he had dined the four women took
away the cloths and brought him water to wash his hands. During this
interval he conversed a little with the four old men, and then left the
table to enjoy his afternoon-sleep.

“After the monarch had dined, dinner was served for the men on duty
and the other officers of his household. I often counted more than
one thousand dishes on the table of the kinds already mentioned.
Then followed, according to the Mexican custom, the frothing jugs of
cacao-liquor, as many as two thousand, after which came different kinds
of fruit in great abundance. Then the women dined who superintended the
baking department, and those who made the cacao-liquor, with the young
women who waited upon the monarch....

“Besides these servants were many butlers, house-stewards, treasurers,
cooks, and superintendents of maize-magazines.... I had almost forgotten
to mention, that while the monarch dined two other young women of great
beauty brought him small cakes, as white as snow, made of eggs and
other nourishing ingredients, on plates covered with clean napkins;
also a long-shaped loaf made of very substantial things, and _pachol_
(a wafer-cake). They then brought him three beautifully painted and
gilded tubes filled with liquid-amber and an herb called by the Indians
_tabaco_. After the dinner had been removed and the singing and dancing
ended, one of these tubes was lighted. The monarch drew the smoke into
his mouth, and after he had done this a short time he would fall asleep.

“At this time a celebrated cacique, whom we called Topia, was Montezuma’s
chief steward. He kept an account of the whole of Montezuma’s revenue,
in large books of paper which the Mexicans called _amatl_. A house was
filled with these large account-books.

“Montezuma had also two arsenals filled with arms of all kinds, many of
which were ornamented with gold and precious stones. The arms comprised
shields of different sizes, swords, and a broad-sword wielded with both
hands, the edge of flint so extremely sharp that the swords cut much
better than our Spanish ones. There were also lances, longer than ours,
pointed at the end, a fathom long, set with several sharp flints. The
pikes are so very sharp and hard that they will pierce the strongest
shield, and cut like a razor; so that the Mexicans even shave themselves
with these flints. There were also excellent bows and arrows, pikes
with single and double points, and suitable thongs to project them;
slings, with round stones purposely made for them; also large shields,
so ingeniously made that they could be rolled up when not wanted. These
shields are unrolled on the field of battle, and completely cover the
whole body from the head to the feet. We also saw a great many kinds of
cuirasses made of quilted cotton, which were adorned on the outside with
soft feathers of different colors, and looked like uniforms. We also saw
morions and helmets constructed of wood and bones, adorned with feathers.
There were artificers always at work, who continually augmented this
store of arms; and the arsenals were under the care of certain persons,
who also superintended the manufacturing departments....

“I will now advert to another subject, and acquaint my readers with the
fine arts of the Mexicans. I will first speak of the sculptors, and the
gold and silversmiths who were skillful in working and smelting gold.
The latter would have astonished the most celebrated of our Spanish
goldsmiths. They were many, and the most expert lived at a place called
Ezcapuzalco, about four miles from Mexico. The next in proficiency were
very skillful masters in cutting and polishing precious stones and the
_calchihuis_ stone, which resembles the emerald. These were followed
by the great masters in painting, and the decorators in feathers, and
the wonderful sculptors. Even now there are still living in Mexico
three Indian artists, named Marcos de Aguino, Juan de la Cruz, and El
Crespello, who severally have attained so high a place in the art of
painting and sculpture, that each may be compared to an Apelles, or to
our contemporaries, Michael Angelo and [Alonso] Berruguette.

“The women were remarkably skillful in weaving and embroidery, and they
made quantities of the finest stuffs, interwoven with feathers. The
common stuffs for daily use came from certain districts in the province
of Costatlan, which lay on the north coast, not far from Vera Cruz, where
we first landed with Cortes.

“The concubines in the palace of Montezuma, who were all daughters of
distinguished men, were employed in manufacturing the most beautiful
stuffs, interwoven with feathers. Similar fabrics were made by certain
women who dwelt secluded in cloisters as our nuns.... Montezuma had in
his service a great number of stone-cutters, masons, and carpenters,
who were only employed about the royal palaces. Here I must not
forget to speak of his gardens for the cultivation of flowers, trees
and vegetables, of which there were various kinds. In these gardens
were many baths, wells, basins, and ponds full of limpid water, which
regularly ebbed and flowed. These gardens were made more attractive by
innumerable species of small birds, which sang among the trees. The
gardens of medicinal plants and vegetables may also be mentioned. They
were cultivated by a large body of gardeners. All the baths, wells, ponds
and buildings were substantially constructed of stone, as were also the
theatres where the singers and dancers performed.

“We had been four days in the city of Mexico,” Diaz further remarks,
“and neither our commander nor any of us had, during this time, left
our quarters, except to visit the gardens and buildings adjoining the
palace. Cortes therefore determined to view the city, and to visit the
great market and the chief temple of Huitzilopochtli. He accordingly
sent Geronimo de Aguilar, Doña Marina, and one of his pages, named
Orteguilla, who, by this time, understood a little of the Mexican
language, to Montezuma, to request his permission to inspect the
different buildings of the city. Montezuma readily granted us permission
to go where we pleased, although he was apprehensive that we might
intentionally injure the one or the other of his idols. He therefore
determined to accompany us with some of his principal officers, and, for
this purpose, left his palace with a showy retinue....

“Our commander, attended by the greater part of our horsemen and
foot-soldiers, all well armed, as we were at all times, proceeded to the
Tlatelulco. By command of Montezuma, a number of caciques met us on our
way thither. When we arrived in this immense market, we were greatly
astonished to see the vast number of people, the profusion of merchandise
exposed for sale, and the admirable police-system, and the order that
everywhere existed. The grandees who accompanied us drew our attention to
the smallest circumstance, and gave us an explanation of all we saw. Each
class of merchandise had a separate place for its sale. We first visited
those divisions of the market set apart for the sale of gold and silver
wares, jewels, cloths interwoven with feathers, and other manufactured
goods, where also slaves of both sexes were sold. The slave-market was
upon as great a scale as the Portuguese market for negro slaves at
Guinea. To prevent the slaves from running away, they were fastened by
halters around their necks, though some were allowed to walk at large.
Next to these divisions were the dealers in coarser wares, cotton,
twisted thread, and cacao. In short, all kinds of commodities produced
in New Spain [Yucatan and Mexico] were here to be found. The market
reminded me of my native town of Medino del Campo at fair-time, where
each kind of merchandise has a separate street assigned for its sale.
In one place were sold the stuffs manufactured of _nequen_, as ropes
and sandals. In another place, the sweet _maguey_ root, ready-cooked,
was offered for sale, and various other things made from this plant.
In another part of the market were exposed the skins of tigers, lions,
jackals, otters, red deer, wild cats, and of other animals of prey. Some
of the skins were tanned. A particular space was assigned to the venders
of fowls, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, hares, deer, and dogs; also a space
to the fruit-sellers, pastry-cooks, and tripe-mongers. Not far from
these were exposed all kinds of earthenware, from the largest jars to
the smallest pitchers. Next were the dealers in honey and honey-cakes,
and other sweet-meats. Next to these were the timber-merchants,
furniture-dealers, with assortments of tables, benches, cradles, and all
kinds of wooden implements, all separately arranged.... But why should I
so minutely detail every article exposed for sale in this great market?
If I enumerated every thing singly, I should never get to the end of
the list. And yet I have not mentioned the paper, which in this country
is called _amatl_, the tubes filled with liquid-amber and tobacco, the
various sweet-scented salves, and similar things, or the various seeds
which were exposed for sale in the porticoes of this market, or the
medicinal herbs.

“In the market-place there were courts of justice, to which three judges
and several constables were appointed, who inspected the goods exposed
for sale. I had almost forgotten to mention the salt, and those who made
the flint-knives; also the fish, and a kind of bread made of the mud
or scum collected from the surface of the lake, and eaten in that form,
and which has a taste similar to that of cheese.[329] Besides, there
were instruments of brass, copper, and tin; cups and painted pitchers of
wood....

“On our way to the great temple, while passing through the court-yards
adjoining the market, we saw a number of merchants, who dealt in
gold-dust as it came from the mines, which was exposed for sale in tubes
made of large goose-bones, so thin and white that the gold shone through
them. The value of these tubes of gold was estimated according to their
length and thickness, and were taken in exchange for so many mantles,
_xiquipiles_[330] of cacao-nuts,[331] slaves, or for other merchandise.

“On quitting the market, we entered the spacious court-yards surrounding
the chief temple. These appeared to include more ground than the
market-place at Salamanca, and were inclosed by a double wall constructed
of stone and lime. The yards were paved with large white flag-stones,
extremely smooth, and where there were none, a brown plaster had been
used. The court-yards were kept so very clean that there was not the
smallest particle of dust or straw to be seen anywhere.

“Before we ascended the steps of the great temple, Montezuma, who was
sacrificing on the top to his idols, sent six priests and two of his
principal officers to conduct Cortes up the steps. There were one hundred
and fourteen steps to the summit, and as they feared that Cortes would
experience the same fatigue in mounting as Montezuma had, they desired
to assist him by taking hold of his arms. Cortes, however, would not
accept the proffered aid. When we had reached the summit of the temple,
we walked across a platform where many large stones were lying, on which
those who were doomed for sacrifice were stretched out. Near these stood
a large idol, in the shape of a dragon, surrounded by various other
abominable figures, with a quantity of fresh blood in front of it....

“This infernal temple, from its great height, commanded an extensive view
of the surrounding country. From it we could see the three causeways
leading to the city,—that one from Iztapalapan, by which we had entered
the city four days before; that one from Tlacupa, along which we took our
flight eight months after, when we were driven out of the city by the new
monarch, Cuitlahuatzin; the third, the one from Tepeaquilla. We also saw
the aqueduct, which extended from Chapultepec, and supplied the city with
fresh water. We could also distinctly see the bridges across the openings
in the causeways, through which the waters of the lake ebbed and flowed.
The lake was crowded with canoes conveying provisions, manufactured
articles, and other merchandise to the city. We also observed that the
only means of intercourse between the houses in this city, and between
those of all the other towns built in the lake, was by draw-bridges
or canoes. In all these cities the beautiful white-plastered temples
rose above the smaller ones, like many of the towers and castles in our
Spanish cities. The view from the top of the temple, it may be imagined,
was a splendid sight.

“After we had sufficiently gazed upon this magnificent picture, we again
turned our eyes toward the great market, and beheld the vast number
of buyers and sellers who thronged it. The bustle and noise caused by
this multitude of human beings was so great that it could be heard at
a distance of more than four miles. Some of our men, who had been at
Constantinople and at Rome and had travelled through the whole of Italy,
said that they never had seen a market-place of such large dimensions,
or which was so well regulated, or so crowded with people as this one in
Mexico....

“We were conducted to a small temple with one room, in which we saw two
bases resembling altars, decked with coverings of extreme beauty. On each
of them stood a gigantic, bulky-looking figure. The one on the right
hand represented the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. This idol had a very
broad face with distorted and terrible eyes, and was covered with jewels,
gold, and pearls, fastened with a paste made from a certain root. Large
serpents, also, covered with gold and precious stones, wound round the
body of this monster, which held in one hand a bow, and in the other a
bunch of arrows. Another but smaller idol, its page, standing by its
side carried the monster’s short spear and golden shield, studded with
precious stones. Around Huitzilopochtli’s neck were figures representing
human faces, and hearts made of gold and silver and decorated with
blue stones. In front of him stood several perfuming pans containing
copal, the incense of the country; also the hearts of three Indians,
who had been killed that day. The hearts were consuming before him as a
burnt-offering. The walls of the temple and the whole floor were almost
black with human blood, and the stench was highly offensive.

“On the left hand stood another figure of the same size as
Huitzilopochtli. Its face resembled very much that of a bear. Its shining
eyes were made of _tetzcat_, the reflecting-glass of the country. This
idol, like its brother Huitzilopochtli, was covered with precious stones,
and was called Tetzcatlipuca. This was the god of hell.... A circle of
figures wound round its body, resembling diminutive devils with serpents’
tails. The walls and floor around this idol were also besmeared with
blood, and the stench was greater than that of a Spanish slaughter-house.
Five human hearts had that day been offered to him. On the very top
of this temple stood another; the wood-work of which was exceedingly
elaborate and richly carved. In this temple there was another idol, half
man and half lizard, completely covered with precious stones; half of
this figure was hidden from view. We were told that the concealed half
was covered with the seeds of every plant on the earth, for this idol
was the god of seeds and fruits.... In the temple was a drum of enormous
dimensions, the sound of which was so deep and solemn that it was
appropriately called the drum of hell. The drum-head was made from the
skin of an enormous serpent. The sound of the drum could be heard eight
miles. The platform of the temple was covered with a variety of hellish
objects,—large and small trumpets, great slaughtering knives, the burnt
hearts of Indians who had been sacrificed,—every thing being clotted with
coagulated blood, terrible to view and filling the mind with horror....

“If I remember rightly, this temple occupied a space of ground on which
we could have placed six of the largest buildings commonly found in our
country. The building had the form of a pyramid, on the summit of which
was the small temple with the idols....

“Cortes and the rest of us at last grew weary with the inspection of so
many idols and the implements used for sacrifices, and we returned to our
quarters accompanied by a great number of the chief men and caciques,
whom Montezuma had ordered to attend us.”

It is unnecessary here to follow farther the movements of the conquerors
(_conquistadores_) of New Spain. The beautiful and famous metropolis of
Mexico, twenty-two months after Cortes and his followers had entered
it, was in ruins, filled with the innumerable dead bodies of its heroic
defenders. The siege of the city lasted ninety-three days, ending the
13th of August, 1521. When the terrible drama ended, Cortes permitted
those of its inhabitants who had not been killed, starved, or stricken
with disease, to leave the charnel city. “The causeways,” says Diaz,
“were crowded for three days and nights with men, women, and children, on
their way to the main-land. These poor beings were much emaciated, and
had a deathlike appearance.... The houses were found filled with dead
bodies.... The soil in the city looked as if it had been ploughed, for
the famished inhabitants had dug every root out of the ground, and had
even peeled the bark from the trees to appease their hunger. We did not
find any fresh water in the city, for that in all the wells was salty.
During the horrible famine the Mexicans had not eaten the flesh of their
countrymen, although they greedily devoured that of the Tlascallans
and Spaniards. Certainly no people in this world ever suffered so much
from hunger, thirst, and the horrors of war, as the inhabitants of this
great city.” As the emperor’s share of the booty, Cortes sent to Spain
two vessels carrying eighty-eight thousand _pesos_ of gold in bars, and
the wardrobe of Montezuma. “The latter,” Diaz observes, “was a valuable
present, and well worthy of our great emperor’s acceptance, for it
embraced jewels of the greatest value, pearls of the size of hazel-nuts,
and various precious stones, the number of which my memory will not
permit me to designate. At the same time were sent the bones of the
giants which we found in the temple of Cojohuacan, which were similar
to those given to us by the Tlascallans that we had previously sent to
Spain.”[332]




CHAPTER VIII.

1518-1524.


That part of the coast of the continent, now included in the territory of
the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the westerly
portion of Florida, was first discovered and explored by Alonso Alvarez
de Pineda. The fleet which this Spaniard commanded was fitted out by
Francisco de Garay, the wealthy governor of the island of Jamaica, who
had accompanied Columbus to the New World in 1493. Bernal Diaz, in his
history of the conquest of New Spain, thus speaks of this expedition: “In
the year 1518, when the report of our having discovered this country,
under Cordoba and Grijalva, and of the twenty thousand _pesos_ which came
into the hands of Diego Velasquez, had spread through the whole of the
West Indies,” and when Garay “received information of a new expedition
that was destined for New Spain, under Hernando Cortes, he [Francisco
de Garay] was seized with a great desire likewise to discover some new
countries, and certainly he had more wealth at his command than we to fit
out a fleet for such a purpose. He had learned considerable about the
riches of the new countries from our old chief pilot Alaminos, and how
thickly populated the provinces were on the river Panuco; and as several
other sailors, who had accompanied us on those expeditions, confirmed
what Alaminos had told him, he thought that it was to his advantage
to request his majesty to grant him the permission to make further
discoveries on the river Panuco, and to appoint him governor of all the
lands he should discover. For this purpose he dispatched his major-domo,
Juan de Torralva, to Spain, with letters and presents for those who at
that time administered the affairs of the Indies, soliciting them to
procure him the appointment mentioned.

“His majesty was at the time in Flanders, and the president of the
council of the Indies, Don Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, bishop of Burgos
and titular archbishop of Rosano, with the two licentiates Zapata and
Vargas, and the secretary Lopez de Conchillos, managed the affairs of the
Indies as they pleased. Garay therefore easily obtained the appointment
of adelantado and governor of the provinces bordering on the river
San Pedro and San Pablo, and of all the countries he should discover.
By virtue of this appointment he fitted out three vessels, having on
board two hundred and forty men, including a strong body of cavalry,
cross-bowmen, and musketeers. The chief command of this fleet he gave to
Alonso Alvarez de Pineda.[333]”

It is further related that the explorers set sail in 1519, toward “the
peninsula of Florida, in twenty-five degrees of north latitude, for
Florida appeared to them to be a very attractive island, and they thought
that it was better to settle on islands than on the main-land, because
they could more easily conquer the natives and keep them in subjection.
They landed, but the people of Florida killed so many of them that they
did not dare to settle there. They then sailed along the coast and came
to the river of Panuco, five hundred leagues from the peninsula of
Florida, measured on a course along the coast. The natives attacked them
at every place. Many of them were killed at Chila [near the mouth of
the river Panuco], where the natives flayed and eat those who fell into
their hands, and hung up the skins in their temples to commemorate their
valor.”[334]

Diaz further observes: “While we were lying at Villa Segura, Cortes was
informed by letters that one of the vessels which Garay had fitted out
for the purpose of forming settlements on the river Panuco had arrived
at Vera Cruz. This vessel was commanded by a certain Comargo, and had
on board more than sixty soldiers, who were all in bad health, with
their bodies greatly swelled. This Comargo gave the particulars of the
unfortunate termination of Garay’s expedition to the river Panuco.

“The Indians had massacred the commander-in-chief, Alonso Alvarez de
Pineda, and all his soldiers and horses, and then had set fire to his
vessels. Comargo alone had been fortunate enough to escape with his men
on board of one of the vessels, and had steered for Vera Cruz, where the
explorers arrived half famished, for they had not been able to procure
any provisions from the enemy. This Comargo, it was said, had taken the
vows of the order of the Dominicans.

“Comargo and his men, by moderate advances, at last arrived at Villa
Segura, for they were so weakened that they could scarcely move along.
When Cortes saw in what a terrible condition they were, he commended them
to our care, and showed Comargo and all his men every possible kindness.
If I remember rightly, Comargo died soon after, and also several of his
men.”[335]

The fields of the explorations of Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, Juan de
Grijalva, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, and Juan Ponce de Leon are
represented on a traced map of the coast of the continent and of the new
lands (_traza de las costas de tierra-firme y de las tierras nuevas_),
made in 1521, to define the limits of the jurisdictions of Juan Ponce
Leon, Francisco de Garay, and Diego Velasquez.[336]

On the peninsula of Florida, delineated on the map, is inscribed in
Spanish: “Florida called Bimini, which Juan Ponce discovered.” West of
it is a broken line and this inscription: “As far as this Juan Ponce
discovered.” At some distance farther west is another line of limitation
and this explanation: “From here Francisco Garay began to discover.”
West of this is the early designation of the Mississippi River, “Rio del
Espiritu Santo” (River of the Holy Spirit). Southward beyond the mouth
of the Panuco River is a third broken line and the inscription: “As far
as this place Francisco de Garay discovered toward the west, and Diego
Velazquez toward the east as far as Cabo de las Higueras, which the
Pinzons discovered, and the population has given it to them.”

[Illustration: TRAZA DE LAS COSTAS DE TIERRA-FIRME Y DE LAS TIERRAS
NUEVAS.

A tracing of the coasts of the Continent and of the New Lands, 1521, in
the third volume of Navarrete’s “Coleccion de los Viages.”]

According to these _memoranda_ and the statements of Herrera, the Spanish
historian, Juan Ponce de Leon explored the eastern coast of Florida
from La Cruz, south of the thirty-first parallel, to a point on the
southwestern coast, perhaps as far as Appalachee Bay. Alonso Alvarez de
Pineda’s explorations, it would seem, began at Appalachicola Bay and
ended at the Panuco River.[337]

The more northerly part of the eastern coast of Florida and coast of the
present state of Georgia were inspected by the officers and crews of
two vessels, equipped in 1520 in the port of La Plata, San Domingo, by
seven citizens of that island. The ships were fitted out to sail among
the Bahama Islands to kidnap Indians to work in the mines and on the
plantations. Among the projectors of the expedition was Lucas Vasquez de
Ayllon.[338] When the kidnapers arrived among the Bahama Islands they
found them depopulated. “They determined,” it is said, “to go farther
toward the north to search for a new country rather than return without
any slaves. They reached a country called Chicora and Gualdape, in
thirty-two degrees of north latitude”; where there was a cape, afterward
called Cabo de Santa Elena (Cape of Saint Helen), and the Rio Jordan
(River Jordan).[339]

“When our men steered toward the shore,” Peter Martyr relates, “the
inhabitants, astonished at the sight of the ships, imagined that some
monster was approaching. In order to satisfy their curiosity they flocked
in great numbers to the shore. When our people were about to land with
their boats the Indians ran rapidly away. As they fled our men pursued.
Some of the youngest and the fastest runners overtook two of the natives,
a man and a woman. They brought these to the ships, dressed them, and
gave them their liberty. Impressed by this evidence of good-will the
Indians returned in crowds to the beach. The king of the country,
learning how our men had dealt with the man and the woman, and seeing the
new and costly garments upon them (for the Indians only clothe themselves
with the skins of lions or of other animals), sent fifty of his people to
ours bearing the productions of the country. When visited by our people
he was friendly and hospitable. When they expressed a desire to see the
surrounding country he gave them guides and guards. Wherever they went
the inhabitants came reverently to them with presents as unto gods to be
adored, especially when they saw them having beards, and clothed with
linen and silken garments. But what! The Spaniards violated the laws
of hospitality. For by craft and various cunning devices, after they
had seen all that they wished, they so managed that on an appointed day
the Indians visited the ships to inspect them. When the vessels were
crowded with these innocent people, the anchors were weighed and the
sails hoisted, and the Indians were carried away mourning into servitude.
Instead of friends, they made the people of those regions enemies, and
having found them contented they left them miserable, having taken
children from parents, and husbands from wives. Of the two ships one only
returned, the other was never seen again. It was conjectured that all
on board were drowned, the guilty and the guiltless, for it was an old
ship....

“While they were there they explored the two principal regions, Chicora
and Duharhe.... They say that the people of Chicora are half black or
tawny as our farmers are, burned and tanned by the sun. The men allow
their hair to grow long, which often extends down to their girdles. The
hair of the women is much longer. Both sexes bind up their hair. The
men have no beards. Whether or not they are so naturally or so by art
is unknown; however, they take great pride in having smooth faces....
Leaving Chicora they went to the other side of the bay, and took
possession of the region called Duharhe.”

Peter Martyr further observes that Ayllon had been a persistent solicitor
at the court of Spain, and that he wanted to obtain letters-patent to go
again to these countries “to plant a colony there.[340] ... He brought
one of the natives of Chicora with him.... While he remained [in Spain]
prosecuting his business, I sometimes had Ayllon, the master, and the
Chicoran, his servant, as my guests. The Chicoran is not a dull person
nor superficially intelligent. He has learned the Spanish language
passably well. The things which Ayllon showed me, written by his men
and reported by the Chicoran, that are strange and remarkable, I will
relate.... Ayllon says the natives there [in Duharhe] are white, which
also Franciscus, the tawny Chicoran, asserts, and that they have long
yellow hair hanging down to their ankles.

“These people have a king of giant-like proportions, called Datha, and
they say that the queen, his wife, is not much smaller.... This king
being asked why he and his wife were so remarkably tall and the other
people not, replied that their height was not hereditary, but that it had
been caused by violent treatment. While they were infants in the charge
of nurses their parents sent for those practicing the art, who anointed
their limbs for a number of days with certain decoctions of herbs to
soften their tender bones, which in time became as pliable as lukewarm
wax. They then stretched their limbs, often leaving them almost dead.
Thereupon the nurses, who had been fed with certain strength-producing
meats, suckled them, the infants being covered with warm cloths. When
they had again regained their vigor the practitioners again twisted
and pulled their bones as they had previously done. This treatment was
repeated from time to time until their limbs were lengthened so much that
when they reached maturity they had the desired tallness....

“There is another region near Duharhe called Xapida. In it they say
pearls and a precious stone resembling a pearl are to be found, which
the natives highly prize. In all the country explored by them there were
herds of deer kept like cattle with us. The deer fawn at home, and there
they also rear their young. These deer, when free, wander and pasture in
the woods during the day and at night return to their young. They are
confined in pens and allow themselves to be milked.... The people fatten
many kinds of fowl, as chickens, ducks, geese, and the like. Their bread
is maize, the same as that of the people of the islands.... The grain of
the maize is like our panic of Insubria, [in Italy,] but in size like
pease. They sow another kind of corn called Xathi. They believe it is
millet.... The natives have several varieties of potatoes, but they are
small.... The Spaniards speak of many regions which they think are under
the government of one and the same king,—Hitha, Xamunabe, Tihe.

“In this country they say there is a caste of priests differing from the
people. These priests are held in great reverence by the inhabitants
of the surrounding country. The natives of this region cut their hair,
leaving only two curled locks hanging down in front of their ears, which
locks they tie under their chins. The Spaniards explored many regions of
this great country, which tracts they called Arambe, Guacaia, Quohathe,
Tanzacca, Pahor. The inhabitants are all somewhat tawny and swart. None
of them have any knowledge of letters, but they possess many traditions
which they preserve and relate in rhymes and songs. They exercise
themselves in dancing and skipping, and find much amusement in playing
ball, for they are very nimble and skillful. The women sew and spin, and
although for the most part they are dressed in the skins of wild animals,
they have cotton and make thread from the fibres of certain tough plants,
as our hemp or flax. There is another region called Inzignanin.”[341]

According to Gomara’s geographical description of the coast of North
America, the explorations of the Spaniards who discovered Tierra de
Ayllon (the Land of Ayllon) extended from the Cape of St. Helen, in 32°,
northwardly forty leagues to the River Jordan. If Cape St. Helen were a
point of land near the mouth of the Combahee River, the river Jordan was
likely the Santee River, in South Carolina.[342]

Among the most renowned of the various maritime achievements which gave
great fame to Spanish enterprise in seeking for a sea-path to Cathay by
sailing toward the west, was that of the circumnavigation of the globe
in the years 1519-1522. The remarkable voyage was begun by Fernam de
Magalhaens, a Portuguese navigator. The first account of the expedition
was written by Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian chevalier, who accompanied
Magalhaens. Pigafetta’s connection with the exploration is explained by
him in the opening chapter of his history of the voyage: “I learned that
a squadron of five vessels were under equipment at Seville, destined for
the discovery of the Molucca Islands from which we get our spices, and
that Fernam de Magalhaens,[343] a Portuguese gentleman, and a commander
of the order of St. Iago de la Spata, who had already more than once
traversed the ocean with great reputation, was made captain-general of
the expedition.[344] Therefore I immediately repaired to Barcelona to
request permission of his majesty to be one of the number of persons to
go on this voyage. My request was granted.”

The interested historian then relates: “The captain-general, Fernam de
Magalhaens, had determined to undertake a long voyage across the ocean
where the winds are violent and storms quite frequent. He also resolved
to take a course not yet explored by any navigator, but this bold purpose
he was cautious in disclosing lest some one should try to dissuade
him from it by magnifying the risk he would run and thus dishearten
his men. Besides the dangers common to a voyage like this one was the
disadvantageous circumstance that the four other vessels under his
command were in charge of captains inimical to him solely because he was
a Portuguese and they were Spaniards.”

The fleet sailed from the port of Seville, on Monday morning, the tenth
of August, 1519. The five ships proceeded southwardly along the coast of
Africa, passed between Cape Verd and the islands of the Cape Verd group,
and after reaching Sierra Leone, stood for the coast of Brazil.

“After we crossed the equator,” says Pigafetta, “we lost sight of the
north star. We then steered south-southwest, making for Terra del Verzino
(Land of Red wood), in latitude twenty-three degrees thirty minutes south
latitude.[345] This country is a continuation of that in which Cape St.
Augustine is situated, in eight degrees thirty minutes south latitude.”

The squadron entered the port now known as that of Rio Janeiro on St.
Lucy’s day, the thirteenth of December.

“The land of Brazil, which produces every thing in abundance, is as large
as Spain, France, and Italy united. It is one of the countries acquired
by the king of Portugal. The people of Brazil are not Christians, nor
are they idolaters, for they worship nothing.... They go entirely naked,
the women as well as the men. Their houses are long cabins, which they
call _boi_. They lie on cotton-nets called hammocks fastened at the
ends to two strong posts. Their fire-places are on the ground. Their
_bois_ frequently contain a hundred men, with their wives and children,
consequently there is always considerable noise in these houses....

“The people of Brazil, both men and women, paint their bodies and
particularly their faces in a singular manner with different figures.
They have short, woolly hair on their heads, but none on other parts
of their bodies, for they pluck it out. They have a dress made of the
interwoven feathers of the parrot, and so arranged that the large quills
of the wings and tail form a girdle about their loins, giving the wearer
a unique and grotesque appearance. Almost all the men have their lower
lips pierced with three holes, through which they thrust a slender
cylindrical stone about two inches long. The women and children do not
wear this cumbersome ornament.... Their color is more of an olive than a
black.”

[Illustration: FIELD OF VOYAGES TO AMERICA.

ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.]

After anchoring thirteen days in the port of Rio Janeiro, the fleet
coasted southward to the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, where, as
Pigafetta relates: “Juan de Solis, while on a similar voyage of
discovery, was with sixty of his crew devoured by cannibals, in whom they
placed too much confidence.”

At the beginning of winter, in the month of May, 1520, the fleet reached
the port of St. Julian, “in forty-nine degrees thirty minutes,” where
they anchored for five months.[346] Here the explorers were visited by
a number of giants. Pigafetta, describing one of the visitors, remarks:
“This man was so prodigiously large that our heads scarcely reached
to his waist. He had an attractive appearance. His face was broad and
painted red, with the exception of a circle of yellow round his eyes
and two spots, figured like hearts, on his cheeks. His hair, which was
thin, was whitened with some kind of a powder. His coat, or rather his
mantle, was made of furs, well sewed together, taken from an indigenous
animal, which afterward we had an opportunity to see. This animal [the
guanaco] has the head and ears of a mule, the body of a camel, the legs
of a stag, and the tail of a horse, and, like the latter, neighs. This
man also wore shoes made of the skin of the same animal. In his left hand
he carried a short and heavy bow; the string, somewhat thicker than a
lute’s, was made of an intestine of the animal already mentioned. In his
other hand he held arrows made of short reeds, with feathers at one end,
similar to our arrows, and at the other, instead of iron, a white and
black flint....

“The women are not as tall as the men, but they are much stouter.... They
paint and dress in the same manner as their husbands, and use the thin
skin of an animal to cover their nakedness. They were, in our judgment,
far from handsome, nevertheless their husbands seemed jealous....

“Savage as these Indians are, they are not without their medicaments.
When they have a pain in the stomach, in place of an active medicine they
thrust an arrow far down the throat to cause them to vomit.... If they
have the headache, they make a gash in their forehead, and do the same
with other parts of their body where they suffer pain, to draw from the
affected part a considerable quantity of blood....

“Their hair is cut circularly, like that of monks, but it is longer, and
they confine it round the head with a cotton-string, in which bandage
they place their arrows when they go hunting.... It appears that their
religion is limited to adoring the devil. They pretend that when one of
them is on the point of death, ten or twelve demons appear dancing and
singing around the dying person.... These people, as I have already said,
clothe themselves with the skin of an animal, and also cover their huts
with the same kind of skin. They transport their huts, for they have no
fixed place of abode, and wander about from place to place like gypsies.
They live on raw meat and a sweet root called _capac_.... Our captain
gave these people the name of Patagonians....

“Scarcely had we anchored in this roadstead before the four captains of
the other vessels plotted to murder the captain-general. These traitors
were Juan of Carthagena, inspector of the fleet, Luis de Mendoza, the
treasurer, Antonio Cocca, the paymaster, and Gaspar de Casada. The plot
was discovered. The first named was flayed alive, and the second stabbed
to the heart. Gaspar de Casada was forgiven, but in a few days he was
again treacherous. Then the captain-general (who did not dare to take
Casada’s life, as he was made a captain by the emperor,) drove him from
the fleet and left him in the country of the Patagonians, with a priest,
his accomplice....

“We planted a cross on the summit of a neighboring mountain, which we
named Monte Cristo, and took possession of the country in the name of the
king of Spain....

“Continuing our course toward the south, on the twenty-first of October,
in fifty-two degrees, we discovered a strait, which we called the Strait
of the Eleven Thousand Virgins (xi. mila Vergini), in honor of the day.
This strait, as it will hereafter appear, is four hundred and forty
miles, or one hundred and ten leagues long, and about a half league wide,
more or less.[347] It extends to another sea, which we named the Pacific
Ocean (Mar pacifico). The strait lies between lofty mountains covered
with snow, and the channel was so deep that we were compelled to anchor
close to the shore.[348] ...

“The whole of the crew were so fully persuaded that this strait had no
western outlet, that we should have left it unexplored had it not been
for the profound scientific knowledge of the captain-general. Skillful
as he was intrepid, he knew that he had to sail through a very secluded
strait which he had seen marked on a chart, in the archives of the king
of Portugal, drawn by that most excellent man, Martin of Boemia.[349]

“As soon as we entered the strait, imagined to be only a bay, the captain
sent the two ships, the San Antonio and La Concepcion, in advance to
explore it to its termination or to where it extended, while we, in the
ships La Trinidad and La Victoria, remained at its mouth.[350]

“Two days passed before the vessels returned that had been sent to
examine the bottom of the bay. We began to conjecture that they had been
engulfed during the tempest which had occurred, for seeing smoke on shore
we imagined that those who had the good fortune to escape had kindled
fires to inform us of their existence and distress. But while in this
painful suspense we saw the ships coming toward us under full sail and
with their flags flying.... When we learned from those on board that they
had seen the prolongation of the bay, or, more correctly, of the strait,
we sailed to them to continue our voyage on this course, if possible.

“When we had entered into the third bay, which I have already mentioned,
we saw two openings, or channels, the one running to the southeast, the
other to the southwest.... The captain-general sent the two vessels, the
San Antonio and La Concepcion, to the southeast to examine whether or not
this channel terminated in an open sea. The first set sail immediately
under press of canvas, not choosing to wait for the second, which the
pilot wished to leave behind, for he had intended to avail himself of the
darkness of the night to retrace his course and return to Spain by the
same way he had come.

“This pilot was Estevan Gomez, who hated Magalhaens, for the sole reason
that when Magalhaens came to Spain to lay his project before the emperor
of going to the Moluccas by a western route, Gomez himself had already
requested, and was on the point of obtaining, some caravels for an
expedition of which he would have had the command. This expedition had
for its object new discoveries, but the arrival of Magalhaens prevented
his request from being granted, and he only obtained the subaltern
position of pilot. His disaffection was further increased by the thought
of his serving under a Portugese. In the course of the night he conspired
with the other Spaniards on board the ship. They put in irons and even
wounded the captain, Alvaro de Meschita, the cousin-german of the
captain-general, and carried him to Spain.”[351]

When the strait was explored to its termination, the cape where the
strait ended was called, says Pigafetta, “Il Cabo Deseado” (The Desired
Cape).

On Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of November, 1520, the three ships
left the strait and entered the unexplored expanse of the Pacific. “In
the course of three months and twenty days,” Pigafetta observes, “we
traversed nearly four thousand leagues on the ocean called by us the
Pacific, on account of our not having experienced during this period any
tempestuous weather. In this long space of time we did not descry any
land, except two desert islands. On these we saw nothing but birds and
trees, therefore we named them, Isole Sfortunato[352] (The Unfortunate
Islands).... The two islands are two hundred leagues apart. The first
lies in fifteen degrees south latitude, the second in nine degrees.
According to the measure which we made of the voyage with the chain at
the poop, we ran daily about sixty to seventy leagues.[353] If God and
the Holy Mother had not granted us a fortunate voyage we should all have
perished from hunger on so vast a sea. I do not think that any one will
hereafter venture on a similar voyage.[354]

“If we had continued on a western course on the same parallel after
leaving the strait we should have circumnavigated the globe without
seeing any land except that extending from the Cape of the Eleven
Thousand Virgins, at the eastern head of the strait, in the Ocean Sea
(Mar oceano), to Cabo Deseado, at the western end, in the Pacific Sea
(Mar pacifico). The two capes are in fifty-two degrees south latitude.

“The antarctic pole has not as many stars as the arctic. At the former
a large number of small stars cluster together which form two _nebulæ_.
They are separated from each other and are somewhat dim. In these
_nebulæ_ are two large and brilliant stars which move very little. These
indicate the antarctic pole. Although the needle declined somewhat from
the arctic pole it still oscillated toward it, but not with the same
force as when in the northern hemisphere. When the captain-general out at
sea directed the course in which the pilots should steer, he asked them
in what direction they steered. All of them replied that they bore in
the direction in which he had ordered them. He then informed them that
their course was wrong and directed them to correct the needle, because,
as they were in the southern hemisphere, it had not the same power to
designate the true north as in the northern hemisphere. When we got out
in the open sea, we saw, in the west, a cross of five very bright stars.

“We steered northwest by west till we reached the equator in one hundred
and twenty-two degrees of longitude, west of the line of demarkation....
After we crossed the equator we steered west by north. We then ran two
hundred leagues toward the west, when, changing our course again, we ran
west by south until we reached thirteen degrees of north latitude. We
proposed by this course to reach Cape Catticara which geographers have
placed in this latitude, but they are mistaken, for this cape lies twelve
degrees more toward the north.”[355]

From the islands, which Magalhaens called “Isole de Ladroni,”[356] the
three ships stood toward the Philippine Islands, where, on one called
Matan, the captain-general was killed in an engagement with the natives,
on the twenty-seventh of April, 1521. It was at the island of Zubu, near
the former, “in ten degrees north latitude,” that Magalhaens, before his
death, received the first intelligence respecting the Molucca Islands.
On Wednesday, the sixth of November, 1521, the ships came in sight of
the long-sought Spice Islands, and on Friday, the eighth of November,
1521, the Victoria and the Trinidad arrived at the island of Tadore.
“We now,” Pigafetta remarks, “returned thanks to God and manifested our
joy by firing a round from all of our large guns. It will not excite
astonishment that we should be elated, when it is considered that we
had been at sea twenty-seven months, wanting two days, and had visited
numerous islands in search of those we had reached.

“The Portuguese had reported that the Molucca Islands lay in the middle
of an impassable sea, full of shallows, and were surrounded by a cloudy,
foggy atmosphere. We, however, found the contrary, and never had less
than a hundred fathoms water all the way to the Molucca Islands.”
The latter were five in number: Tarenate, Tadore, Mutir, Machian and
Bachian.[357] When afterward cloves were found on the adjacent islands,
the name Moluccas, was applied to all the islands lying between the
Philippines and Java.

After a short sojourn at the Spice Islands, the return voyage was made by
the ship La Victoria alone, commanded by Juan Sebastian del Cano,[358]
who set sail from Tadore on the twenty-first of December, 1521, the ship
La Concepcion having been burned at the island Bohol, and La Trinidad
having been left at the Moluccas in a leaking condition. Following the
route along the coast of Africa, the ship La Victoria arrived at Seville,
on Monday, the eighth of September, 1522, she having sailed in the entire
voyage, according to Pigafetta’s computation, fourteen thousand six
hundred leagues. Thus passed into history the wonderful achievement of
the first circumnavigation of the earth in three years and twenty-nine
days.[359]

The signal success of the maritime enterprise of the Spaniards engendered
a spirit of jealousy among the Portuguese. The feeling of being
overshadowed by their persistent rival in reaching the Indies by the way
of the West led them to accuse the Spaniards of encroaching on their
commercial route to the Spice Islands, and of breaking the treaty of
Tordesillas. The Spaniards in defence claimed that the Moluccas or the
Spice Islands, found by Magellan’s companions, were not within the limits
of the territory of the Portuguese as defined by the papal bull.

To settle these national differences the notable congress of Badajos
was convened in the spring of 1524. The king of each country sent to
it special commissioners, among which number were Fernando Columbus,
Sebastian Cabot, Diego Ribero, and Estevan Gomez. For a number of days
the two parties angrily disputed concerning the indefinite position of
the line of demarkation as established by the treaty of Tordesillas in
1494. It was a question not easily decided where among the Cape Verd
Islands the point was, through which, at the distance of three hundred
and seventy leagues from it, the line of limitation passed to the poles,
for the group of the Cape Verd Islands occupies a space in extent from
east to west of about one hundred and fifty miles.

Wherever, east or west, they decided this point should be established
each party was aware that so much space would be gained or lost on the
opposite side of the earth by the one or the other of the two countries.
The congress, after many exciting disputations, finally ended its session
on the last day of May, without reaching any decision respecting the
position of the papal line of limitation. The admission that Spain had
full title to the Spice or Molucca Islands and that Portugal had acquired
the right of possession of a part of Brazil, were the chief concessions
made by this contentious body of learned men.[360]




CHAPTER IX.

1504-1524.


The competitive zeal which Portugal, Spain, and England had displayed,
in searching for a short water-way to the eastern coast of Asia, in time
quickened the ambition of France to emulate these maritime powers in
discovering a desirable route across the Atlantic to the vast domains of
the Grand Khan of Cathay. The Gulf of St. Lawrence, as early as the year
1504, was frequented by the fishing vessels of France. The exploration of
the coast of the New Land, north of the present Atlantic territory of the
United States of America, is described by a famous French sea-captain of
Dieppe, in 1539.

“The said land, that part running east and west [Cape Breton Island and
Nova Scotia?], was discovered about thirty-five years ago by the Bretons
[Britons?] and Normans; hence this land has been called the Cape of the
Bretons [Britons?].

“The other part [Newfoundland?] running north and south from Cape Ras to
Cape Buona Vista, including nearly seventy leagues, was discovered by the
Portuguese, and the remainder, as far as the Gulf of Castiles [north of
the Strait of Belle Isle], and still farther, was discovered by the said
Bretons [Britons?] and Normans.[361]

“About thirty-three years ago, a ship of Honfleur first went there, of
which vessel Jean Denis was captain, and Gamart, of Rouen, pilot. In the
year 1508, a ship of Dieppe, called La Pensée, owned by Jean Ango, father
of the captain and viscount of Dieppe, sailed there, the master or patron
of the said ship being Thomas Aubert, and he was the first person who
brought here people from that country.”[362]

In company with the Pensée, another ship, commanded by Giovanni da
Verrazzano, also sailed from the port of Dieppe. The two entering the
river of St. Lawrence, ascended it to the distance of eighty leagues.
The exploration of the river is thus described: “The people of Dieppe
continued their commercial intercourse with the East Indies. When they
heard of the discoveries which the Spaniards had made in America, they
found their emulation incited, and they equipped two vessels to discover
whether that part of the world did not extend its coast to the north.
They intrusted the command of the ships to two of their most skillful
captains, named Thomas Aubert and Jean Vérassen. These two ships sailed
from Dieppe at the beginning of the year 1508, and discovered the same
year the St. Lawrence River, to which they gave the name of Saint
Lawrence because they began to ascend it on this saint’s day [the tenth
of August]. They explored the river for more than eighty leagues, finding
the inhabitants friendly, with whom they made very profitable exchanges
for peltries.”[363]

As related in the chronicle of Eusebius, printed at Paris in 1512, it
appears that Aubert and Verrazzano, on their departure from the New
Land, carried to France a number of natives. Under the date of 1509, it
is said: “Seven wild men were brought from that island (which is called
the New Land) to Rouen with their canoe, clothing, and weapons. They are
of a sooty color, with thick lips, and bearing marks on the face drawn
like blue veins along the cheek-bones from the ear to the middle of the
chin; with black hair and coarse like a horse’s mane; having no beard
throughout the whole life; no hair on any part of the body, except on
the head and eyebrows. They wear a girdle to cover their nakedness, in
which girdle is a sort of pouch; they form a dialect with their lips;
religion they have none. Their canoe is bark, which a man can lift on his
shoulders with one hand. Their weapons are large bows, the strings being
intestines or sinews of animals; their arrows are canes barbed with flint
or fish-bone. Their food is boiled flesh; their drink water. Of bread and
wine and money they have not the least use. They go naked or clad in the
skins of beasts,—bears, deer, sea-calves, and the like. Their country,
parallel to the seventh climate,[364] is nearer the West[365] than France
is farther from it.”[366]

Although for a number of years, at the beginning of the sixteenth
century, this part of North America was visited by English, French, and
Portuguese seamen, it appears that no navigator had yet sailed along
the peculiarly marked and sinuous coast of the new continent between
the thirty-fourth and the forty-fifth parallels of north latitude.
Fortunately for France, Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine, who, in
1508, had sailed with Aubert to the New Land, was sent a second time on a
voyage of discovery toward the west.[367] As pertinently said by Asher:
“What Cadamosta had done for Portugal, Columbus for Spain, John Cabot for
England, that Verrazzano did for France.”[368]

The history of Verazzano’s second visit to America rightly begins with
the attempt of the king of Portugal, in 1523, to impede the sailing of
the vessels preparing for the voyage. The means which King John III. of
Portugal employed to frustrate this undertaking are partly described by
D’Andrada, the Portuguese historian. He says: “At that time the king was
told by some Portuguese doing business in France that one João Varezano
[Giovanni da Varrazzano], a Florentine, offered himself to Francis to
discover other kingdoms in the East, which the Portuguese had not found,
and that in the ports of Normandy a fleet was making ready, under the
patronage of the admirals of the coast and the dissimulation of Francis,
to plant a colony in Santa Cruz, called Brazil, discovered and laid down
by the Portuguese on the second voyage to India.[369] Accordingly, he
[King John III.] sent to France an embassador, João da Silveyra, son of
Fernão da Silveyra, who delayed his going no longer than was necessary to
get ready.”[370]

On his arrival at the court of France, Silveyra pursued his
investigations respecting the expedition, and on the twenty-fifth of
April, 1523, wrote to King John III., saying:

“By what I hear Master João Verazano, who is going on the discovery
of Cathay, has not left up to this date for want of opportunity, and
because of differences, I understand, between himself and men; and on
this point, although knowing nothing positively, I have written my doubts
in accompanying letters. I shall continue to doubt, unless he take his
departure.”[371] Silveyra, according to what is said by D’Andrada,
“accomplished nothing he had in hand except to delay the voyage of the
Florentine.”

Notwithstanding the secret machinations of the king of Portugal,
four vessels were finally fitted out and placed under the command of
Verrazzano, “to discover new lands.” Late in the year 1523, the fleet
set sail, but having encountered a severe storm in the North Sea, all
the ships were disabled, and Verrazzano, having returned to Brittany to
repair the two barques, La Normandie and La Dauphine, afterward sailed in
the Dauphine to the New Land.[372]

When he returned to France, he wrote an interesting letter to Francis
I., king of France, dated “on board the ship La Dauphine, in the port
of Dieppe, in Normandy, July 8, 1524.”[373] In this communication
Verrazzano relates what had happened to his fleet in the North Sea, how
he had carried out the orders of the king by sailing in the Dauphine
toward the west to go to Cathay, where and when he discovered a new land
never before seen by men of ancient or modern times. He then describes
the people inhabiting the country, speaks of its various productions,
mentions the peculiar physical features of its coast, tells how many
leagues he had sailed along it, and concludes with a brief review of
the discoveries made to the year 1524 in the western hemisphere. His
remarks concerning his failure to find a convenient harbor where he
first descried land, of his unsuccessful search for one south of the
thirty-fourth parallel, of his steering afterward toward the north in
quest of a haven, and of his disappointment in this direction, are so
applicable to the peculiar features of this part of the eastern coast
of the United States, that it is easy to perceive that he faithfully
pictures the shores of South Carolina and North Carolina, along which he
began his explorations. The comparisons he makes respecting the natives,
the flora, the fauna, the climate, and the harbors of the more northern
part of the coast, prove that he had travelled extensively in other
parts of the world, and that he was well informed concerning the things
he commented upon in his letter. His geographical knowledge is far in
advance of that of the scientific men of his time, and he constantly
shows that he was practically acquainted with all the known means which
were then used to ascertain longitude, latitude, and the measurement
of distances. His opinion that the Orient extended around to the New
Land was well founded, since it was not known until the eighteenth
century that Behring’s Strait separated America from Asia. His reasoning
concerning the dimensions of the new continent, that if its breadth
corresponded to the extent of its sea-coast it doubtless exceeded Asia
in size, is logically correct. Verrazzano’s hopefulness that information
of a more satisfactory character respecting the extent of the territory
of the New Land would be obtained by other explorers, shows that he was
less thoughtful of the brilliancy of his own achievements than he was of
the more desirable and important results of future voyages to that part
of the present coast of the United States, between the thirty-fourth and
forty-fifth parallels, of which he is rightfully entitled to be regarded
the discoverer. Verrazzano wrote:[374]

    “Most Serene Sire:

    “After the past fortune on the northern coasts I did not write
    to your most serene and Christian majesty concerning the
    success of the four vessels ordered to the ocean to discover
    new lands, thinking that you would be informed of all: how, by
    the impetuous stress of the winds, we were compelled, with only
    the ships La Normandie and La Dauphine, in a damaged condition,
    to put back to Brittany, where they were mended. Your serene
    majesty has heard of the wandering course we made with these,
    armed as in war, along the shores of Spain, and afterward of
    the new purpose to pursue, with the Dauphine alone, the first
    voyage, from which having returned, I will give your serene
    majesty an account of what we discovered.[375]

    “From the desert-rock[376] in the sea, near the island of
    Madeira of the most serene king of Portugal, we departed with
    the said Dauphine, on the seventeenth of the past month of
    January, with fifty men, furnished with provisions, arms, and
    other martial instruments, and naval stores for eight months.
    Sailing westwardly, an easterly wind blowing pleasantly and
    moderately, we ran in twenty-five days 800 leagues.[377] On the
    fourteenth of February (_il di 14 Febbrajo_), we encountered a
    storm as severe as any one navigating ever experienced, from
    which we were enabled with divine help and goodness to escape,
    to the praise of the glorious and fortunate name of the ship,
    which endured the violent waves of the sea, and we pursued
    our voyage, continuing toward the west, holding a little to
    the north. In twenty-five more days (_in venti cinque altri
    giorni_), we ran 400 other leagues, when there appeared a new
    land, never before seen by men in ancient or modern times.

    “At first it seemed to be somewhat low. On approaching it
    within a quarter of a league, we saw by the large fires made
    on the shore that it was inhabited. We observed that the coast
    trended toward the south, and we inspected it to discover some
    harbor which we might enter with the ship to examine the nature
    of the land, but for fifty leagues along it we could not find a
    convenient haven where we could safely stay. Seeing the coast
    continued to run toward the south, we determined to turn and go
    back to the north, where we found the same want of harbors as
    we ascended the coast.”

[Illustration: A copy of a part of the map of the fourth part of the
world in the French work, “La Cosmographie Universelle,” by André Thevet,
printed in Paris in 1575. (The original part is about one-third larger.)]

The New Land (_Nuova Terra_), discovered by Verrazzano, was first seen by
him on the tenth of March, (_old style_,) being that part of the coast of
the continent now included in the present territory of North Carolina,
north of Cape Fear,[378] on the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude.
It appears that Verrazzano had thought of finding land on his way to the
Indies, for he says: “My intention in this voyage was to reach Cathay,
on the extreme coast of Asia, expecting, however, to find in the newly
discovered land some such obstacle as I found.”

“Ordering a boat to carry us ashore, we beheld,” says Verrazzano, “many
people who had collected on the beach. Seeing us approaching, they fled.
Some, however, turned and gazed at us with much curiosity. Assuring
them by various signs, a number came near, manifesting great delight in
scrutinizing the peculiarities of our clothing, figure, and whiteness.
They indicated by signs where we could most easily land with the boat,
and proffered us some of their food. What we were able to learn of their
life and customs while on land, I will briefly relate to your majesty.

“They go nearly naked, wearing only about the loins some skins of small
animals similar to the martens. A girdle of woven grass encircles the
body, to which they fasten the tails of animals, which hang down as far
as the knees. All the rest of the body is nude, as is also the head. Some
of them wear drapery in like manner made of the feathers of birds. The
color of these people is black (_neri_), not very different from that
of the Ethiopians. Their hair is black and thick, but not very long; it
is worn tied back upon the head in the form of a little tail.[379] In
person they are of good proportion, of middle-stature, a little above our
own, broad across the breast, strong in the arms, and well-formed in the
legs and other parts of the body; the only exception to their good looks
is that they have broad faces, but not all of them, for we saw many who
had sharp ones, with large black eyes and a fixed expression. They are
not very strong in body, but acute in mind, active and swift of foot as
far as we could perceive by observation. They greatly resemble in these
two last particulars the people of the East, especially those of the
remote regions. We were not able to learn much concerning their habits on
account of our short stay on land and the distance of our ship from the
shore.”

Verrazzano designated his first landing-place on the coast of the New
Land by calling it Diepa, the Italian form of the French name Dieppe,
that of the port from which he had sailed to make discoveries in the
western hemisphere. Visconte de Maiollo, on his map of the world made in
1527, places the name Diepa on the coast of Francesca, a little north of
Terra Florida.[380]

Describing his next place of anchorage, Verrazzano says: “We found
not far from this people another, whose mode of life we judged to be
similar to that of the former. The whole shore is covered with fine
sand about fifteen feet deep, rising in the form of little hills about
fifty paces broad. Ascending farther, we found several arms of the sea
which, entering through inlets, washed the shore on each side as the
coast trends. An extensive country appears, rising somewhat above the
level of the sandy beach in beautiful fields and broad plains, covered
with immense forests, more or less dense, the foliage of the trees being
of various colors, too attractive and charming to be described. I do not
believe that these are like the Hercynian forest, or the rough solitudes
of Scythia, or the northern regions full of vines and trees, but growing
with palms,[381] laurels, cypresses, and other varieties of trees unknown
in Europe, which exhale a very sweet fragrance a great distance. We
could not examine them closely for the reasons already mentioned, and
not on account of any difficulty in traversing the woods, which, on the
contrary, are easily penetrated.

“As the Orient stretches around to this country,[382] I do not think
that it is devoid of the same kind of drugs and aromatic liquors, nor
of other resources as gold and the like, which the color of the earth
indicated.[383] The country abounds with many animals as deer, stags,
hares, and the like. It is plentifully supplied with lakes and ponds of
running water, and with a great variety of birds, fit and useful for
every kind of pleasant and delightful sport. This land lies in 34°. The
air is salubrious, pure, and of a temperature neither hot nor cold. There
are no impetuous winds in these regions, the most prevalent being the
northwest and west.

“When we were there in summer-time the sky was clear with little rain,
and if fogs and mists were at any time driven in by the south wind, they
quickly disappeared, and the sky became again serene and bright. The sea
is tranquil and not stormy. Although the whole coast is low and without
harbors, it is not dangerous to navigate, being free from rocks and bold,
so that within four or five fathoms from the shore there are twenty-four
feet of water at all times of tide, and this depth uniformly increases
as you go farther into the sea. The holding ground is so good that no
ship can part her cable, however strong the wind may be, as we proved by
experience, for while riding at anchor on the coast we were overtaken by
a gale in the beginning of March, when the winds are high, as is usual in
all countries, and we found our anchor broken before it started from its
place or moved at all.”

“March being the season in our southern climate, when vegetation of all
kinds is putting forth,” says an American writer, residing in South
Carolina, “the woods presented to the stranger a greater variety of
charms than he had ever beheld. The trees, green and beautiful with the
living verdure of our early spring, were bending down with rich clusters
of golden jessamine, which spread their rich perfume over the whole air,
while the underbrush embraced a collection of aromatic shrubs and wild
flowers, which might easily be mistaken for the rich spices of oriental
production.”[384]

After inspecting the sandy, harborless shore of Onslow Bay, Verrazzano
sailed eastwardly in order to double Cape Lookout, in 34° 37´ north
latitude. “We set sail from this place,” he says, “continuing to coast
along the shore, which we found turned to the west, [east in the
direction in which he was sailing]. The inhabitants were numerous, for
we saw every-where many fires.[385] While at anchor on this coast, there
being no harbor to enter, we sent the boat to the shore with twenty-five
men to obtain water, but it was impossible to land without endangering
the boat, on account of the very high surf thrown upon the shore by the
sea, as it was an open roadstead.[386] Many natives came to the beach,
and signified by various friendly signs that we might trust ourselves on
land. One of their noble deeds of friendship deserves to be made known to
your majesty. A young sailor was attempting to swim ashore through the
surf to carry them some knick-knacks, as little bells, looking-glasses,
and similar trifles, when after approaching near to three or four natives
and casting them the things and turning about to get back to the boat, he
was overturned by the waves and so dashed by them upon the beach that he
lay there as if he were dead. When the people saw him in this condition
they ran and took him up by the head, legs, and arms, and carried him
some distance from the surf. The young man, finding himself borne off
in this way, uttered very loud shrieks in fear and dismay, while they
answered as best they could in their language, intimating that he had
no cause for fear. Afterward they laid him down at the foot of a little
hill, where they took off his shirt and trousers, and examined him,
expressing the greatest astonishment at the whiteness of his skin. Our
sailors in the boat seeing a great fire kindled and their companion
placed very near it, full of fear, as is usual in all cases of a novel
character, imagined that the natives were about to roast him for food.
But as soon as he had recovered his strength, after a short stay with
them, and had shown by signs that he wished to return to the boat, they
affectionately hugged him and accompanied him to the beach, where leaving
him, they withdrew to a little hill, that he might feel more free, and
watched him until he was safe in the boat. This young man reported that
these people were black as the others, that they had shining skin,
middle-stature, but sharper faces and very delicate bodies and limbs, and
that they were inferior in strength but quicker in thought. This is all
he observed.”

After this adventure, which likely occurred somewhere on the coast near
the thirty-sixth parallel, perhaps in the vicinity of Roanoke Island,
North Carolina, Verrazzano steered northwardly, and while sailing at
night passed by the entrance to Chesapeake Bay and anchored off the coast
of Virginia, some distance north of Cape Charles, which is in 37° 3´.

“Departing from this place [the coast of North Carolina], and always
following the coast which trended toward the north, we came,” says
Verrazzano, “in the space of fifty leagues to another land, which
appeared very beautiful and full of large forests. We approached it
and going ashore with twenty men, went back from the coast about two
leagues, and found that the people had fled and hid themselves in the
woods in fear. By searching around we discovered in the grass a very old
woman with a young girl of about eighteen or twenty years of age, who
had concealed themselves for the same reason. The old woman carried two
infants on her shoulders, and behind her neck a little boy about eight
years old. When we came upon them they began to shriek and make signs to
the men who had fled to the woods. We gave them a part of our provisions,
which they accepted with delight, but the girl would not touch any,
every thing we offered to her being thrown down in great anger. We took
the little boy from the old woman to carry him with us to France, and
would have taken the girl also, who was very beautiful and very tall,
but it was impossible on account of the piercing shrieks she uttered,
when we attempted to lead her away. Having to pass some woods, and being
far from the ship, we determined to leave her and only take the boy.
We found these people fairer (_più bianchi_) than those we had passed.
From certain grasses hanging from the branches of trees, they make their
clothing; the grasses being woven together with threads of wild hemp.
Their heads were uncovered and of the same shape as the other natives we
had seen. Their food is a kind of pulse which abounds there, different in
color and in size from ours, and of a very pleasant taste. Besides they
use birds and fish for food, which they take with snares, and bows made
of hard wood. Their arrows are reeds, in the ends of which they fasten
the bones of fish and of animals. The animals in these regions are wilder
than those in Europe by being more frequently molested by those hunting
them. We saw many of their boats constructed of a single tree, twenty
feet long and four feet wide, fabricated without the use of stone or iron
or other metal. Along the whole coast which we explored for the space
of two hundred leagues, we saw no stone of any sort. To hollow out the
log they burn as much of it as will form the concave part of the boat,
and also form the ends which are to be the prow and stern, to make the
boat float well. The land in situation, fertility, and beauty is like the
other, covered with forests, filled with different kinds of trees but not
such fragrant ones, since the region is farther north and colder.”

While exploring the peninsula of Virginia, the warm-hearted and
sympathetic Florentine was pleasingly reminded of his own delightful
country by seeing many wild grape-vines festooning the tall forest trees.
He observed that the savages carefully removed the shading shrubbery near
the prolific vines, so that the ripening rays of the sun could fall on
the green fruit.

“We saw in this country,” he says, “many vines growing naturally,
entwining themselves about the trees, climbing as they do in Cisalpine
Gaul, which, if they were dressed in the right way of cultivation by
husbandmen, they would produce without doubt the best of wines, because
often the fruit of that drinking is agreeable and sweet, seeing it is
not different from our own, (_perche più volte il frutto di quello
beendo, veggendo suave e dolce non dal nostro differente_). The vines are
held in high estimation by the inhabitants, for they take away all the
surrounding concealing shrubbery to enable the fruit to grow.[387]

“We also found,” Verrazzano further relates, “wild roses, violets,
lilies, and many kinds of plants and fragrant flowers differing from our
own. We cannot describe the habitations of the people as the structures
were in the interior, but from various indications we concluded they
were formed of trees and shrubs. There were also many signs which led us
to suppose that the inhabitants often sleep in the open air without any
covering but the sky. We are ignorant of their other habits. We believe,
however, that all the people we were among live in the same way.”

When Verrazzano was on land with the twenty men, he crossed the narrow
peninsula of Virginia and beheld the wide expanse of Chesapeake Bay.[388]
This great body of water, stretching toward the north and south as far
as he could see, and spreading westward to an unknown distance, led
the surprised explorer to imagine that it was a part of the Indian
Ocean, (_Mare Indicum_), by which, if there were a navigable entrance
to it, he might sail to Cathay.[389] Ignorant of the fact that he had
already passed at night the channel leading to this expanse of water,
Verrazzano entertained the thought that he might discover one along the
coast farther northward. Although he determined not to sail again at
night along the New Land, and resolved to inspect its coast more closely
thereafter, he failed to find a passage to the assumed western sea, when
he sailed northward. After returning to France, he made a map on which
he represented this sea separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow
neck of land, similar in outline and situation to the northern part of
the peninsula of Virginia. This is corroborated by Hakluyt, the English
collector, who says: “Master John Verazanus, which had been thrise on
that coast, in an olde excellent mappe which he gave to King Henrie
the eight, and is yet in the custodie of Master Locke, doth so lay it
out.”[390]

[Illustration: FIELD OF VOYAGES TO AMERICA.

ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.]

Verrazzano’s brother, Hieronymus, also made a map of New France, on which
he placed this explanatory inscription respecting this part of the coast,
which he also delineates as a narrow tract of land: “From this eastern
sea [the Atlantic] one beholds the western sea; there are six miles of
land between them.”[391] The Sea of Verrazzano (_Mare de Verrazana_),
represented on the fan-shaped map made by Michael Locke, in 1582, was, as
Hakluyt affirms, “according to Verazanus plat,” which “laieth out the sea
makinge a little necke of land in 40 degrees of latitude much like the
streyte necke or istmus of Dariena.”[392]

Sailing northwardly from the peninsula of Virginia, Verrazzano proceeded
leisurely along the coast searching for an entrance to the so-called
western sea. Although he does not speak of entering Delaware Bay,
there is no testimony to contradict the assertion that he explored it.
Describing his voyage along the coasts of the present states of Maryland,
Delaware, and New Jersey, Verrazzano writes: “After having remained here
three days, riding at anchor off the coast [of Virginia], for we could
not find a harbor, we determined to depart, sailing always along the
shore, which trended to the northeast, only navigating in day-time and
coming to anchor at night.”

About the last of April, 1524, the Dauphine arrived off the low point of
land, now called Sandy Hook, designated on Maiollo’s map of 1527 as C.
de S. Maria (Cape of St. Mary).[393] Seeing the convenient haven north
of it, Verrazzano changed the vessel’s course and slowly sailed into the
spacious roadstead. Having found a suitable riding-place, the French
barque cast her anchor in the sight of a multitude of interested natives,
who from the neighboring hills witnessed the first mooring of a European
ship in the tranquil waters of the large bay.

The ship’s boat being manned, Verrazzano began to explore the mouth of
the great river, as he designated the channel now called the Narrows.
Eager to know the destination of the strange explorers, the curious
natives thronged the shores of Staten and Long islands as Verrazzano and
his men passed up the Narrows in mid-stream toward the upper bay, which
the enthusiastic Italian denominated a very beautiful lake. Entering the
commodious bay, Verrazzano hastily surveyed its islands and inlets, the
mouth of the noble river flowing into it, and the distant highlands dimly
defined along the northern horizon. Describing his short exploration of
the upper bay of New York, Verrazzano writes:

“At the end of one hundred leagues we discovered a very delightful place
among some small hills, eminences, between which ran a very great river
(_una grandissima riviera_) to the ocean, which was deep within to the
mouth, and from the sea to the enlargement of the bay the rise of the
tide was eight feet, and through it any heavy ship can pass.[394]

“As in good duty we did not wish to run the risk of penetrating the coast
without knowledge of the mouth of the river, we took the boat and entered
the river within the country where we found it to be thickly inhabited
and the people resembling the others we had seen, adorned with birds’
feathers of different colors, coming toward us with evident delight,
uttering very loud cries of admiration, indicating, if we had to land
with the boat, where it was most safe. We entered the said river within
the country about half a league, where we saw it formed a most beautiful
lake (_un bellissimo lago_), about three leagues in compass, upon which
we saw boats, thirty in number, moving from one part to another with
innumerable people, who passed from shore to shore to see us.[395]
Very suddenly, as is wont to happen to those navigating, an impetuous
contrary wind blew in from the sea, compelling us to return to the ship.
We departed from this region with much displeasure on account of its
extent and attractiveness, for we believed that it was not without some
resources of wealth as all the hills indicated the existence of minerals
in them.”

As a geographical designation for the very great river (_una grandissima
riviera_), the name Grande (Great) River was used by some of the most
celebrated map-makers of Europe, during the sixteenth century. In the
seventeenth century, when the Dutch took possession of this part of New
France, the Dutch synonym, “Groote,” was substituted for the Italian
designation. The Spaniards, who explored the coast of North America after
Verrazzano had inspected it, gave different names to the river.

Henry Hudson was induced to explore the Grande River by Captain John
Smith, who believed that the English navigator could find a strait
connecting it with the western sea (Mare Indicum) delineated on
Verrazzano’s map. In the summer of 1609, when Hudson attempted to sail to
Asia by a passage north of Novaya Zemlya, and was compelled to abandon
the project on account of the barrier of ice surrounding the island, it
is said he placed before the officers and crew of the Half Moon (Halve
Maen), the choice of one of two proposals. Respecting the proposals of
which they had the consideration, the Dutch historian, Van Meteren, thus
speaks: “Master Hudson gave them their choice of two things, the first
was to go to the coast of America, at the fortieth degree of latitude,
mostly incited to this by letters and maps which a certain Captain Smith
had sent him from Virginia, and on which he showed him a sea by which he
might circumnavigate their southern colony [Virginia] from the north, and
from there pass into a western sea. The other proposal was to seek the
passage by Davis’s Strait.”[396]

Hudson, besides knowing the situation of the noble stream, was also
informed that it was called the Great (Grande) River. Robert Juet, the
journalist of the voyage of 1609, recording the incidents of the last
day’s exploration of the river, writes: “Within a while after, we came
out also of the great mouth of _the great Riuer_.”[397]

De Laet, the Dutch historian, writing in 1625, mentions the fact that the
Dutch used the name “Great” for the river in preference to all the other
appellations designating it: “The great north river of New Netherland
was called by some the Manhattes river, from the people who dwell near
its mouth; by others, Rio de Montaignes (River of the Mountains), but by
our countrymen it was mostly called ‘_de groote rieviere_’ (the Great
river).”[398] As early as the year 1624, the name “Hudson’s River” was
inscribed on maps to designate the stream discovered by Verrazzano.[399]

Sailing from the mouth of the Grande River, between the Cape of Saint
Mary (C. de S. Maria) and the point of land denominated Anguileme[400]
on Maiollo’s map of 1527, Verrazzano coasted along the south side of
Long Island for fifty leagues, at the end of which he passed the eastern
extremity of the island, now called Montauk Point. While seeking, during
a storm, a port of refuge eastward of Long Island, Verrazzano discovered
the island now called Block Island, which he describes as triangular
in form, and in size about equal to the island of Rhodes.[401] Block
Island lies southwest of Narragansett Bay, and is about eight miles long
and about five miles broad at its widest part. Verrazzano called it
Luisa, the name of the mother of King Francis I., Louise, the daughter
of Philippe, duke of Savoy. The orthography of the Italian name, as
presented by Visconte de Maiollo on his map of the world of 1527, was
soon corrupted by map-makers, and on a number of charts of the sixteenth
century it is inscribed “Brisa” and “Briso.” The names “Claude” and
“Claudia” appear on some maps as designations for it, used most likely,
in honor of Claude, the wife of Francis I., the first being the French
orthography of the appellation, and the latter the Italian.

The departure of the Dauphine from the mouth of the Grande River,
Verrazzano thus describes: “Weighing anchor, we sailed fifty leagues
toward the east, as the coast trended in that direction, and always
in sight of it. At the end of the course we discovered an island of a
triangular form about ten leagues from the main-land, in size about equal
to the island of Rhodes, having many hills covered with trees, and well
peopled, judging from the great number of fires we saw all around it. We
gave it the name of your majesty’s illustrious mother. We did not land on
it, as the weather was unfavorable.”

Sailing northeasterly from Block Island, the Italian explorer beheld the
coast of the main-land, and anchored the Dauphine in Narragansett Bay,
Rhode Island. Speaking of the discovery of the commodious bay, designated
on Maiollo’s map by the Italian name, “Refugio,” Verrazzano says:

“We proceeded to another place fifteen leagues distant from the island,
where we found a very excellent harbor. Before entering it we saw about
twenty small boats filled with people, who came to the ship with various
cries and wonderment. But they would not approach nearer than fifty
paces. Stopping, they looked at the structure of the ship, our persons,
and dress. Afterward they all cried out loudly together, signifying that
they were delighted. By imitating their signs we inspired them with a
measure of confidence, so that they came near enough for us to toss them
some little bells and glasses and many toys, which they took and looked
at laughing, and then came on board without fear. Among them were two
kings more attractive in form and stature than can be described. One was
about forty years old, the other about twenty-four, and they were dressed
in the following fashion.

“The elder king had the skin of a deer wrapped around his nude body,
artificially made with various embroideries to decorate it. His head was
bare. His hair was bound behind with various bands, and around his neck
he wore a large chain ornamented with many stones of different colors.
The younger king was like him in appearance. This was the finest-looking
people and the handsomest in their costumes that we found in our voyage.
They exceed us in size, and are of a very fair complexion (_sono di
colore bianchissimo_); some of them incline more to a white, and others
to a tawny color. Their faces are sharp; their hair is long and black,
on the adornment of which they bestow great care. Their eyes are black
and keen; their demeanor is gentle and attractive, very much like that
of the ancients. I say nothing to your majesty of the other parts of the
body that are all in good proportion as belong to well-formed men.

“The women resemble them in size, and are very graceful and handsome, and
quite attractive in dress and manners. They had no other clothing except
a deer-skin, ornamented as were the skins worn by the men. Some had very
rich lynx-skins upon their arms, and wore various ornaments upon their
heads, braided in their hair, which hung down upon their breasts. Others
wore different ornaments, such as those of the women of Egypt and Syria.
The older and the married people, both men and women, wore many ornaments
in their ears, hanging down in Oriental fashion.

“We saw on them pieces of wrought copper, which is more esteemed by them
than gold, the latter being deemed the most ordinary of metals, yellow
being a color much disliked by them. Blue and red are the colors which
they value most highly. Of the things which we gave them, they preferred
the bells, azure crystals, and other toys, which they hung in their
ears and about their necks. They do not value or desire to have silk or
gold-drapery, or other kinds of cloth, nor implements of steel or iron.
When we showed them our weapons, they expressed no admiration, and only
asked how they were made. The same indifference was manifested when they
were given the looking-glasses, which they with smiles returned to us
as soon as they had looked at them. They are very generous, giving away
whatever they have.

“We formed a great friendship with them, and one day we entered into
port with our ship, having before rode at the distance of a league from
the shore, as the weather was unfavorable. They came to the ship with a
number of their little boats, with their faces painted with different
colors, manifesting real signs of joy, bringing us of their provisions,
and signifying to us where we could best ride in safety with our ship,
and keeping with us until we had cast anchor.

“We remained among them fifteen days to provide ourselves with many
things of which we were in want, during which time they came every day
to see our ship, bringing with them their wives, of whom they were very
careful, for, although they came on board themselves, and remained a
long while, they made their wives stay in the boats, nor could we ever
get them on board by any solicitations or any presents we could make
them. One of the two kings, however, often came with his queen and many
attendants to see us for his amusement. But he always stopped on land
at the distance of about two hundred paces from us, and sent a boat to
announce his intended visit, saying they would come and see our ship.
This was done for safety, and as soon as they had received our answer,
they came and remained some time to look around. On hearing the annoying
cries of the sailors, the king sent the queen, with her attendants, in a
very light boat to wait, near an island, a quarter of a league distant,
while he remained a long time on board, talking with us by signs, and
expressing his fanciful notions about every thing in the ship, and
asking the use of all. After imitating our modes of salutation, and
tasting our food, he courteously took leave of us. Once, when our men
remained two or three days on a small island near the ship for their
various necessities, as sailors are wont to do, he came with seven or
eight of his attendants to inquire about our movements, often asking us
if we intended to remain there long, and offering us every thing at his
command. Sometimes he would shoot with his bow, and run up and down with
his people, making great sport for us. We often went five or six leagues
into the interior, and found the country as pleasant as can be conceived,
adapted to cultivation of every kind, whether of corn, wine, or oil.
There are open plains twenty-five and thirty leagues in length, entirely
free from trees or other obstructions, and so fertile that whatever
is sown there will yield an excellent crop. On entering the woods, we
observed that they might all be traversed by any large army. The trees in
them were oaks, cypresses, and others unknown in Europe. We found, also,
apples, plums, filberts, and many other fruits, but of a different kind
from ours. The animals, which are in great numbers, stags, deer, lynx,
and many other kinds, are taken with snares and by bows; the latter is
the principal weapon of the natives. Their arrows are beautifully made.
For points they use emery, jasper, hard marble, and other sharp stones
instead of iron. They also use the same kind of sharp stones in cutting
down trees, and with them construct their boats of single logs, hollowed
out with admirable skill, and sufficiently commodious to seat ten or
twelve persons. Their oars are short, with broad blades, and are rowed by
the force of the arms, with the greatest care and as rapidly as they wish.

“We saw their dwellings, which are circular in form, about ten or
twelve paces in circumference, made of logs split in half, without any
regularity of architecture, and covered with roofs of straw, nicely put
on, which protect them from wind and rain. There is no doubt that they
would build stately edifices if they had workmen as skillful as ours, for
the whole sea-coast abounds with shining stones, crystals, and alabaster,
and on this account it has dens and retreats for animals. They change
their habitations from place to place, as circumstances of situation and
season may require. This is easily done, for they have only to take with
them their mats, and they have other houses immediately prepared.

“The father and the whole family dwell together in one house. In some of
their houses we saw twenty-five or thirty persons. Their food is pulse,
as that of the other people, which is here better than elsewhere, and
more carefully cultivated. In the time of sowing they are governed by
the moon, which they think effects the sprouting of the grain. They have
many other ancient customs. They live by hunting and fishing, and they
are long lived. If they fall sick ...[402] they cure themselves without
medicine, with the heat of fire. Death comes to them at last from extreme
old age. We judged them to be very affectionate and charitable toward
their relatives, for they make loud lamentations in their adversity, and
in their misery call to remembrance all their good deeds. When they die
their relations mutually join in weeping mingled with singing for a long
while. This is all that we could learn of them.

“This region is situated on the parallel of Rome, in 41⅔ degrees, as I
shall narrate hereafter to your serene majesty.[403] At present I shall
describe the situation of this place. At its south end the channel is
narrow and a half league wide. It extends, between east [south?], and
north, twelve leagues. Then it enlarges and forms a very spacious bay
twenty leagues in circuit, in which are five small islands, very fertile
and attractive, and covered with high trees. The bay is so spacious that
between these islands any number of vessels might ride at ease without
fear of tempests and other dangers. At the entrance of the bay, farther
south, there are very attractive hills on both sides of the channel, and
many streams of clear water flow from the eminences into the sea. In the
middle of the mouth there is a rock of freestone (_uno scoglio di viva
pietra_), formed by nature and suitable for the construction of any kind
of machine or bulwark for the defence of the haven.”

Verrazzano’s description of Narragansett Bay, named Port du Refuge on
Gastaldi’s map of 1553,[404] is so accurate that without any other
information it would be easy to determine the situation of the place
where for fifteen days, ending the sixth of May (_old style_), he and
his crew held familiar intercourse with the friendly Indians inhabiting
the islands and the main-land in the vicinity of the anchorage of
the Dauphine. The latitude of the bay given by Verrazzano cannot be
gainsaid.[405]

Departing, on the sixth of May, from Port du Refuge, the Dauphine sailed
on a southeasterly course to pass the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and
Nantucket. Having steered fifty leagues in this direction, Verrazzano
found the coast to trend toward the north, which he followed until
he again cast anchor off the coast of Maine, a little north of the
forty-third parallel.

The wary aborigines of this part of the New Land would not venture near
the Dauphine, nor could they be induced to part with their commodities
until they were remunerated with such things as were most useful to them.
The landing of twenty-five men from the vessel provoked an attack, and
yet after this show of hostility the Indians fled to the woods.

Speaking of his departure from Narragansett Bay, Verrazzano writes:
“Having supplied ourselves with every thing necessary, on the sixth of
May [_old style_], we departed from the port, and sailed one hundred and
fifty leagues, keeping close enough to the coast not to lose it from our
sight. The character of the country appeared much the same as before,
but the mountains were a little higher, and in all appearance rich in
minerals.

“We did not stop to land, as the weather was very favorable for pursuing
our voyage, and the country presented no variety. The shore stretched to
the east, and fifty leagues beyond more to the north, where we found a
more elevated country, full of very dense woods of pine, cypress, and the
like, indicative of a cold climate.

“The people were entirely different from the others we had seen, whom
we had found kind and gentle, but these were so rude and barbarous that
we were unable, by any signs we could make, to hold any communication
with them. They clothe themselves with the skins of bears, wolves, lynx,
marine, and other animals. Their food, which we inferred from several
visits to their dwellings, is obtained by hunting and fishing. They have
certain vegetables which are roots of spontaneous growth. They have no
pulse, and we saw no signs of its cultivation. The land appears sterile
and unfit for the growth of fruits or grain of any kind. If we wished
at any time to traffic with them, they came to the sea-shore and stood
upon the rocks, from which they lowered down by a cord to our boats
beneath whatever they had to barter, continually crying out to us not to
come nearer, and instantly demanding from us that which was to be given
in exchange. They took from us only knives, fish-hooks, and sharpened
steel. No regard was paid to our courtesies. When we had nothing left to
exchange with them, the men at our departure made the most brutal signs
of disdain and contempt possible. Against their will, we penetrated two
or three leagues into the interior with twenty-five men. When we came to
the shore, they shot at us with their arrows, uttering the most horrible
cries, and afterward fleeing to the woods. In this region we found
nothing extraordinary except vast forests, and some metalliferous hills
as we inferred, for we saw that many of the people wore copper ear-rings.”

Following the trend of the coast of Maine, Verrazzano found along this
part of his course for the space of fifty leagues, numerous islands,
thirty-two of which, near the main-land, were high and attractive. Among
them he saw many excellent roadsteads and navigable channels.

Describing his exploration along the coast of Maine, Verrazzano remarks:
“Departing from this place [perhaps in the vicinity of Cape Neddock],
we kept along the coast steering to the northeast, and found the country
more pleasant and open, free from woods, and far in the interior we saw
lofty mountains, but none which extended to the shore.

“Within fifty leagues we discovered thirty-two small and attractive
islands, all near the main-land. They were so high and so disposed as to
afford as fine harbors and channels as those that are in the Adriatic
Gulf, near Illyria and Dalmatia. We had no intercourse with the people,
but we judge that they were similar in disposition and habits to those we
were last among.

“After sailing between east and north the distance of one hundred and
fifty more leagues, and finding our provisions and naval stores nearly
exhausted, we took in wood and water, and determined to return to France,
having discovered five hundred and two, that is to say, seven hundred
leagues of new land (_avendo discoperto leghe 502 cioe leghe 700 più di
nuova terra_).”

The distance of seven hundred leagues Verrazzano reckoned in the
following way, as explained by him in his geographical exposition of the
voyage: “In addition to the 92 degrees we ran toward the west from our
point of departure before we reached land on the thirty-fourth parallel,
we have to count 300 [French] leagues, which we ran northeastwardly and
400 nearly east along the coast before we reached the fiftieth parallel
of north latitude.” Measured directly north from the thirty-fourth
parallel to the fiftieth, the space includes sixteen degrees, which
multiplied by 31¼ French leagues, which at that time equaled a degree
of latitude, the product of 500 French leagues is obtained.[406] Two
leagues added to these, for the distance sailed directly south of the
thirty-fourth parallel, make 502 French leagues, or about eleven hundred
and four land-miles, the geographical extent of the coast explored by
Verrazzano.[407] The New Land (_Nuova Terra_), discovered by Verrazzano,
was as early as the year 1527 delineated on a map of the world and
denominated Francesca. This Italian name it bore for a number of years
until the French geographical designation La Nouvelle France (New France)
was substituted for it.[408]

Concluding his description of the new country, Verrazzano remarks: “As
to the religious faith of all these tribes, not understanding their
language, we could not learn either by signs or gestures any thing
certain. It seemed to us that they had no religion or laws, nor any
knowledge of a First Cause or Mover,—that they worshipped neither the
heavens, stars, sun, moon, nor the other planets. We could not learn if
they were given to any kind of idolatry, or offered any sacrifices or
supplications, or if they have temples or houses of prayer in their
villages. Our conclusion was that they had no religion, but lived without
any. This seems to be the result of ignorance, for they are very easily
persuaded, and imitated us with earnestness and fervor in all that they
saw us do as Christians in our acts of devotion.”

Verrazzano added to this general description of his remarkable
discoveries, an elaborate cosmographical explanation of the situation of
the New Land. His geometrical elucidation of the distances sailed by the
Dauphine, shows how desirous he was to make plain the geography of the
vast continent, which he and others had partly explored. He says:

“It remains for me to place before your serene majesty a cosmographical
description of the voyage. As I have already said, we departed from
the desert-rocks, lying in the extreme part of the West known to the
ancients, and in the described meridian near the Fortunate Islands, on
the thirty-second parallel from the equator of our hemisphere, and sailed
from it westwardly to where we found the first land, 1,200 leagues or
4,800 miles, reckoning according to nautical custom four miles to a
[marine] league.[409] ... During our voyage we had no lunar eclipses or
similar celestial phenomena. We therefore determined our progress from
the difference of longitude, which we ascertained by various instruments,
taking the sun’s altitude from day to day, and by calculating
geometrically the distance run by the ship from one horizon to another.
All these observations, as also the ebb and flow of the tide in all
places, were noted down in a little book, which may prove serviceable
to navigators. They are communicated to your majesty with the hope of
promoting science.

“My intention in this voyage was to reach Cathay, on the extreme coast
of Asia, expecting, however, to find in the newly discovered land
some obstacle as I found, yet I did not doubt that I should sail by
some passage to the eastern ocean. It was the opinion of the ancients
that our eastern ocean of India was an expanse of water without any
intervening land. Aristotle supports it by arguments founded on
various probabilities, but it is contrary to later belief and false
by observation. The discovered country, of which the ancients knew
nothing, is another world compared with that which was before known,
being evidently larger than our Europe together with Africa, and,
perhaps, Asia, if one rightly estimate its extent, as shall now be
explained briefly to your majesty.”[410] He then speaks of the Spaniards
sailing as far south as the Strait of Magellan and as far north as the
twenty-first parallel without finding a termination to the continent....

“But to return to ourselves:—in the voyage which we have made by the
order of your majesty, in addition to the ninety-two degrees we ran
toward the west from the point of our departure before we reached land on
the thirty-fourth parallel, we have to count 300 leagues which we sailed
northeastwardly, and 400 nearly east along the coast before we reached
the fiftieth parallel of north latitude, the point where we turned our
course from the shore toward home. Beyond this point the Portuguese
had sailed as far north as the arctic circle without coming to the end
of the continent. Adding the degrees of south latitude explored, which
are fifty-four, to those of the north, which are sixty-six, the sum is
one hundred and twenty degrees, and therefore more than are included
in the latitude of Africa and Europe, for the north point of Norway,
the extremity of Europe, is in 71° north latitude, and the Cape of Good
Hope, the southern extremity of Africa, is in 35° south latitude, and
their sum is only one hundred and six degrees. If the breadth of this
newly discovered country correspond to the extent of its sea-coast, it
doubtless exceeds Asia in size. In this way we find that the land forms a
much larger part of our globe than the ancients supposed, who maintained,
contrary to mathematical reasoning, that it was less than the water,
whereas actual experience proves the reverse, so that judging in respect
to extent of surface, the land covers apparently as much space as the
water.[411]

“I hope to point out and explain more clearly and satisfactorily the
great extent of the New Land or New World, of which I have been speaking.
Asia and Africa, we know, are joined together and are connected with
Norway and Russia with Europe, which disproves the idea of the ancients
that all this northern part had been navigated from the promontory
of Cimbri [Denmark] eastward as far as the Caspian Sea. They also
maintained that the whole continent was surrounded by two oceans, lying
east and west of it, which seas in fact do not surround either of the
two continents, for as we have already seen the land in the western
hemisphere at 54° south latitude extends eastwardly an unknown distance,
and that the land north of the equator, beyond the sixty-sixth parallel,
turns to the east and does not terminate at the seventieth parallel.[412]

“In a short time, I hope we shall have more satisfactory information
concerning these things by the aid of your serene majesty, whom I pray
Almighty God to prosper in lasting glory, that we may see the most
important results of this our geography in the fulfillment of the holy
words of the gospel.

“On board the ship Dauphine, in the port of Dieppe, in Normandy, the 8th
day of July, 1524.

                          “Your humble servant,

                                                      “Janus Verazzanus.”




CHAPTER X.

(_Addenda._)

1524-1526.


The safe return of Verrazzano to France and his remarkable discoveries
along the new continent were immediately heralded through Europe. The
letter which he wrote on his arrival at Dieppe was at once eagerly copied
and the transcripts widely circulated. In less than a month’s time the
news of the navigator’s extensive explorations was spread over France,
and became a prominent topic of conversation. The commercial advantages
likely to accrue to France by the important discovery of a country
thickly populated and rich in drugs, furs, and metals were everywhere
discussed, and Verrazzano’s presence at the chief centres of trade was
much desired that more information might be obtained respecting the
people and the productions of the New Land.

A Florentine, named Fernando Carli, a person well acquainted with
Verrazzano’s former voyages, was in Lyons at the time when the surprising
intelligence reached that city. He obtained a copy of Verrazzano’s
letter, and sent it to his father in Florence, inclosed in the following
communication:

    “In the name of God.

                                                  “August 4, 1524.

    “Honored Father:—

    “Considering that when I was in the army in Barbary, at
    Gierbe, the news was sent you every day by the illustrious
    gentleman, Don Hugo de Moncada, captain-general of his Cesarean
    majesty in those barbarous parts, what followed contending
    with the Moors of that island, which seemed to have pleased
    our patrons and friends; and also the congratulatory news of
    the subsequent victory; [I now send you] the news [which]
    has recently reached this place, of the arrival of Captain
    Giovanni da Verrazzano, our Florentine, at the port of Dieppe,
    in Normandy, with his ship, the Dauphine, with which he
    sailed from the Canary Islands, the last of January, to go in
    search of new lands for this most serene crown of France, in
    which enterprise he displayed very noble and great courage
    in undertaking such an unknown voyage with only one ship, a
    caravel of hardly tons burden,[413] with only fifty men, with
    the intention, if possible, to discover Cathay, steering a
    course through climates other than those frequented by the
    Portuguese in going to it by the way of Calicut, by keeping
    more to the northwest and north, believing that, although
    Ptolemy, Aristotle, and other cosmographers assert that no land
    is to be found toward such climates, he would nevertheless
    find land there, which God has permitted him, as he distinctly
    describes in his letter to his serene majesty, a copy of which
    is inclosed in this communication. After spending many months
    in exploring, he asserts that he was compelled to return for
    want of provisions from that hemisphere into this one, having
    been seven months on the voyage, showing a very great and rapid
    passage, having accomplished a wonderful and most extraordinary
    undertaking in the opinion of those who understand the
    navigation of the globe.

    “At the beginning of the voyage there was an unfavorable
    opinion formed concerning it, many thinking that there would be
    no more news respecting him and his vessel, and that he would
    be lost on that side of Norway, in consequence of the great
    ice which is in the northern ocean.[414] However, the great
    God, as the Moor said, in order to give us every day proofs of
    his infinite power, and to show how admirable is this mundane
    sphere, has disclosed to him a breadth of land, as you will
    perceive, of great extent, as shown by good reasoning and by
    degrees of latitude and longitude.

    “He declares and shows it to be greater than Europe, Africa,
    and a part of Asia; therefore a new world (_ergo mundus
    novus_); and this exclusive of what the Spaniards have
    discovered in several years in the West; as it is hardly a
    year since Fernando Magellan returned, who discovered a great
    country with one ship out of the five sent on the discovery,
    from which he brought spices much more excellent than the
    common kind, and of his other ships no news has transpired for
    five years. They are supposed to be lost.[415]

    “What this our captain has brought he does not state in his
    letter, except a very young boy taken from those countries;
    but it is supposed he has brought a sample of gold, which they
    do not value in those parts, and of drugs and other aromatic
    liquors, in order to confer here with several merchants after
    he shall have been in the presence of his most serene majesty.
    And at this hour he should be with the king, and from choice
    should come here soon, as he is much desired, in order to be
    conversed with; moreover, here he will find his majesty, the
    king, our sire, who is expected in three or four days.[416]
    And we hope that his serene majesty will intrust him with a
    half dozen good vessels, and that he will go on the voyage. If
    our Francisco Carli be returned from Cairo, advise him to go
    at a venture on this voyage with him, for I believe they were
    acquainted at Cairo, where he [Verrazzano] was for several
    years, and not only in Egypt and Syria, but almost in all parts
    of the known world. On account of his merits, he is regarded
    as another Amerigo Vespucci, another Magellan, and even more
    than they. We hope that, being provided with other good ships
    and vessels, well-built and properly provisioned, he will
    discover and develop a profitable traffic, and will, our Lord
    God preserving his life, do honor to our country in acquiring
    immortal fame and memory. Alderotto Brunelleschi, who started
    with him, and by chance turned back unwilling to accompany him
    farther, will, when he hears this news, be discontented.

    “Nothing else now occurs to me, as I have advised you by
    others what is necessary. I commend myself constantly to you,
    praying you to impart this to our friends, not forgetting
    Pier Francisco Dagaghiano, who, in consequence of being an
    experienced person, will take much pleasure in it, and commend
    me to him. Likewise to Rustichi, who will not be displeased,
    if he delight, as usual, in learning matters of cosmography.
    God guard you from all evil.

                               “Your son,

                                                         “Fernando Carli,

    “In Lyons.”[417]

The notable success attending Verrazzano’s voyage in 1524, it seems,
induced the celebrated navigator to undertake another in 1526. For
the furtherance of this project, he and five other persons entered
into an agreement in which it was stipulated that Philippe Chabot,
baron of Apremont, knight of the Order of the King, governor and
lieutenant-general of Burgundy, admiral of France and of Brittany,[418]
was to furnish him with two galleons then at Havre de Grace, and a
ship belonging to Jean Ango of Dieppe,[419] of seventy tons burden,
and that the admiral was also to equip and victual them for the voyage
to the New Land. The three vessels were to be ready to sail within two
months.[420] Before setting sail on this voyage, Verrazzano, on Friday,
the eleventh of May, 1526, gave to his brother, Hieronymus, and Zanobus
de Rousselay,[421] a power of attorney by which they were empowered to
act for him in any matter pertaining to his interest; and also, on the
following day, a similar instrument to Adam Godeffroy of Rouen, which
authorized him to transact certain business for the navigator.[422] In
each of these legal instruments, Verrazzano is named “Jehan de Varasenne,
nobleman, captain of the ships equipped to go on the voyage to the
Indies.”

The French sea-captain, Jean Ribaut, in his report to Admiral Gaspard de
Coligni, of his first voyage to Florida, in 1562, says that Verrazzano,
after his return to France, in 1524, “neuer ceassed to make suite vntil
he was sent thither againe, where at last he died.”[423]

The voyage of 1526 was the third made by Verrazzano to America: the first
in 1508, with Thomas Aubert; the second, in 1524, in the Dauphine. This
fact is corroborated by the well-informed English collector, Hakluyt, who
says that he “had been thrise on that coast.”[424]

Of Verrazzano’s death, Ramusio gives this account: “In the last voyage
which he made, having gone on land with some of his men, he and they
were all put to death by the inhabitants, and in the presence of those
who were on board the ship were roasted and devoured. Such was the
terrible death of this valiant gentleman, who, had not this misfortune
happened him, would, by the great knowledge and experience which he had
of maritime affairs and of navigation, attended and favored by the large
liberality of King Francis, have discovered and made known to the world,
all that part of the earth up to the north pole, and would not have
been contented with only the exploration of the coast, but would have
attempted to penetrate far inland, and as far as he could go.

“Many who had known and conversed with him, have told me that he had
declared that it was his intention to persuade the most Christian king to
send from these parts a goodly number of people to settle in some places
of the new country which are of a temperate climate and very fertile
soil, with very beautiful rivers and harbors capable of holding any fleet.

“Settlers in these places would be the means of effecting many good
results, and among others that of bringing those barbarous and ignorant
tribes to know God and our most holy religion, showing them how to
cultivate the land, transporting some of the animals of Europe to those
vast plains; and finally, in time, discovering the inland parts, and
seeing whether or not among the many islands in that part of the world
any passage to the South Sea exists, or that the West Indies extend as
far north as the pole.

“This and so much has been related respecting the achievements and
efforts of this brave gentleman, and in order that his memory may not be
buried and his name pass into oblivion, we have desired to give to the
light the little information that has come into our hands.”[425]

Hakluyt, speaking of the map which Verrazzano had made and presented to
King Henry VIII. of England, which as late as the year 1584 was still
preserved by an English cartographer, says: “There is a mighty large
olde mappe in parchemente, made as yt shoulde seeme, by Verarsanus,
traced all alonge the coaste, from Florida to Cape Briton, with many
Italian names, which laieth oute the sea, makinge a little necke of
land in 40 degrees of latitude much like the streyte necke or istmus of
Dariena.” The English collector also refers to a globe which he believed
Verrazzano made: “There is an old excellent globe in the Queens privie
gallery at Westminster, which also semeth to be of Verarsanus makinge,
having the coaste in Italian, which laieth oute the very same straite
necke of lande in the latitude of 40 degrees, with the sea joyninge harde
on bothe sides, as it dothe on Panama and Nombre di Dios; which were
a matter of singular importance, yf it shoulde be true, as it is not
unlikely.”[426]

Although the “mighty large olde mappe in parchemente” of Verrazzano’s
drafting is lost, there are several maps extant which seemingly represent
the territory of North America as it was delineated by him. The rarest
and the most valuable of these is a vellum-map of the world in the
Ambrosian Library at Milan, made in 1527. It is five feet seven inches
long and one foot eleven inches wide, and bears this inscription:
“_Vesconte de Maiollo conposuy hanc cartan. In Janua anno dñy, 1527, die
xx. decenbris._” (Visconte de Maiollo composed this chart, in Genoa, in
the year of the Lord, 1527, the twentieth day of December). The narrow
isthmus, near the fortieth parallel, and the “number of Italian names”
from “Tera Florida” to “C. de Bertoni” on this map, fully agree with
Hakluyt’s description of Verrazzano’s chart.[427]

Hieronymus, the brother of the navigator, it seems, also made a map
of the New Land, which, it is conjectured, he drafted in 1529.[428]
The original is a planisphere delineated on parchment, fifty-one by
one hundred and two inches. This map is in the Borgian museum in Rome.
The inscription: “_Hieronimus de Verrazanus faciebat_” (Hieronimus de
Verrazano made it), permits the inference that the map was not the one
which Hakluyt described, for had Hieronymus da Verrazzano’s name been
inscribed on it, the English collector, it seems, would have mentioned
the fact. The representation of the so-called Western Sea, or “Mare
Indicum” (the Chesapeake Bay), with the explanatory inscription on
Hieronymus da Verazzano’s map, indicates that he had some knowledge of
the cartographic features of his brother’s chart, and of the geographical
_memoranda_ recorded in the little book which the latter speaks of in his
letter to King Francis I., and which he thought would be serviceable to
other navigators.[429]




CHAPTER XI.

(_Addenda._)

1526-1614.


After the death of Verrazzano, the French, for a time, made no attempt to
search along the coast of the new continent for a short and direct way to
Cathay. The losses sustained by the projectors of the expedition of 1526,
Ribaut says, gave “small courage to sende thither agayne, and was the
cause that this laudable enterprise was left of, vntill the yeere 1534,
at which time his Maiestie [Francis I.] (desiring alwayes to enlarge
his kingdome, countreys, and dominions, and the aduauncing the ease of
his subiectes), sent thither a Pilote of S. Mallowes, a Briton, named
James Cartier, well seene in the art and knowledge of Nauigation, and
especially of the North parts, commonly called the new land, led by some
hope to find passage that waies to the south seas.”[430]

The two ships commanded by Cartier sailed from the port of St. Malo, on
the twentieth of April, 1534. Reaching Newfoundland on the tenth of May,
Cartier began to search for a navigable channel to India. Three months
were passed in exploring the coast of Labrador and the Strait of Belle
Isle and a part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On the fifteenth of August,
Cartier set sail for France, and arrived in the port of St. Malo, on the
fifth of September. In the following year, Cartier sailed again to New
France and explored the St. Lawrence River to the island of Hochelaga,
the site of the city of Montreal. It is said that he was told by the
natives that from there it was only “a month’s sailing to go to a land
where cinnamon and cloves are gathered.”[431] Returning from this voyage,
Cartier reached St. Malo on the sixth of July, 1536.[432]

The first explorers of the new continent called its inhabitants by
different names. Columbus and his Spanish companions, imagining the field
of their discoveries to be in Eastern Asia, named the aborigines Indians
(_Indios_), believing them to be natives of India. Seven of the people of
Canada, carried to France, in 1509, were described by a contemporaneous
Latin writer as wood or wild men (_homines sylvestres_).[433] The French,
it appears, called the natives of New France _manants_ or _manans_, and
_paysans_, peasants, the former name being used in the middle ages as a
designation for unintelligent people or those of low condition. The name
_manants_ was likewise a designation for persons of this class living in
villages and on farms. _Manants_ properly speaking were the natives of a
place, and the _habitans_ were those who came to it to reside.[434] The
French appellation _manants_ or _manans_ not only fitly expressed the
low condition of the natives of New France, but it also gave prominence
to the fact that they dwelt in villages and were indigenous people. The
French, as late as the year 1677, called the old Indians, or rather the
descendants of the Senecas, _paisans_, peasants.[435] The Italians also
called the natives of North America peasants, _paesani_.[436]

The Manants living on the island on which the city of New York is built,
were very friendly to the French who came to the Grande River, in the
sixteenth century, to traffic for furs. The Hollanders, however, found
them to be quite hostile in the following century. De Laet, the Dutch
historian, describing the natives of the Groote River in 1625, remarks:
“On the east side, upon the main-land, dwell the Manhattans, a bad race
of savages, who have always been very obstinate and unfriendly toward
our countrymen.”[437] He also says that Hudson, in 1609, called the Great
River “Manhattes from the name of the people who dwelt at its mouth.”[438]

The wrong spelling of the French term _manant_ began with a misconception
of its proper pronunciation. The Dutch thinking that the _t_ was
sounded, pronounced the name _man-ant_, whence “_man-hat_,” “_man-ath_,”
“_man-ad_,” and other strange forms of the name. Wassenaer, the Dutch
historian, in 1624, speaking of the Indian tribes of New Netherland,
says: “The Manhates are situated at the mouth” of the Mauritius
River.[439] De Laet writes the name Manhattes, Manatthans, Manatthanes,
and Manhattans.[440] De Vries, the Dutch navigator, who could speak
French, spells the appellation Menates and Minates.[441] In the
deposition of Catelyn Trico, a French woman, who emigrated from Holland,
in 1624, to New Netherland, the term is written Mannantans.[442] Besides
these peculiar changes the name has many other anomalous forms.[443]

When the first French explorers sailed along that massive bulwark of
trap-rock, now called The Palisades, rising on the west side of the
Grande River to varying altitudes from two to five hundred feet above the
level of the stream, and ranging northward and southward a distance of
more than ten miles, they were peculiarly impressed with its grandeur,
and figuratively called it L’Anormée Berge, (The Grand Scarp.)

The adjective _anormée_ and the noun _berge_ definitely describe the
steep and extensive wall of stone which borders the noble river, now
bearing the name of a later explorer. _Anormé_, an obsolete form of the
adjective _énorme_, signifies that which is grand, vast, majestic.[444]
The noun _berge_, besides meaning an elevated border of a river, a scarp
of a fortification, a steep side of a moat or of a road, is a designation
for certain rocks elevated perpendicularly above the water.[445] In an
old French lexicon it is said: “They likewise call in marine phraseology
_bèrges_ or _barges_ those great rocks, rugged and perpendicularly
elevated, that is to say, uprightly and plumb, as the _bèrges_ or
_barges_ of Olone: such rocks as are Scylla and Charybdis, toward
Messina.”[446]

A more appropriate name could not have been selected to designate
geographically this part of New France than that of The Land of the Grand
Scarp (_La Terre d’Anormée Berge_), or, in more familiar phraseology,
The Land of the Palisades. The words, scarp and palisade, are terms of
fortification. The first designates the steep slope below the parapet of
a fortification, next to the ditch; the second an upright row of strong
stakes set firmly in the ground in front of the counter-scarp, on the
opposite side of the moat from the scarp.

The mispronunciation of the peculiar geographical name was evidently
the cause of its orthography being obscured so soon after it was used
as the designation for the elevated border of the Grande River. The
more frequent use thereafter of _énorme_ for _anormé_ made the term
more unfamiliar. It would seem also that when the name should have
been written _La Terre d’Énorme Berge_, that it was inscribed, _La
Terre de Normeberge_. The change of the qualifying term to a word of
two syllables, as _norom_, _norum_, _nurum_, and _norim_, rendered the
name more ambiguous. In like manner the noun _berge_ was corrupted,
being spelled _bergue_, _bega_, _berg_, and _bagra_. In this way the
territorial designation became _La Terre de Norumbega_, _La Terre de
Norembegue_, _La Terre de Noromberge_, and _La Terre de Norembergue_, and
its meaning and derivation incomprehensible to the descendants of its
originators.

Gerard Mercator, on a terrestrial globe, (_globus terrae_), made in 1541,
represents the Grande River as if its channel were filled with _anormée
bèrges_, which he designates with the misspelled name “Anorumbega.”[447]
On a map of the world, made about the year 1548, for King Henry II. of
France, the appellation “Anorobagra” designates the river of the Grand
Scarp.[448]

In the sixteenth century proper names less peculiar in construction
than the appellation L’Anormée Berge, were written very irregularly. It
is said by Disraeli that Leicester subscribed his name eight different
ways, and that Villers is spelled fourteen times differently in the
deeds of the family. Lower mentions that the name of Mainwaring, has the
remarkable number of one hundred and thirty-one variations in different
documents. Even in this age of dictionaries the spelling of uncommon
geographical names does not always conform to their orthography. A record
has been kept for a number of years of the different ways in which the
name of the city of Cohoes, in the state of New York, has been spelled on
letters addressed to that post-office, and the extraordinary number of
one hundred and ninety-seven changes in the form of the appellation has
been registered.

There seems to be but a single statement that might be used to support an
assertion that the natives of the country of New France originated the
name “Norumbega.” It is in Ramusio’s Italian translation of the French
sea-captain’s description of Francesca, in which it is said: “This region
is called by the peasants Norumbega.” René Goulaine de Laudonnière, a
well-informed French naval officer, who had command of a French fort in
Florida, in 1564, contradicts the assertion that the name was transferred
from an early map of the eastern coast of Asia, saying: “It is called by
the moderns Terre de Norumberge.” André Thevet, the French geographer,
who sailed along its coast in 1556, declares that his countrymen called
the Grande River “Norombègue,” and the Indians, “Aggoncy.”

One of the earliest accounts of the Land of the Grand Scarp extant is
in the discourse of the unnamed sea-captain of Dieppe, written in 1539.
Describing the country of Francesca, he says: “Beyond Cape Breton there
is a region contiguous to this cape, the coast of which extends west and
a quarter southwest as far as the region of Florida, and it stretches
full five hundred leagues, which coast was discovered fifteen years
ago, by Monsieur Giovanni da Verrazzano, in the name of King Francis
and of Madame, the regent, and this region is called by many the land
of the French (_la Francese_), and likewise by the Portuguese, and
its termination toward Florida is in 78° west longitude and 30° north
latitude.[449]

“The inhabitants of this domain are a tractable people, amiable and
agreeable. The country abounds with all kinds of fruit. Oranges
and almonds grow in wild forests, with many different varieties of
odoriferous trees. This region is called by the peasants (_paesani_)
Norumbega, and between it and Brazil there is a large gulf, extending
west as far as the ninety-second meridian.”[450]

In 1540 Jacques Cartier again sailed to New France and ascended the St.
Lawrence River. Jean François de la Roque, Sieur de Roberval, was placed
in command of this expedition, and, by letters-patent, dated January
15, 1540, was commissioned viceroy and lieutenant-general of the new
lands belonging to France in the western hemisphere. Jean Alphonse, an
experienced navigator, a native of Saintonge, near the town of Cognac,
France, accompanied Sieur de Roberval as chief pilot.[451]

In the manuscript of the cosmography of Raulin Secalart, written about
the year 1545, preserved in the National library, in Paris, is a short
description of the coast and people of La Terre d’Anormée Berge.[452]
The writer, evidently Jean Alphonse, very faithfully describes Long
Island Sound, the eastern entrance to the Grande River, when he says:
“This river is wider than forty leagues of latitude at its mouth, and
within, the width is as much as thirty or forty leagues, and it is full
of islands, which extend ten or twelve leagues in the sea, and it is
very dangerous on account of rocks and swashings.” These observations
are remarkably consonant with those of a later writer: “Long Island
Sound, a Mediterranean Sea, separating the island from the main-land of
Connecticut, is connected with the ocean at each end of the island and
affords a sheltered line of navigation of about one hundred and twenty
miles in extent.... Opposite Harlem River is the noted pass or strait
called Hell-Gate, which is crooked, and from the numerous rocks, islands,
eddies, and currents, is somewhat difficult and dangerous.”[453]

The identity of the river called by the French writer “Norombègue,” now
the Hudson, is satisfactorily established by the statement that the water
of the river is salty to the height of forty leagues or eighty-eight
miles. This fact is incontrovertible. The Hudson is salty or brackish
beyond the city of Poughkeepsie, which is about ninety-three miles north
of Sand Hook.[454] The assertion could not be verified were it assumed
that the description applies to the Penobscot, or the Kennebec, or the
Merrimack, or the Connecticut River. It would seem that the writer speaks
of the Palisades bordering the west side of the river, opposite the
Indian village of “Norombègue,” when he says: “On the side toward the
west of the said town there are many rocks which extend to the sea, about
fifteen miles.”

[Illustration: Copy of the map of “Terre de la Franciscane” in the MS. of
the “Cosmographie de Jehan Allefonsce et Raulin Secalart,” 1545.]

“I say that the Cape of St. John, called Cape Breton, and the Cape of
the Franciscan, are northeast and southwest, and range a point from an
east and west course, and there are one hundred and forty leagues on the
course, and which makes one cape, called the Cape of Norombègue. The said
cape is in forty-one degrees of the height of the arctic pole. The said
coast [_i. e._ of Connecticut] is all sandy, ...[455] flat, without any
mountain. And along this coast there are many isles of sand and the coast
very dangerous on account of banks and rocks.

“The people of this coast and of Cape Breton are an ill-disposed race,
powerful, great arrow-makers, and live on fish and on flesh, and are not
talkative, and speak almost the same language as those of Canada, and are
a great people. And those of Cape Breton go to make war upon those of the
New Land when they are fishing, and not for any thing do they spare the
life of any one when they take him, unless it is a young boy or a young
girl; and they are so cruel that if they take a man having a beard, they
cut off his legs and arms and carry them to their wives and children, in
order to be avenged in that way. And there are among them many peltries
of all animals.

“Beyond the Cape of Norombègue, the river of the said Norombègue descends
about twenty-five leagues from the cape. The said river is wider than
forty leagues of latitude at its mouth [entrance of Long Island Sound],
and within, this width is as much as thirty or forty leagues, and it is
full of isles which stretch out ten or twelve leagues in the sea [or
Sound], and it is very dangerous on account of rocks and swashings. The
said river is in forty-two degrees of the height of the arctic pole.

“Up the said river, fifteen leagues, there is a town which is called
Norombègue, and there is in it a good people, and they have many
peltries of all kinds of animals. The inhabitants of the town are dressed
in skins, wearing mantles of martens. I think that the said river runs
into the river Hochelaga [the St. Lawrence], for it is salt for more than
forty leagues up, according to the statement of the people of the town.
The people use many words which resemble the Latin, and they worship the
sun, and are a handsome people, and large framed. The land of Norombègue
is high and good.

“Before and on this side of the said river, one hundred and fifty
leagues, there is an island called Vermonde [Bermuda?] which is in about
thirty-three degrees of the height of the arctic pole.[456] And on the
west side of the said town there are many rocks which extend to the sea,
about fifteen leagues, and north of it there is a bay, in which there
is a small island, which is often subject to tempests and cannot be
inhabited.”

[Illustration: A copy of the map of a part of North America, in the third
volume of Ramusio’s “Raccolta di Navigationi e Viaggi,” printed in 1556;
made by Giacomo de Gastaldi. (The original is about one-third larger.)]

While Jean Alphonse was exploring the coast of La Terre d’Anormée Berge
(which at this time geographically included all the country between the
Grande River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence), he ascended the Grande River
to the height of its navigation, from which point he inferred that the
stream extended to the St. Lawrence, as it is represented on the map
made by Giacomo de Gastaldi, a Piedmontese cartographer, about the year
1553.[457] “I have been at a bay as far as forty-two degrees, between
Norumbega and Florida, and I have not searched the end thereof, and I
know not whether it [the river] pass through.... I doubt not but [the
river] Norumbega entereth into the river of Canada, and unto the sea of
Saguenay.”[458]

This opinion, that the Hudson was an outlet of the St. Lawrence, was held
by the Dutch as late as the year 1625, for De Laet observes: “Judging
from appearances this river extends to the great river of St. Lawrence,
or Canada, since our skippers assure us that the natives come to the fort
[on the site of Albany] from that river.”[459]

René Goulaine de Laudonnière, a French officer, commanding Fort Caroline,
on the river May, in 1564, gives, in his notable history of Florida, a
short account of Verrazanno’s discoveries in 1524.[460] He says that
the French planted in the New Land “the ensigns and arms of the king of
France, so that the Spaniards themselves, who were there afterward, have
called this country French land (_nõmé ce païs terre Francesque_).... The
east part of it is named by the moderns Terre de Norumberge, which ends
at the Gulf of Gamas, which separates it from the island of Canada.”[461]

Not long after the discovery of Francesca by Verrazzano, French barques
were making voyages to its coast, some to obtain cod-fish and others
furs. As related by Jean Alphonse, the people of the village of L’Anormée
Berge had “many peltries of all kinds of animals.” The large quantities
of beaver, otter, and other skins obtained from the Manants, dwelling
at the mouth of the Grande River, induced the speculative Frenchmen
engaged in the traffic to erect at this point a small fort, where their
factors might reside and more advantageously enlarge their purchases of
furs. The Indian village, on the island on which the city of New York
is built, was picturesquely situated on the border of the deep, limpid
lake, then covering the sites of the plots of ground included between the
lines of Elm, Baxter, Worth, and Franklin streets. Near the south end of
the lake (which extended as far as the intersection of Centre and Duane
streets and emptied into the Hudson at Canal Street) was a small island.
Eligible, and opposite the tongue of land on which the Manants dwelt,
the French fur factors selected it as the site of the fortified trading
house which they erected and called Le Fort d’Anormée Berge (The Fort of
the Grand Scarp).[462]

[Illustration: Copy of a part of a map of the city of New York made by
James Lyne in 1728.]

The French geographer, André Thevet, who sailed along the coast of
La Terre d’Anormée Berge, in 1556, besides corroborating some of the
preceding statements respecting the discovery of New France, and
mentioning the fact that the Grande River was called by his countrymen
the river of “Norombègue,” and by the Indians “Aggoncy,” says[463]:
“Having left Florida on the left hand with a great number of islands,
islets, gulfs, and capes, a river presents itself, one of the beautiful
rivers that are in the world, which we named Norombègue, and the Indians
Aggoncy, and which is marked on some marine charts Grande river.[464]
Several other beautiful rivers enter this one, on which formerly the
French had built a small fort about ten or twelve leagues up it, which
fort was surrounded by fresh water that empties into the river, and this
place was called the fort of Norombègue.”[465]

The site of the fort of L’Anormée Berge is indicated by Gerard Mercator
on his celebrated map of the world, made at Duisburg, Germany, in 1569.
The famous cartographer not only designates the situation of the French
fort on the east side of the Grande River with a conventional sign used
by map-makers, but also inscribes the name “Norombega” immediately
over it. As is seen, he outlines the Grande River to the height of its
navigation, at the confluence of the Mohawk, as far as the French had
explored it.[466]

[Illustration: A part of Gerard Mercator’s map of the world, made in
Duisburg in 1569; copied from “Les monuments de la géographie recueil
d’anciennes cartes européennes et orientales, publiés en fac-similé.” par
M. Jomard, Paris.]

It seems that the French fur merchants undertook to build, about the
year 1540, a _château_ or castle, at the height of the navigation of
the Grande River. As it appears, they selected a site for the building
on the long, low island lying in the bay, on the west side of the river,
near the present southern limits of the city of Albany. The walls of the
castle and its protecting earthworks were almost completed when a great
freshet inundated the island and damaged the structure so much that the
French abandoned the occupation of the island. Jean Alphonse evidently
refers to the abortive undertaking, when describing the situation of
the Indian village at the mouth of the Grande River, he says: “North of
it there is a bay, in which is a small island that is often subject to
storms, [those causing freshets,] and cannot be inhabited.” The island
bore the name of Castle Island for more than a century thereafter, but it
is now known as Van Rensselaer’s Island.

The fact that the French had ascended the Grande River to the height
of its navigation to trade with the Indians long before Henry Hudson
explored it, is corroborated by still stronger testimony than that
already presented. One of the earliest maps representing the territory
of Nieu Nederlandt (New Netherland), or that part of New France which
the French had called La Terre d’Anormée Berge, is the figurative chart
presented to their high mightinesses, the Lords States General of the
United Netherlands, on the eleventh of October, 1614, by a number of
Dutch merchants, praying for a special license to navigate and traffic
within the limits of this part of North America.[467] Upon this map, made
in 1614, are inscribed “curious notes and _memoranda_ concerning the
natives of the country,” which the well-informed discoverer of the chart
intimates were written by one of the Dutch companions of Henry Hudson,
who accompanied the English navigator, on the voyage of 1609.[468] One of
these explanatory notes contains the undeniable testimony that the French
were the discoverers of the Grande River, and that they had been trading
with the Mohawks long before the Half Moon sailed up the river. The
plain language of the inscription makes all explanation of its meaning
unnecessary: “But as far as one can understand by what the Maquaas
[Mohawks] _say and show_, the French come with sloops as high up as their
country to trade with them.”[469]

Among the things which were shown to the Dutch explorers by the friendly
Mohawks to confirm what they had said concerning the French, were the
conspicuous ruins of the unfinished castle. The sagacious Hollanders, not
unlikely thinking that the dilapidated building might be repaired with
little expense, and made useful to them as a trading house, should they
be licensed by the government of the Netherlands to return there to trade
for furs with the Indians, took measurements of its walls and outworks.
These _memoranda_ they also inscribed on the map of New Netherland. The
castle, as described on the chart, was fifty-eight feet wide between the
walls, and built in the form of a square, surrounded by a moat eighteen
feet wide. The interior building was thirty-six feet long and twenty-six
wide.[470]

Although the Dutch explorers never left any definite information that
they were personally the builders of the fortification on Castle Island,
yet by naming it Fort Nassau, in honor of the stadtholder, Maurice,
prince of Orange and of Nassau, they permitted historians to infer that
they had constructed it, even before they had been privileged by the
government of the Netherlands to occupy the country.

As late as the year 1680, the Dutch residents of Albany were
unenlightened respecting the nationality of the builders of the fort,
some supposing that the Spaniards had erected it. This assumption was not
generally credited, as there were no facts known that would verify the
presence of the Spaniards in this part of the country. The two Labadist
missionaries, Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, who visited Albany in
1680, thus speak of the fort on Castle Island, and of the conjecture
concerning the people who had built it: “In the afternoon [Sunday, April
28th] we took a walk to an island upon the end of which there is a fort
built, they say, by the Spaniards. That a fort had been there is evident
enough from the earth thrown up, but it is not to be supposed that the
Spaniards came so far inland to build forts when there are no monuments
of them to be seen on the sea-coasts, where, however, they have been
according to the tradition of the Indians.”[471]




FOOTNOTES


[1] The Hebrew for man is derived from the verb (‏‎אדם‏‎), _to be red_.

[2] Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, was born about the year B.
C. 639, and died about the year B. C. 558.

Herodotus, the Greek historian, writing in the fifth century before the
Christian era, says: “When these were subdued, and Crœsus had joined
them to the Lydians, all the learned men at that time, especially those
of Greece, resorted to Sardis, which had then reached a high degree of
eminence. Among them was Solon, an Athenian, who, having made a code of
laws for the Athenians at their request, absented himself for ten years,
having sailed away under pretense of seeing the world, that he might not
be compelled to abrogate any of the laws he had established: for the
Athenians could not do it themselves, as they were bound by the most
solemn oaths to preserve inviolate, for ten years, the institutions of
Solon. Therefore, having gone abroad for these reasons, as well as to see
the world, Solon had visited Amasis, in Egypt, and went from there to
Crœsus, at Sardis.”—Herodotus: Clio xxix, xxx.

[3] Plutarch, the Greek biographer, says that Psenophis, the
Heliopolitan, and Senchis, the Saite, the most learned of the Egyptian
priests, were the persons who gave Solon this information.—Parallel
Lives: Solon.

[4] “If Solon ... had not considered the writing of poetry a recreation,
but had made it, as others do, an actual employment, and had completed
the history which he had brought from Egypt; and had not been forced to
relinquish it by seditions and many other troubles in which he found
his country involved, I do not think that either Hesiod, Homer, or any
other poet would have acquired more extensive fame.”—Plato: Timæus, or
Concerning Nature.

[5] Plato was born about the year B. C. 430 and died about the year B. C.
348. He traced his descent from Solon through his mother.

[6] “These very writings, indeed, were in the possession of my
grandfather, and are now in mine, having been made the subject of much
study during my boyhood.”—Plato: Critias, or the Atlantic.

[7] Plato: Critias, or the Atlantic.

[8] The so-called Pillars of Hercules were the two mountains, Calpe and
Abyla, on the opposite sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.

“I wonder, therefore, at those,” says Herodotus, “who have described
the limits of and divided Libya, Asia, and Europe, for the difference
between them is trifling: for in length Europe extends along both of
them, but respecting width, it is evidently not to be compared. Libya
shows itself to be surrounded by water, except so much of it as borders
Asia.”—Herodotus: Melpomene xlii.

[9] Tyrrhenia or Umbria, in Italy, now Tuscany.

[10] Plato: Timæus, or Concerning Nature.

[11] Plato: Critias, or the Atlantic.

[12] Genesis xvi. 7; xviii. 1-8, 16-33; xix. 1-22; xxxii. 1, 2.

[13] Herodotus: Euterpe cxlii, cxliv.

[14] Genesis vi. 1, 2, 4.

“SOC. Do you know that heroes are half-gods?

“HERM. What then?

“SOC. All of them were doubtless begotten either from a god falling in
love with a mortal woman, or from a mortal man [falling in love] with a
goddess.”

—Plato: Cratylus, or Concerning the Correct Use of Words.

[15] A stadium is equal to 600 Greek or 625 Roman feet, or to 606 feet 9
inches English measure.

[16] Respecting the names of the persons appearing in the narrative
Plato observes: “We must briefly warn you not to be surprised at hearing
Hellenic names given to the barbarians; the cause of this you shall now
hear. Solon, intending to make use of this narrative in his poetry, made
an investigation into the signification of the names, and found that
the early Egyptians who recorded these facts transferred these names
into their own language; and he again receiving the meaning of each name
transcribed it into our tongue.”

[17] “Πᾶσα ἡ νῆσος τότε πέλαγος ἐσχεν ἑπωνυμίαν, Ἀτλαντικὸν λεχθέν.”

[18] Gadeira, an ancient city built, it is said, by the Phœnicians,
fifteen centuries before the Christian era, on the site of Cadiz, Spain.

[19] Ὀρείχαλκος, ore of copper. From ὄρειος, mountain, and χαλκός, brass.

[20] The remains of mammoths or elephants, _elephas primigenus_, have
been exhumed in different parts of the continent of America.

[21] A plethron is equal to a hundred feet.

[22] A trireme, a large-sized boat with three rows or benches of oars on
its sides.

[23] “This agreement of the traditions of the most diverse peoples
manifests itself in a striking manner when compared with the number
assigned by the Bible to the antediluvian patriarchs. There are ten in
the account in Genesis, and a singular persistence reproduces this number
of ten in the legends of a very great number of nations, whose primitive
ancestors are still enveloped in the mist of fables.... The preserved
fragments of the celebrated historical papyrus of Turin, containing a
list of Egyptian dynasties traced in hieratic writing, seem clearly
to indicate that the editor of this canon gives ten gods, who in the
beginning ruled men.”—Les Origines de l’Histoire d’après la Bible et les
Traditions des Peuples Orientaux, par François Lenormant, professeur
d’archéologie près la Bibliothèque nationale. Deuxième édition, Paris,
1880. pp. 214, 215, 227.

[24] Plato: Critias, or the Atlantic.

[25] “These figures of the mythic Egyptian chronology are still
very imperfectly known to us—too little indeed to affirm any thing
satisfactorily concerning the principle of their construction.... We
must, therefore, wait for some new discovery, like that of a royal canon
similar to the one of Turin, in good condition, before we can make a
thorough examination of the principle of the cyclic periods with which
Egypt began her annals.”—Les Origines de l’Histoire. Lenormant. p. 287.

[26] Plato: Critias, or the Atlantic.

[27] Plato: Timæus, or Concerning Nature.

[28] The ships of the ancients, in the time of Herodotus, were vessels
propelled by oars and sails. Describing those used by the Egyptians on
the Nile, he says: “Their ships in which they convey merchandise are made
of the acacia, which in shape is similar to the Cyrenæan lotus, and its
exudation is gum. From this acacia they cut planks about two cubits in
length, and join them together as they do bricks, building their ships
in the following manner: They fasten the planks of two cubits length
to stout and long ties; when they have thus built the hulls, they lay
rowing benches across them. They make no use of ribs, but caulk the
seams inside with byblus. They make only one rudder, and that is driven
through the keel. They use a mast of acacia, and sails of byblus. These
vessels cannot sail against the current of the stream unless a fair wind
prevails, but are towed from the shore. They are thus carried down the
stream: There is a hurdle made of tamarisk, wattled with a band of reeds,
and a stone bored through the middle, of about two talents in weight; of
these two, the hurdle is fastened to a cable, and let down at the prow
of the vessel to be carried on by the stream; and the stone by another
cable at the stern; and by this means the hurdle, by the stream bearing
hard upon it, moves quickly and draws along the ‘baris’, (for this is
the name given to these vessels,) but the stone, being dragged at the
stern, and sunk to the bottom, keeps the vessel in its course. They have
a great number of these vessels, and some of them carry many thousand
talents.”—Euterpe xcvi.

The vessels of the Phœnicians were of a better build, but they also were
fitted out with oars and sails.—Ezekiel xxvii. 3-9.

[29] Genesis vi. 5, 6, 7.

[30] Plato: Critias, or the Atlantic.

_Vide_ The Works of Plato. Bohn’s ed. London, 1849. vol. ii. Translated
by Henry Davis, pp. 413-429.

[31] The date of the accession of Seti I. or Sethos I. is variously
given. M. Champollion Figeac places it in 1473 B.C. Mure thinks it cannot
be earlier than 1410 nor later than 1400 B.C.

[32] Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology. t. iv. pp. 1-19.

[33] Les Origines de l’Histoire. Lenormant. pp. 448, 449.

[34] _Vide_ Historia Verdadera de la Conqvista de la Nueva-España.
Escrita por el Capitan Bernal Diaz del Castillo, vno de sus
Conquistadores. En Madrid, 1632.

Antiquities of Mexico: comprising fac-similes of ancient Mexican
paintings and hieroglyphics, preserved in the Royal libraries of Paris,
Berlin, and Dresden; in the Imperial library at Vienna; in the Vatican
library; in the Borgian museum at Rome; in the library of the Institute
at Bologna; and in the Bodleian library at Oxford. Together with the
monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix; with their respective scales of
measurements and accompanying descriptions. The whole illustrated by many
valuable inedited manuscripts, by Lord Kingsborough. In nine volumes.
London, 1831-1848.

[35] Now called the Shetland islands, but the name is printed on the
early maps Hetland; from Swedish _het_, hot, and _land_, land. The group
lies about 180 miles from Norway, between 59° 50´ and 60° 50´ north
latitude.

[36] The Fer öe or Far islands lie about 170 miles northwest of the
Shetland group, and are between 61° 20´ and 62° 25´ north latitude. The
name is derived from _fer_, far, (Swedish,) and _öe_, islands.

[37] Iceland lies between latitude 63° 24´ and 66° 33´ N. and longitude
13° 31´ and 24° 17´ W. It is one hundred and sixty miles east of
Greenland, six hundred west of Norway, and two hundred and fifty
northwest of the Fer öe, or Far islands.

[38] History of the Northmen, by Henry Wheaton. London, 1831. pp. 17, 18.

Iceland, or the journal of a residence in that island, during the years
1814 and 1815, by Ebenezer Henderson, vol. i. Intro. pp. xv. and 308.

[39] “Men of experience say, who have been born in Greenland, and
have recently come from Greenland, that from Stadt, in the north part
of Norway, to Horns, on the east coast of Iceland, is seven days’
sailing directly westward.”—Antiqvitates Americanæ, sive scriptores
septentrionales rerum Ante-Columbianarum in America. Edidit Societas
Regia Antiqvariorum Septentrionalium. Hafniæ, 1837. Ivar Bardsen’s
treatise. p. 302.

[40] “He who sails from Iceland [to Greenland] must steer his course
from Snefelsnes, which is twelve nautical miles (_tholldt soes_) farther
to the west than the mentioned Reychenes, and for a day and a night he
will sail due west, but then he must steer to the southwest to avoid the
ice that adheres to Gunnbjörn’s rocks. Then he must hold his course one
day and one night to the northwest, which will bring him straight to
that high land of Greenland called Hvarf, under which lie the mentioned
Herjulfsnes and Sand-haffn.”

“They who wish to sail direct from Bergen [in Norway] to Greenland
without touching Iceland, must sail due west until they find themselves
twelve nautical miles (_xii uger soes_) south of Reychenes, a promontory
on the south coast of Iceland, and by holding this course toward the west
they will come to the high land of Greenland called Hvarf.”—Antiq. Amer.
Ivar Bardsen’s treatise. pp. 304, 305; 303, 304.

[41] _Bygd_, inhabited land, a place of residence, an abode.

[42] _Ubygd_, an unpeopled tract, desert.

[43] “A day before you descry the said Hvarf you ought to see another
high mountain called Hvidserk. Under these two mountains—Hvard and
Hvidserk—is a promontory (_nes_) called Herjulfsnes, near which is a
harbor called Sand-haffn.... The inhabited part of Greenland lying
eastwardly, next to Herjulfsnes, is called Skagefjörd.”—Antiq. Amer. Ivar
Bardsen’s treatise. pp. 304, 305.

[44] Christianity, it is said, was introduced in Iceland in the year
1000.—Antiq. Amer. pp. 10, 11, 14, and note _b_. The discovery of America
by the Northmen. By North Ludlow Beamish. London, 1841. pp. 47, 48.

[45] The traditions of the voyages of Bjarni, the son of Herjulf, and
of Leif, the son of Eric the Red, are contained in a large folio of
manuscripts found in the seventeenth century, in a monastery on the
island called Flatö, north of Breidafjörd, in Iceland. This book of
Flatö was purchased, about the year 1660, by Bishop Brynjulf Sveinson
of Skalholt, in Iceland, and was sent by him as a gift to King Frederic
III. of Denmark, and is now in the Royal Library of Copenhagen. A part of
the inscription on the first page of the volume bears this translation:
“This book, Jónn, the son of Hakon, owns.... The priest, Jónn, the son
of Thord, wrote out the narrative concerning Eric, the traveller, and
the histories of each of the Olafs; and the priest, Magnus, the son of
Thorhall, wrote out that which follows, also that which precedes, and
illuminated the whole. God Almighty and the Holy Virgin Mary bless those
who wrote and him who dictated.”

It is supposed that these traditions, which are finely engrossed in
Icelandic on vellum, contained in the Codex Flateyensis, were compiled
between the years 1387 and 1395.—Antiq. Amer. pp. 1-4.

[46] _Thaettir af Eireki Rauda ok Graenlendingum._

[47] _Bjarni leitadi Graenlands._—Antiq. Amer. pp. 17-25. Discovery of
America. Beamish, pp. 47, 48.

[48] From _hella_, a flat stone.

Certain writers believe that Newfoundland was called Helluland by the
Northmen. The island lies about six hundred miles south of Greenland.

[49] Nova Scotia is supposed by some writers to be the region named
Markland by the Northmen. It is about four hundred miles southwest of
Newfoundland.

[50] _Hèr Hefr Graenlendinga Thátt._ Antiq. Amer. pp. 26-40. Discovery of
America. Beamish, pp. 59-70.

[51] Narrative of an expedition to the east coast of Greenland, sent by
order of the king of Denmark, in search of the lost colonies, under the
command of Captain W. A. Graah, of the Danish royal navy. Translated from
the Danish by the late G. Gordon Macdougall, F.R.S.N.A., for the Royal
Geographical Society of London. London, 1837. pp. 106, 107.

[52] “_Meira var thar jafndaegri enn á Graenlandi edr Íslandi, sól hafdi
thar eyktarstad ok dagmálastad um skamdegi._”

“Dag-mál, n. (_vide_ dagr), prop. ‘_day-meal_,’ one of the divisions
of the day, usually about eight or nine o’clock, A.M.; the Latin _hora
tertia_ is rendered by ‘er vér köllum dagmál,’ _which we call d._, Hom.
[Homiliu-bók], 142; enn er ekki lidit af dagmálum, Hom. (St.) 10. Acts
11, 15; in Glúm. [Viga-Glúms Saga], 342, we are told that the young Glúm
was very lazy, and lay in bed till day-meal every morning, cp. also 343;
Hrafn. [Hrafnkéls Saga] 28 and O. H. L. [Olafs Saga Helga Legendaria]
18—áeinum morni milli rismála ok dagmála—where distinction is made
between rismal (_rising time_) and dagmál, so as to make a separate
dagsmark (q. v.) of each of them; and again, a distinction is made
between ‘midday’ and dagmal, Ísl. [Islenzkar], 11, 334. The dagmal is
thus midway between ‘rising’ and ‘midday,’ which accords well with the
present use. The word is synonymous with dagver darmál, _breakfast-time_,
and denotes the hour when the ancient Icelanders used to take their
chief meal, opposed to náttmál, _night-meal_ or _supper-time_, Fms.
[Fornmanna Sögur], viii, 330; even the MSS. use dagmál and dagverdarmál
indiscriminately; cp. also Sturl. [Sturlunga Saga] 111, 4 C; Rb.
[Rimbegla], 452 says that at full moon the ebb takes place ‘at
dagmá-lum.’ To put the dagmál at 7:30 A.M., as Pál Vidalin does, seems
neither to accord with the present use nor the passage in Glúm or the
eccl. _hora tertia_, which was the nearest hour answering to the Icel.
calculation of the day. In Fb. [Flateyjar bók] 1,539, it is said that
the sun set at ‘eykd’ (_i. e._ half-past three o’clock), but rose at
‘dagmál,’ which puts the dagmal at 8:30 A.M. Compds. dagmála-stadr, m.
_the place of d. in the horizon_, Fb. [Flateyjar bók].”

“Eykt, eykd, f. _three or half-past three o’clock_, P.M.; many
commentaries have been written upon this word, as by Pál Vidalin Skyr,
Finn Johnson in H. E. [Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiæ] 1. 153 sqq. note
6, and in Horologium, etc. The time of eykd is clearly defined in K. Th.
K. [Kristinnrettr Thorláks ok Ketils], 92 as the time _when the sun has
past two parts of the_ ‘utsudr’ (q. v.) _and has one part left_, that
is to say, _half-past three o’clock_, P.M.: it thus nearly coincides
with the eccl. Lat. _nona_ (three o’clock, P.M.); and both eykt and nona
are therefore used indiscriminately in some passages. Sunset at the
time of ‘eykd’ is opposed to sunrise at the time of ‘dagmal,’ q. v. In
Norway ‘ykt’ means a luncheon taken about half-past three o’clock. But
the passage in Edda—that autumn ends and winter begins at sunset at the
time of eykt—confounded the commentators who believed it to refer to
the conventional Icel. winter, which (in the old style) begins with the
middle of October, and lasts six months. In the latitude of Reykholt—the
residence of Snorri—the sun at this time sets about half-past four.
Upon this statement the commentators have based their reasoning both in
regard to dagmál and eykt, placing the eykt at half-past four, P.M.,
and dagmal at half-past seven, A.M., although this contradicts the
definition of these terms in the law. The passage in Edda probably came
from a foreign source, and refers not to the Icel. winter but to the
astronomical winter, viz., the winter solstice or the shortest day; for
sunset at half-past three is suited not to Icel., but to the latitude
of Scotland and the southern parts of Scandinavia. The word is also
curious from its bearing upon the discovery of America by the ancients,
_vide_ Fb. [Flateyjar-bók] l. c. This sense (_half-past three_) is now
obsolete in Icel., but eykt is in freq. use in the sense of _trihorium_,
_a time of three hours_; whereas in the oldest sagas no passage has
been found bearing this sense,—the Bs. [Biskupa Sögur] 1, 385, 446, and
Hem. [Hemings-thattr] l. c., are of the 13th and 14th centuries. In
Norway ykt is freq. used metaph. of all the four meal times in the day,
morning-ykt, midday-ykt, afternoon-ykt (or ykt proper), and even-ykt. In
old MSS., Grág., K. Th. K. Hem. Heid. S. [Grágás, Kristinnrettr, Thorláks
ok Ketils, Hemings-thattr, Heidarviga Saga], this word is always spelt
eykd or eykth, shewing the root to be ‘auk’ with the fem. inflex. added;
it probably first meant the _eke_-meal, answering to Engl. _lunch_, and
thence came to mean the time of day at which this meal was taken. The
eccl. law dilates upon the word, as the Sabbath was to begin at ‘_hora
nona_’; hence the phrase, eykt helgr dagr....

“Eyktar-stadr. m. _the place of the sun at half-past three_, P.M.;
meira var, thar jafndaegri enn á Graenlandi edr Íslandi, sól hafdi thar
eyktar-stad ok dagmála-stad um skamdegi, Fb. [Flateyjar bók] 1, 539,—this
passage refers to the discovery of America; but in A. A. [Antiquitates
Americanæ], l. c., it is wrongly explained as denoting the shortest day
nine hours long, instead of seven; it follows that the latitude fixed by
the editors of A. A. [Antiquitates Americanæ] is too far to the south.”

“Dagr, m. ... a day, ... 5. the day is in Icel. divided according to the
position of the sun above the horizon; these fixed traditional marks
are called dags-mörk, _day-marks_, and are substitutes for the hours of
modern times, viz. ris-mál or midr-morgun, dag-mál, há-degi, mid-degi or
mid-mundi, nón, midr-aptan, nátt-mál.”

“Stadr, m., gen. stadar, dat. stad, and older stadi, pl. stadir: ... a
‘stead,’ place, abode.”—An Icelandic-English dictionary based on the
MS. collections of the late Richard Cleasby, enlarged and completed by
Gudbrand Vigfusson, M. A. Oxford, 1874.

[53] Thormod Torfason, or Torfæus, as his name is Latinized, in the
addenda of his History of Ancient Vinland (Historia Vinlandiæ Antiquæ),
printed at Copenhagen, in 1705, explains the meaning of the words, saying
that the sun in Vinland, on the shortest day, was six hours above the
horizon, which would imply that this land lay between the fifty-eighth
and sixty-first parallels of north latitude. “Torfæus confirms his
interpretation by the authority of Arngrim Jonas, a learned Icelander who
flourished at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth
century, and who was deemed a profound astronomer. In his ‘History of
Greenland,’ he thus renders the passage we are considering: ‘There is
in Vinland no winter, no cold, no frost as in Iceland or Greenland;
inasmuch as the sun, on the very day of the winter solstice (they had
no dials there), passes about six hours above the horizon.’ Having
cited this passage from Arngrim Jonas, Torfæus proceeds: ‘This meaning
I had long ago given this passage, first on the authority (if I rightly
understood him) of Bryniulf Sveinson, the most learned of all the bishops
of Skalkholt, to whom I was sent, while yet a youth, in the year 1662,
with royal letters from my gracious master, King Frederick the Third, for
the purpose of learning the genuine signification of the more difficult
ancient words and phrases; and, then, from the necessary correspondence
of the time of sunset with that of sunrise.’”—(The Discovery of America
by the Northmen. By E. Everett. North American Review. January, 1838.
vol. xlvi. pp. 179-188. _Vide_ Historia Vinlandiæ Antiquæ, seu partis
Americæ Septentrionalis. Per Thormodum Torfæum. Havniæ, 1705. Addenda.)

Professor Charles C. Rafn, secretary of the Royal Society of Northern
Antiquaries, gives this rendition of the passage: “When the day is
shortest the sun there has a place (is above the horizon) from half-past
seven before noon till half-past four in the afternoon.”—Antiq. Amer. p.
436. _Vide_ Discovery of America. Beamish. pp. 64, 65. According to Prof.
Rafn, the Northmen built their winter-quarters on the shore of Mount Hope
bay, Rhode Island; the day, nine hours long, indicating the latitude of
41° 24´ 10´´.

[54] The saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne and Snorro Thorbrandson (_Saga
Thorfinns Karlsefnis ok Snorra Thorbrandssonar_). This legend is
written on vellum, and is one of the valuable Icelandic manuscripts
called the Arna-Magnœan collection, which is preserved in the library
of the university of Copenhagen. The manuscripts were bequeathed to
the university by Arne Magnussen, or, as his name is Latinized, Arnus
Magnœus, an Icelandic scholar. The saga of Thorfinn is supposed to have
been compiled in the fourteenth century.

[55] In the treatise of Ivar Bardsen, it is said that in Greenland “is
found the best of wheat, (_beste Hvede_).”—Antiq. Amer. pp. 302-318.

The wild wheat (_elymus arenarius_) growing on the sand flats of Iceland
is thus described: “This plant, the _melur_ of the natives, is a kind
of grass, with a spike or ear four or five inches long, and generally
appears in a sandy soil. The sea-shore and tracts of volcanic ashes
in the interior are equally favorable to its growth, though it is
principally from the latter that the seeds used for bread are obtained;
and the natives regard it as a great gift wherewith the wise Creator has
blessed those mournful wastes. The harvest is in August, when it becomes
white in the ear, but as it is seldom fully ripe, it requires to be dried
before grinding. It is cut with a sickle, made up in bundles, and carried
home on the backs of horses. It is then separated from the straw, and
ground in hand-mills cut out of a block of lava, into fine meal of a
grayish color.”—Historical and descriptive account of Iceland, Greenland,
and the Faroe islands. pp. 385, 386.

[56] From _hópa_ to recede. _Hóp_, a recess, haven, bay, inlet.

Certain writers assume this place Hóp to be the country around Mount Hope
bay, in Rhode Island.

[57] This statement does not agree with the one preceding it,—that “they
remained at this place a half-month.”

[58] Skraelingar, m. pl. Esquimaux.

[59] Antiq. Amer. pp. 136-163. Discovery of America. Beamish. pp. 87-103.

[60] “_Præterea unam adhuc insulam recitavit a multis in eo repertam
oceano, quæ dicitur Winland, eo quod ibi vites sponte nascantur, vinum
optimum ferentes. Nam et fruges ibi non seminatas habundare, non fabulosa
opinione, sed certa comperimus relatione Danosum._”—M. Adamigesta
Hammenburgensis ecclesiæ pontificum. Edente M. Lappenburg. I. U. D.
Reipublicæ Hamburgensis tabulario. Monumenta Germaniæ historica. By
George Henry Pertz. Hannoveræ, 1846.

[61] This fragment of a geographical or historical work is supposed to
have been written before the time of Columbus.—Gripla C. Antiq. Amer. pp.
280, 281, 293, 296. Discovery of America. Beamish. pp. 114, 115.

[62] The map marked Tab. ii. is contained in the historical work
entitled: Gronlandia Antiqva, seu veteris Gronlandiæ Descriptio....
Authore Thormodo Torfaeo. Havniæ, 1715. p. 21.

[63] If they were grapes, it does not follow that they were found on the
eastern coast of the present territory of the United States. The French
navigator, Jacques Cartier, in September, 1535, found “vines laden as
full of grapes as could be all along the riuer [St. Lawrence], which
rather seemed to haue bin planted by mans hand than otherwise.”—The third
and last volume of the voyages, navigations, traffiques, and discoueries
of the English nation. By Richard Hakluyt. London, 1600. p. 218.

[64] The rock writing, as interpreted by an Indian, is an account of
a battle fought by the people of two tribes, and was engraved by some
or one of the members of the victorious party.—Archives of aboriginal
knowledge. By Henry R. Schoolcraft. 1860. vol. i. pp. 112-124; vol. iv.
pp. 119. Antiq. Amer. pp. 373-403.

[65] Benedict Arnold, the first governor of Rhode Island, living at
Newport, in his will, dated December 20, 1677, directed that his body
should be buried at a certain spot, “being and lying in my land, in or
near the line or path from my dwelling-house leading to my stone-built
windmill, in the town of Newport.” Another mill of similar construction
is near Leamington, in the parish of Chesterton, in Warwickshire,
England, where Benedict Arnold lived when a boy. This mill was built
according to a plan first introduced into England by Inigo Jones.—History
of New England, by John Gorham Palfrey. Boston, 1859. vol. i. Note. pp.
57-59.

[66] History of Wales, written by Caradoc of Llancarvan, Glamorganshire,
in the British Language, translated into English by Humphry Llwyd, and
published by Dr. David Powel in the year 1584.

[67] “The most ancient Discouery of the West Indies by Madoc, the sonne
of Owen Guyneth Prince of North-wales, in the yeere 1170: taken out
of the history of Wales, lately published by M. Dauid Powel Doctor of
Diuinity.... Madoc another of Owen Guyneth his sonnes left the land in
contention betwixt his brethren, & prepared certaine ships with men and
munition, and sought aduentures by Seas, sailing West, and leauing the
coast of Ireland so farre North, that he came vnto a land vnknowen, where
he saw many strange things....

“Of the voyage and returne of this Madoc there are many fables fained, as
the common people doe vse in distance of place and length of time rather
to augment then to diminish: but sure it is there he was. And after he
had returned home, and declared the pleasant and fruitfull countreys that
he had seene without inhabitants, and vpon the contrary part, for what
barren & wild ground his brethren and nephewes did murther one another,
he prepared a number of ships, and got with him such men and women as
were desirous to liue in quietnesse: and taking leaue of his friends,
tooke his journey thitherward againe.... This Madoc arriving in that
Western country, vnto his people there, and returning back for more of
his owne nation, acquaintance, & friends to inhabit that faire & large
countrey, went thither again with ten sailes, as I find noted by Gutyn
Owen.”—Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. 1.

[68] Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. 1.

[69] Kosmos: Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung. Alexander von
Humboldt. 1845-1858. Trans. by E. C. Otté. Bohn’s ed. vol. ii. pp. 608,
609.

[70] The history of the voyages of the Zeni brothers was first published
with another work entitled: Dei Commentarij del Viaggio in Persia.
Venezia, 1558.

[71] The name is evidently a designation for Iceland. _Frislanda_, the
cold or frozen land; Anglo-Saxon, _frysan_; Icelandic, _friosa_; Swedish,
_frysa_; Danish, _fryse_; and _land_, land.

[72] Estotiland seems to be an anomalous form of the name Scotland, from
Anglo-Saxon, _scot_; Spanish and Portuguese, _escote_; Italian, _scotto_.

[73] Dello Scoprimento dell’ Isole Frislanda, Eslanda, Engronelanda,
Estotilanda, & Icaria, fatto per due fratelli Zeni, M. Nicolò il
Caualiere, & M. Antonio. Libro Vno, col disegno di dette Isole.

The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers, Nicolò and Antonio Zeno to the
Northern Seas. By Richard Henry Major. London, 1873. Hakluyt Soc. pub.
pp. 1-24.

[74] In 1260, the two brothers, Nicolò and Maffeo Polo, departed from
Constantinople, on a trading expedition to the Euxine Sea; thence they
travelled through the western dominions of the Grand Khan of the Tartars.
In 1269 they returned home with letters from this sovereign to Pope
Clement IV. On their arrival in Venice, Nicolò found that his wife had
died in giving birth to his son, Marco, then a lad of fifteen years.
In 1271 the brothers (Maffeo being a bachelor) again left home for the
Orient, taking Marco with them. In 1295 the three returned to Venice
after an absence of twenty-four years.

[75] Giovanni Battista Ramusio was born at Tevisa in 1485. For a decade
of years he was secretary to the Venetian Council of Ten. His valuable
collection of voyages and travels, entitled “Raccolta di Navigationi e
Viaggi,” comprises three volumes. Volume I. was published in 1554, volume
II. in 1559, and volume III. in 1556. Ramusio died in 1557.

[76] China. “For about three centuries,” says Yule, “the Northern
provinces of China had been detached from native rule, and subject to
foreign dynasties; first to the _Khitau_, a people from the basin of the
Sungari River, and supposed (but doubtfully) to have been akin to the
Tunguses, whose rule subsisted for 200 years, and originated the name
_Khitai_, Khata, or Cathay, by which for nearly 1000 years China has been
known to the nations of Inner Asia, and to those whose acquaintance with
it was got by that channel.”—The book of Ser Marco Polo. By Henry Yule.
London, 1875. Introd. p. 11.

[77] Ramusio: Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. vol. ii. Prefatione.

[78] Concerning Marco Polo, Humboldt remarks: “Jacquet, who was unhappily
too early removed by a premature death from the investigation of Asiatic
languages, and who, like Klaproth and myself, was long occupied with
the work of the great Venetian traveller, wrote to me, as follows,
shortly before his decease: ‘I am as much struck as yourself by the
composition of the _Milione_. It is undoubtedly founded on the direct
and personal observation of the traveller, but he probably also made use
of documents either officially or privately communicated to him. Many
things appear to have been borrowed from Chinese and Mongolian works,
although it is difficult to determine their precise influence on the
composition of the _Milione_; owing to the successive translations from
which Polo took his extracts. Whilst our modern travellers are only too
well pleased to occupy their readers with their personal adventures,
Marco Polo takes pains to blend his own observations with the official
data communicated to him, of which, as Governor of the city of Yangui,
he was able to have a large number.’ (See my _Asie Centrale_, t. ii. p.
395.) The compiling method of the celebrated traveller likewise explains
the possibility of his being able to dictate his book at Genoa, in 1295,
to his fellow-prisoner and friend, Messer Rustizielo of Pisa, as if the
documents had been lying before him. (Compare Marsden, _Travels of Marco
Polo_, p. xxxiii).” Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 625. Note.

[79] Ser Marco Polo. Yule. Second ed. vol. i. pp. 103, 104.

[80] “I John Maundevylle, knight, alle be it I be not worthi, that was
born in England, in the Town of Seynt Albones, passed the See, in the
zeer of our Lord Jesu Crist mcccxxii, in the Day of Seynt Michelle; and
hidre to have ben long tyme over the See, and have seyn and gon thorghe
manye dyverse Londes, and many Provynces and Kingdomes and Iles, and have
passed thorghe Tartarye, Percye, Ermonye, the litylle and the grete;
thorghe Lybye, Caldee, and a gret partie of Ethiope; thorghe Amazoyne,
Inde the lasse and the more, a gret partie; and thorghe out many othere
Iles, that ben abouten Inde.... And zee schulle undirstonde, that I have
put this Boke out of Latyn into Frensche and translated it azen out of
Frensche into Englyssche, that every Man of my Nacioun may undirstonde
it.”—MS. in Cottonian library, marked Titus. c. xvi. The Voiage and
Travaile of Sir John Maundevile, Kt. By J. O. Halliwell. London, 1849.
Prologue. pp. 4, 5.

[81] Herodotus: Melpomene xlii.

[82] Caius Plinius Secundus, a Roman writer, born A. D. 23, and died A.
D. 79. Hanno’s expedition was undertaken about 570 B. C.

[83] Eudoxus of Cyzicus, a Greek navigator, lived about 130 B. C. Ptolemy
Lathyrus began his reign B. C. 117. Cornelius Nepos flourished in the
century before the Christian era.

[84] Supposed to have been in the year of the building of Rome, 691.

[85] Suevi, the ancient inhabitants of that part of Germany between the
Danube and the Baltic Sea.

[86] Historia Naturalis. lib. ii. cap. lxvii.

[87] “In Christian Europe the earliest mention of the use of the magnetic
needle occurs in the politico-satirical poem, called _La Bible_, by
Guyot, of Provence, in 1190, and in the description of Palestine by
Jacobus, of Vitry, Bishop of Ptolemais, between 1204 and 1215. Dante (in
his _Parad._ xii., 29) refers, in a simile, to the needle (_ago_) ‘which
points to the star.’”

“Navarrete, in his _Discurso histórico sobre los progresos del Arte de
Navegar en España_, 1802, p. 28, recalls a remarkable passage in the
Spanish _Leyes de las Partidas_ (II. tit. ix., ley 28), of the middle of
the thirteenth century: ‘The needle, which guides the seaman in the dark
night, and shows him, both in good and bad weather, how to direct his
course, is the intermediary agent (_medianera_) between the loadstone
(_la piedra_) and the north star.’ ... See the passage in _Las Siete
Partidas del sabio Rey Don Alonso el ix._ (according to the usually
adopted chronological order, Alonso the Xth). Madrid, 1829. t. i. p.
473.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 629, and note.

[88] “_La magnete piere laide et noire. Ob ete fer volenters se joint.
Lon touchet ob une aguilet. Et en festue lon fischie. Puis lon mette en
laigue et se tient desus. Et la point se torne contre lestoille. Quant la
nuit feit tenebrous et lon ne voie estoile ne lune, poet li mariner tenir
droite voie._”

[89] The Monthly Magazine, or British Register. London, 1802. vol. xiii.
part 1. p. 449. The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal. By Henry Major.
London, 1868. pp. 58, 59.

[90] “We are told by Antonio Beccadelli, surnamed Il Panormita from his
birthplace, Palermo, and who was a contemporary of Prince Henry, that
sailors were first indebted to Amalfi for the use of the magnet—‘_Prima
dedit nautis usum magnetis Amalphis_’; and ‘_Inventrix prœclara fuit
magnetis Amalphis_.’ ... The former of these lines is quoted from Il
Panormita by Henricus Brenemanus, in his Dissertatio de Republica
Amalfitana, and Klaproth has added the latter.” Life of Prince Henry of
Portugal. Major. p. 59.

[91] Dom Henrique was born at Oporto, March 4, 1394.

[92] “_Quem passar o Cabo de Nao, ou voltara ou nao._”

[93] Chronica do descobrimento e conquista de Guiné, escripta por
mandado de el Rey. D. Affonso V. sob a direcçao scientifica e secundo as
instrucçoes do illustre infante D. Henrique, pelo chronista Gomes Eannes
de Azurara, fielmente transladada do manuscrito original contemporaneo
que se conserva na Bibliotheca Real de Pariz. Edited by the Visconde da
Carreira, with introduction and notes by the Vicomte de Santarem. Paris,
1841. cap. viii.

[94] Antonio Galvano was born about the year 1502. In 1538 he was
appointed by the king of Portugal governor of the Moluccas or Spice
Islands. He was recalled about the year 1545, and died in 1557.

[95] Tratado, que compōs o nobre & notauel capitão Antonio Galuão,
dos diuersos & desuayrados caminhos, por onde nos tempos passados a
pimenta & especearia veyo da India ás nossas partes, & assi de todos os
descobrimentos antigos & modernos, que são feitos ate a era de mil &
quinhentos & cincoenta.... Impressa em casa de Joam de Barreira impressor
del rey nosso senhor, na Rua de Sā Mameda. [Lisboa.]

_Vide_ The discoveries of the world, from their first original unto
the year of our Lord 1555, by Antonio Galvano, governor of Ternate.
Corrected, quoted, and published in England, by Richard Hakluyt,
(1610). Now reprinted, with the original Portuguese text, and edited by
Vice-admiral Bethune, C. B. London, 1862. Hakluyt Society publication.

[96] Chronica do descobrimento e conquista de Guiné. cap. ix.

[97] Historia Naturalis. lib. ii. cap. lxviii.

[98] The distance of a place, north or south of the equator, was
determined by ascertaining with the astrolabe the elevation of the pole
of the heavens above the plane of the horizon.

The distance of one place from another, east or west of a meridian,
was obtained by ascertaining the difference of time at the two points;
the difference of time being one hour to each space of fifteen degrees
of longitude. Although a navigator in the latter part of the fifteenth
century could determine with his astrolabe the time of the place where he
was in port, from the altitude of the sun or other heavenly bodies, the
want of an accurate chronometer made it impossible for him to know the
exact time of a place elsewhere. Pigafetta, who sailed round the world in
1519-1522, says in his treatise on navigation: “Pilots now are satisfied
with knowing the latitude, and are so presumptuous that they refuse to
hear longitude mentioned.”—MS. in Ambrosian Library, Milan.

To obtain a practical solution of the difficulties which perplexed seamen
in determining the longitude of places, the Spanish government offered
a thousand crowns, in 1598, for an accurate method of ascertaining the
time of distant places. Not long afterward the government of the United
Provinces of the Netherlands offered ten thousand florins for similar
information, and, in 1714, the parliament of Great Britain passed an act
proffering a gift of money to any person who should discover the best
means of ascertaining longitude.

[99] Joam II. of Portugal reigned from 1481 to 1495.

“Astrolabes designed for the determination of time and geographical
latitudes by meridian altitudes, and capable of being employed at
sea, underwent gradual improvement from the time that the astrolabium
of the Majorican pilots was in use, which is described by Raymond
Lully, in 1295, in his _Arte de navegar_, till the invention of the
instrument made by Martin Behaim, in 1484, at Lisbon, and which was,
perhaps, only a simplification of the meteoroscope of his friend
Regiomontanus.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. pp. 630, 631.

[100] Martin Behaim was born in Nuremberg about the year 1459. His
commercial business induced him to visit Portugal about the year
1480, where, it is said, he became a pupil of Johann Müller, known
as Regiomontanus. He accompanied Diogo Cam to the Congo, in 1484. He
afterward resided on the island of Fayal, one of the Azores, for a number
of years. His celebrated terrestrial globe was constructed by him, at
Nuremberg, about the year 1492. He died at Lisbon, on the twenty-ninth of
July, 1506.

[101] Asia de Joam de Barros dos fectos que os Portugueses fizeram no
descobrimento & conquista dos mares & terras do Oriente. Impressa per
Germao Galharde em Lixboa: a xxviij. de Junho anno de m. vᶜ. lij. dec. i.
lib. iv. cap. ii.

[102] Arte de nauegar. Por el maestro Pedro de Medina. Valladolid. 1545.

[103] “I find the first mention of the application of the log in a
passage of Pigafetta’s journal of Magellan’s voyage of circumnavigation,
which long lay buried among the manuscripts in the Ambrosian Library at
Milan. It is there said that in the month of January, 1521, when Magellan
had already arrived in the Pacific, ‘_Seconda la misura che facevamo
del viaggio colla catena a poppa noi percorrevamo da 60 in 70 leghe al
giorno_,’ [following the measure which we made of our progress with
the chain at the stern, we ran from sixty to seventy leagues a day].
(Amoretti. Primo Viaggio intorno al Globo terracqueo ossia Navigazione
fatta dal Cavaliere Antonio Pigafetta sulla squadra del Magaglianes,
1800. p. 46.) What can this arrangement of a chain at the hinder part
of the ship (_catena a poppa_), ‘which we used throughout the entire
voyage to measure the way,’ have been except an apparatus similar to our
log?”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 633.

[104] The Cape of Good Hope is in 34° 22´ south latitude.

It is said that Dias found by the astrolabe that the cape was in 45°
south latitude, and that it was 3,100 leagues distant from Lisbon. This
distance, it is related, Dias set down, league by league, on a marine
chart, which he presented to King John II. Historia General de las
Indias. Bartolomé de las Casas. lib. i. cap. vii.

[105] Cristoforo Colombo was born in the city of Genoa, about the year
1435. His father, Dominico Colombo, was a wool-comber. The navigator
married, in Lisbon, Doña Felipa, the daughter of Bartolomeo Moñis de
Perestrello, a distinguished mariner, who had been in the service of
Prince Henry of Portugal.

Ferdinand Columbus, in his history of the life and achievements of his
father, remarks: “So it is that some, who would cast a cloud upon his
fame, say he was of Nervi, others of Cugureo, and others of Bugiesco,
all small towns near the city of Genoa, and upon its coast. Others, who
wish to exalt him, say he was a native of Savona, others of Genoa, and
others, more vain, make him of Piacenza, in which city there are some
honorable persons of his family and tombs with the arms and inscriptions
of the family of Colombi, this being the common surname of his ancestors,
though he, complying with the customs of the country where he went to
live and begin a new condition of life, altered the word that it might be
like the old name, and designated the direct from the collateral line,
calling himself Colon.... And the surname of Colon which he revived was
appropriate, which in Greek signifies a member, and his Christian name
being Christopher, designate him as being a member of Christ, by whom
salvation was conveyed to those Indian people.”—Histoire del Signore Don
Fernando Colombo. cap. 1.

[106] Fernando Colombo, an illegitimate son of the admiral, was born in
Cordova about the year 1487. After his father’s discovery of the New
World, he was made page to Prince Juan, the son of King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella. He accompanied his father in his fourth voyage, in 1502,
and after the latter’s death, sailed twice to the West Indies. He was
excellently educated, and was the author of several works. His library,
it is said, contained more than twenty thousand books and manuscripts,
which, after his death, became the property of the cathedral of Seville.
The manuscript of his history of the life of his father was lost before
the work appeared in Spanish. It is said that Luis Colon, duke of
Veragua, a dissipated grandson of the navigator, went to Genoa about
the year 1568, taking Fernando’s manuscript with him, and placed it in
the hands of Baltano de Fornari, by whom it was transferred to Giorgio
Baptista Marini, who had it translated into Italian, after which it was
printed in Venice in this language, and also in Latin. Alfonso de Ulloa’s
Italian translation of it was published, in Venice, in 1571, entitled
Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo; nelli quali s’ ha particolare, &
vera relatione della vita, & de’ fatti dell’ Ammiraglio D. Cristoforo
Colombo, suo padre. There are several English translations of Fernando
Colombo’s history. _Vide_ Collection of voyages and travels by [A. & J.]
Churchhill. London, 1732. vol. ii. pp. 499-628. Pinkerton’s Collection of
voyages and travels. London, 1819. vol. ii. pp. 1-155.

[107] Columbus, in his investigations, no doubt, became informed
concerning the arguments advanced by the Greek astronomer, Anaximander,
in the sixth century before the Christian era, respecting the globular
form of the earth. He evidently read what Aristotle wrote in the fifth
century of the Christian era: “As to the figure of the earth, it must
necessarily be spherical.... And, moreover, from the visible phenomena,
for if it were not so, the eclipses of the moon would not have such
sections as they have. For in the configurations in the course of a
month, the deficient part takes all different shapes; it is straight, and
concave, and convex; but in eclipses it always has the line of division
convex; wherefore, since the moon is eclipsed in consequence of the
interposition of the earth, the periphery of the earth must be the cause
of this by having a spherical form. And again, from the appearance of
the stars, it is clear not only that the earth is round, but that its
size is not very great; for when we go a little distance to the south or
to the north, the circle of the horizon becomes palpably different, so
that the stars overheard undergo a great change, and are not the same to
those that travel to the north and to the south. For some stars are seen
in Egypt and at Cyprus, but are not seen in the countries north of them;
and the stars that in the north are visible while they make a complete
circuit there [in Egypt and at Cyprus], undergo a setting. So that from
this it is manifest, not only that the form of the earth is round, but
also that it is not a very large sphere; for otherwise the difference
would not be so obvious to persons making so small a change of place.
Wherefore we may judge that those persons who connect the region in the
neighborhood of the Pillars of Hercules with that toward India, and
who assert that in this way the sea is one, do not assert things very
improbable. They confirm this conjecture, moreover, by elephants, which
are said to be of the same species toward each extreme of the earth, as
if this circumstance was a consequence of the conjunction of the extreme
parts. The mathematicians, who try to calculate the measure of the
circumference, make it amount to 400,000 stadia; whence we infer that the
earth is not only spherical, but that it is not large compared with the
magnitude of the other stars,”—De Cœlo. lib. ii. cap. xiv.

[108] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. v.

[109] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. iv.

[110] Iceland lies between 63° 24´ and 66° 33´ north latitude.

[111] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. iv.

[112] The Azores or Western Islands, about eight hundred miles west of
Portugal, lie in an oblique line, northwest and southeast, between 36°
50´ and 39° 50´ north latitude and 24° 30´ and 31° 20´ west longitude.
The Azores, frequently called Terceiras, were discovered in 1439 by Josua
van der Berg, a Flemish merchant, who was carried in his ship to them
in a storm. They were named Açores from the number of goshawks found on
them. They were not inhabited when discovered.

[113] The Cape Verd Islands, three hundred and twenty miles west of Cape
Verd on the west coast of Africa, lie between 14° 45´ and 17° 13´ north
latitude and between 22° 45´ and 25° 25’ west longitude.

[114] Claudius Ptolemæus, an Egyptian astronomer and geographer, lived,
in the second century at Alexandria. His System of Geography, (Γεωγραφική
Ἀφήγησις,) contained in eight books, was a standard work for fourteen
centuries. During the first part of the sixteenth century twenty-one
editions of the geography, with editions and emendations, were published.
According to Ptolemy, all the known part of the earth, from the first
meridian, or the Canary Islands, eastwardly, on the parallel of Rhodes,
measured seventy-two thousand stadia, or one hundred and eighty degrees,
which he deemed to be the half of the circumference of the globe. But
the extent he was acquainted with was really measured by one hundred and
twenty degrees, which made the circumference one third less than it is.

Marinus of Tyre, a Greek geographer, lived about 150 A.D. This
cosmographer supposed that the country of the Seres, or Sinae (China),
the farthest part of India known to the ancients, was fifteen hours, by
the course of the sun, or two hundred and twenty-five degrees east of the
first meridian passing through the Fortunate (Canary) Islands. According
to our present geographical measurements, the distance given by Marinus
was not more than one hundred and thirty degrees, leaving two hundred
and thirty the remaining distance from China eastwardly to the Canary
Islands. Following the deductions of Marinus, there were only one hundred
and thirty-five degrees of distance between China, going eastwardly, and
the Fortunate Islands.

[115] “Marinus, the Tyrian, misled by the length of time occupied in
the navigation from Myos Hormos to India, by the erroneously assumed
direction of the major axis of the Caspian from west to east, and by
the over-estimation of the length of the land route to the country of
the Seres, gave the old continent a breadth of 225°, instead of 129°.
The Chinese coast was thus advanced to the Sandwich Islands. Columbus
naturally preferred this result to that of Ptolemy, according to which
Quinsay should have been found in the meridian of the eastern part of the
archipelago of the Carolinas. Ptolemy, in the Almagest (ii. 1), places
the coast of Sinae at 180°, and in his Geography (lib. i. cap. 12) at
177¼°.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 645. Note.

[116] Alfraganius or Al Fergani, an Arabian astronomer, lived in the
earlier part of the ninth century.

[117] Medea, act. ii.

Lucius Annæus Seneca, a Stoic philosopher and tragic poet, was born at
Corduba, Spain, about 5 B.C., and died 65 A.D.

Tiphys was the name of the pilot of the ship of the Argonauts.

Thule, an island in the extreme part of Northern Europe, as known in the
time of Ptolemy. The island is supposed by some to have been the Shetland
Islands, by others the Faroe group, and by others Iceland.

[118] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. vi, vii.

[119] Porto Santo, a small island northeast of the island of Madeira.

[120] The island of Madeira (Wood) lies off the west coast of Africa,
between 32° 37´ and 32° 52´ north latitude and 16° 38´ and 17° 16´ west
longitude. It is thirty-four miles long. The island of Porto Santo is
twenty-five miles northeast of it.

[121] Various fictions were current in the middle ages respecting the
situation of the island of the Seven Cities, and a number of expeditions
went in search of it with unsuccessful results. Mercator, Ortelius, and
Locke place the island in 28° north latitude.

[122] Thucydides, a Greek historian, born B.C. 471.

[123] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. ix, x.

[124] “Paolo Toscanelli was so greatly distinguished as an astronomer
that Behaim’s teacher, Regiomontanus, dedicated to him, in 1463, his
work, _De Quadratura Circuli_, directed against the Cardinal Nicolaus
de Cusa. He constructed the great gnomon in the church of Santa Maria
Novella at Florence, and died in 1482, at the age of eighty-five, without
having lived long enough to enjoy the pleasure of learning the discovery
of the Cape of Good Hope by Diaz, and of the tropical part of the new
continent by Columbus.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 644.
Note.

[125] Zacton, in China, is now called Tsiuenchau. “At this city” says
Marco Polo, “is the haven of Zayton, frequented by all of the ships from
India, ... and by all the merchants of Manzi, for hither is imported the
most astonishing quantity of goods and of precious stones and pearls....
For it is one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce.”—Ser
Marco Polo. Yule. Second ed. vol. ii. p. 186. On Ruysch’s map of 1508,
Zaiton is placed on the east coast of China, west of the island of Cuba.
_Vide_ map.

[126] The city is now called Hangchau, and is in the province of
Chehkiang. As described by Marco Polo, the city was “the finest and the
noblest in the world.”—Ser Marco Polo. Yule. Second ed. vol. ii. p. 145.
Quinsai on Ruysch’s map of 1508, is northwest of Zaiton.

[127] Antonio Pigafetta, in his Treatise on navigation, written about
the year 1523, says: “The circumference of the earth is supposed to be
divided into three hundred and sixty degrees, and to each degree are
assigned seventeen leagues and a half; the circumference of the earth is
consequently six thousand three hundred leagues. The land league is three
miles, the sea league is four.”—MS. in Ambrosian library, Milan.

[128] Cipango (Japan), now called by the natives Dai Nippon or Dai
Nihon, is a group of islands lying between the twenty-third and fiftieth
parallels of north latitude and the one hundred and twenty-second and one
hundred and fifty-third meridians of east longitude.

[129] From Lisbon, Spain, in 38° 42´ north latitude and 9° 8´ west
longitude (first meridian at Greenwich), to Tokio, Japan, in 35° 40´
north latitude and 139° 40´ east longitude, the westward distance is
about eleven thousand six hundred statute miles; and from Lisbon to
Peking, China, in 39° 56´ north latitude and 116° 27´ east longitude,
about twelve thousand one hundred miles. From Liverpool, England, to New
York, on the sailing route, the distance is about three thousand and
twenty-three miles, and from New York to Canton, China, _via_ the Isthmus
of Panama and the Sandwich Islands, the distance is about ten thousand
six hundred miles.

“As the old continent, from the western extremity of the Iberian
peninsula [Portugal], to the coast of China, comprehends almost 130°
of longitude, there remain about 230° for the distance which Columbus
would have had to traverse if he wished to reach Cathai (China); but
less if he only desired to reach Zipangi (Japan). This difference of
230°, which I have indicated, depends on the position of the Portuguese
Cape St. Vincent (11° 20´ W. of Paris), and the far projecting part of
the Chinese coast, near the then celebrated port of Quinsay, so often
named by Columbus and Toscanelli (lat. 30° 28´, long. 117° 47´ E. of
Paris).... The distance of Cape St. Vincent from Zipangi (Niphon) is 22°
of longitude less than Quinsay, therefore about 209° instead of 230°
53´.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 264. Note.

[130] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. viii.

[131] Diego Ortiz de Cazadilla, bishop of Ceuta.

[132] This conclave of the learned men of Spain held its meetings in the
Dominican convent of St. Stephen, in Salamanca.

[133] “But as to the fable that there are antipodes—that is to say, men
on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to
us—men who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground
credible. And, indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learned
by historical knowledge, but by scientific conjecture, on the ground
that the earth is suspended within the concavity of the sky, and that
it has as much room on the one side of it as on the other; hence they
say that the part which is beneath must be inhabited. But they do not
remark that, although it be supposed or scientifically demonstrated
that the world is of a round and spherical form, yet it does not follow
that the other side of the earth is bare of water; nor even, though it
be bare, does it immediately follow that it is peopled. For Scripture,
which proves the truth of its historical statements by the accomplishment
of its prophecies, gives no false information; and it is too absurd to
say that some men might have taken ship and traversed the whole wide
ocean, and crossed from this side of the world to the other, and that
thus even the inhabitants of that distant region are descended from the
first man.”—Sancti Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis episcopi operum. Tomus
Septimus. Antwerpiæ. 1700. De Civitate Dei. lib. xvi. cap. ix. The works
of Aurelius Augustine, bishop of Hippo. Trans. by the Rev. Marcus Dods.
Edinburgh. 1871.

Lactantius, another theologian, in the fourth century, argued in the same
way: “Is it possible that men can be so absurd as to believe that the
plants and trees on the other side of the earth hang downward, and that
men there have their feet higher than their heads? If you ask of them how
they defend these monstrosities, how things do not fall away from the
earth on that side, they reply that the nature of things is such that
heavy bodies tend toward the centre, like the spokes of a wheel, while
light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from the centre it toward the
heavens on all sides. Now I am really at a loss what to say of those who,
when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere in their folly and
defend one absurd opinion by another.”—Div. Institutiones. lib. iii.

[134] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xi, xii.

[135] In a letter, addressed to the king and queen describing his fourth
voyage, Columbus remarks: “For seven years I was at your royal court,
where every one to whom the enterprise was mentioned treated it as
ridiculous, but now there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who
does not beg to be allowed to become a discoverer.”—Coleccion de los
viages y descubrimientos, que hicieron por mar los Españoles desde fines
del siglo xv., por Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete. Madrid, 1825. tom.
i. p. 311.

Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xiii, xiv, xv.

[136] “_Tengo propósito de hacer carta nueva de navegar, en la cual
situaré toda la mar y tierras del mar Océano en sus propios lugares
debajo su viento; y mas componer un libro, y poner todo por el semejante
por pintura, por latitud del equinocial y longitud del Occidente, y sobre
todo cumple mucho que yo olvide el sueño y tiente mucho el navegar porque
asi cumple, las cuales serán gran trabajo._”—Coleccion de los viages y
descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom. i. pp. 1-3.

[137] Columbus, speaking of the progress of the ship, on the
twenty-fourth of October, remarks: “I carried all the sail of the ship,
the mainsail, and two bonnets, the foresail, and the spritsail, and
the mizzen and the main-top-sail. _Llevaba todas mis velas de la nao,
maestra, y dos bonetas, y trinquete, y cebadera, y mezana, y vela de
gavia._” A bonnet was a sail placed beneath the mainsail in fine weather
to increase the speed of a ship.

[138] On the pavement of the cathedral of Seville is inscribed: “_Con
tres galeras y 90 personas_,” with three galleys and ninety persons.

[139] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xvi, xvii.

[140] The island of Ferro is the most westerly of the Canary group. The
Canaries lie off the west coast of Africa, between 27° and 30° north
latitude and 13° and 19° west longitude. The principal islands are:
Teneriffe, Grand Canary, Palma, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gomera, and
Ferro. Through the last island the ancient geographers drew the first
meridian of longitude.

[141] According to Columbus’s statement, 56⅔ miles were equal to a
degree, and four miles to a marine league. It has been assumed that the
Italian mile used in measurements by Columbus equalled 4,842 English
feet, and the Italian marine league 19,368 English feet.—_Vide_ An
attempt to solve the problem of the first landing-place of Columbus in
the New World. By Captain G. V. Fox, Assistant Secretary of the United
States Navy. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Appendix No. 18.
Report for 1880. Washington, 1882. pp. 58, 59.

[142] “On September 13, 1492, he had reached far enough to the westward
to come from a previously eastern declination within a region of westerly
declination, and that on September 17 it amounted to a whole point
(11¼°).” This constitutes his well-known discovery of a part of a line
of no-declination. “Two hundred and twenty-four leagues or, near enough
for our purpose, 672 nautical miles, west of the island of Gomera would
place him on September 13, in latitude 28° 06´ north, and in longitude
12° 42´ + 17° 08´ = 29° 50´, according to Bowditch, or if we take the
position of the harbor of Sebastian near the eastern point of Gomera
Island, according to admiralty chart No. 1873, viz.: latitude 28° 05´ 5
and longitude 17° 06´ 3 and considering that 11° 12´ correspond to 12°
42´ of difference of longitude in that latitude, we have for a point in
the line of no-declination the latitude of 28° 05´ and longitude 29° 48´.
In E. Walker’s treatise on Terrestrial and Cosmical Magnetism, Cambridge
(England), 1866, p. 300, we read: ‘The history of this line dates from
the 13th of September, 1492, when Columbus observed the needle pass
from the east to the west of the meridian, in latitude 28° N. longitude
28° W. (probably roughly adding 11° of difference of longitude to 17°
for longitude of Gomera). According to my computation of the daily
position of the Admiral’s flagship, and based upon his log-book, he was
on September 13 in latitude 28° 21´ longitude 29° 16´.... According to
my computation of the daily track, Columbus was on September 17, 1492,
in latitude 27° 38´ and in longitude 36° 30´, when he noted 11° west
declination.”—An inquiry into the variation of the compass off the Bahama
Islands, at the time of the landfall of Columbus in 1492. By Charles A.
Schott. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Appendix No. 19. Report
for 1880. Washington, 1882. p. 5.

“Christopher Columbus has not only the merit of being the first to
discover _a line without magnetic_ variation, but also of having excited
a taste for the study of terrestrial magnetism in Europe, by means of
his observations on the progressive increase of western declination in
receding from that line.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 656.

[143] “Men also became acquainted with those great banks of sea-weed
(_Fucus natans_),—the oceanic meadows which presented the singular
spectacle of the accumulation of a social plant over an extent of space
almost seven times greater than the area of France. The _great Fucus
Bank_, the _Mar de Sargasso_, extends between 19° and 34° north latitude.
The major axis is situated about 7° west of the island of Corvo. The
_lesser Fucus Bank_ lies in a space between the Bermudas and the Bahamas.
Winds and partial currents variously affect, according to the character
of the season, the length and circumference of these Atlantic fucoid
meadows.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 663.

[144] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xviii, xix.

[145] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xx, xxii.

The discovery of land was made on Friday morning, the twelfth of October,
_old style_. According to the calendar of Julius Cæsar, every fourth
year had three hundred and sixty-six days; the others three hundred and
sixty-five. Pope Gregory XIII. changed this method of reckoning time by
dropping ten days in October, 1582, in order to bring back the day of the
vernal equinox to the same day, in the year 325, in which the council
of Nice was convened. By an act of the parliament of Great Britain, in
1751, eleven days, in September, 1752, were dropped, and the third day of
the month was reckoned the fourteenth of the _new style_. This mode of
reckoning time is called the _new style_.

[146] Bartolomé de las Casas was born at Seville, in 1474. In 1502 he
made his first voyage to the New World, and quitted its shores for the
last time in 1547. His history of the Indies,—Historia general de las
Indias,—written between the years 1527 and 1562, was not printed until
1875-’76, when it was issued, in five volumes, at Madrid. Before his
death, in 1566, he gave the manuscript of this work to the convent of
San Gregorio, at Valladolid, with the request that it should not be
published for forty years. A manuscript in Las Casas’s hand-writing,
apparently an abridgment of Columbus’s journal of his first voyage, which
the former evidently had made while obtaining material for his history
of the Indies, was found by Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, the Spanish
historian, in the archives of Spain, when making, about the year 1790,
researches for information respecting the marine history of Spain.

[147] This island is believed by Munoz to be Watling Island; by
Navarrete, Grand Turk Island; by Humboldt and Irving, Cat Island. The
Bahamas lie between the island of Hayti or San Domingo and the east coast
of Florida, or between 21° and 27° 30´ north latitude and 70° 30´ and
79° 5´ west longitude. The principal islands of the group are the Grand
Bahama, Great and Little Abaco, Andros, New Providence, San Salvador, Rum
Cay, Great Exuma, Watling, Long, Crooked, Atwood’s Key, Great and Little
Magua islands.

The identity of the island is discussed at some length by Captain G. V.
Fox, of the United States Navy, who remarks: “The study that I gave to
the subject in the winter of 1878-’79 in the Bahamas, which had been
familiar cruising-ground to me, has resulted in the selection of Samana
or Atwood Cay for the first landing-place. It is a little island, 8.8
miles east and west, 1.6 extreme breadth, and averaging 1.2 north and
south. It has 8.6 square miles. The east end is in latitude 23° 05´ N.;
longitude, 73° 37´ west of Greenwich.... Turk is smaller than Samana,
and Cat very much longer.”—An attempt to solve the problem of the first
landing-place of Columbus in the New World. By Captain G. V. Fox, United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Appendix No. 18. Report for 1880.
Washington, 1882. pp. 43, 44.

[148] F and Y: Fernando and Ysabel.

[149] The real position of this island, in respect to that of Ferro, is
E. 5° N. The port of Ferro is in latitude 27° 46´ 2´´ N. and longitude
17° 54´ 2´´ W.

[150] _Vide_ Personal narrative of the first voyage of Columbus to
America. From a manuscript recently discovered in Spain. Translated from
the Spanish. [By Samuel Kettell.] Boston, 1827. pp. 33-38.

Historia general de las Indias. Por Bartolomé de las Casas. lib. 1. cap.
xxxix-xli. Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom. 1.

[151] A coin of less value than a mill.

[152] From this point, says Humboldt, as related by Columbus’s friend,
the Cura de los Palacios, “he proposed, if he had provision enough ‘to
continue his course westward, and to return to Spain, either by water, by
way of Ceylon (Taprobane) _rodeando todo la tierra de los Negros_, or by
land, through Jerusalem and Jaffa.’ ... See the important manuscript of
Andres Bernaldez, Cura de la villa de los Palacios (Historia de los Reyes
Catolicos, cap. 123). This history comprises the years from 1488 to 1513.
Bernaldez had received Columbus into his house, in 1496, on his return
from his second voyage.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. p. 640,
and note.

[153] The real distance is said to be eleven hundred and five
leagues.—_Vide_ Personal narrative of the first voyage of Columbus to
America. [Kettell.] pp. 38-73.

[154] Historia general de las Indias. Las Casas. cap. xlvi. Coleccion de
los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom. 1.

[155] An arroba is equal to twenty-five pounds.

[156] Las Casas remarks: “From what he here relates, it appears that had
he proceeded farther northerly he would undoubtedly, in two more days,
have discovered Florida.”—MS. of Las Casas. _Vide_ Personal narrative of
the first voyage of Columbus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 73-86.

[157] Letter of Columbus to Rafael (or Gabriel) Sanchez, dated Lisbon,
March 14, 1493.

[158] “Only 21° of latitude.”—Navarrete.

[159] A blank space in the original.

[160] The island of Cuba lies between 19° 50´ and 23° 10´ north latitude,
and 74° 7´ and 84° 58´ west longitude. Florida is about one hundred and
thirty miles north of Cuba.

[161] The argument of Las Casas concerning the heat at forty-two degrees
north latitude is invalidated by Columbus’s reasons for not sailing
farther to the north. In his letter to Rafael Sanchez he says: “Finding
myself proceeding toward the north, which I was desirous to avoid _on
account of the cold_, and, moreover, meeting with a contrary wind, I
determined to return to the south.” It would seem that Columbus was
unable to satisfy his own doubts respecting the latitude of the places
in the North to which he had sailed. If he had not mentioned that he was
in doubt respecting the working condition of his quadrant, the question
of his sailing as far north as the forty-second parallel would be an
important matter for geographical discussion. Navarrete says: “The
quadrants of that time measured the double altitude, and consequently the
forty-two degrees which Columbus says he was distant from the equator
are to be reduced to twenty-one north latitude, which is the parallel to
which he had sailed.”—_Vide_ Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos.
Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 44, 47, 62. Personal narrative of the first voyage
of Columbus to America. [Kettell.] p. 95.

[162] Ferdinand Columbus says the admiral called the island of Cuba,
Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, heir of Castile.—_Vide_ Histoire del S.
D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xxvi.

[163] The island of Española, which the natives called Haiti, lies
between 17° 36´ and 19° 59´ north latitude, and 68° 20´ and 74° 38´ west
longitude. It is about fifty miles east-southeast of Cuba and about
seventy-five west-northwest of Porto Rico. It is now called Hayti or San
Domingo.

[164] Apparently the original name of Jamaica. The island of Jamaica is
about eighty-five miles from Cuba.

[165] On the twenty-first of November, 1492, Martin Alonso Pinzon, in the
Pinta, had left the other vessels and remained away from them until the
sixth of January, 1493.

[166] MS. of Las Casas.—_Vide_ Personal narrative of the first voyage of
Columbus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 86-205.

[167] Columbus’s letter to Rafael Sanchez.

[168] Columbus’s letter to Rafael Sanchez.

[169] MS. of Las Casas.—_Vide_ Personal narrative of the first voyage of
Columbus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 215-222.

[170] Martin Alonso Pinzon had previously arrived in Galicia.

[171] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xli, xlii.

[172] Epistola Christofori Colom: cui etas nostra multu debit: de Insulis
Indie supra Gangem nuper inuētis. Ad quas perqrendas octauo antea mense
auspicies & ere invictissimor’ Fernãdi & Helisabet Hispaniar’ Regu
missus fuerat: ad magnificum dum Gabrielem Sanchis eorundē Serenissimor’
Regum Tesaurariu missa: quiā nobilis ac literatus vir Leander de Cosco
ab Hispano ideomate in latinum cōuertit tertio kal’s Maii m.cccc.xciii
Pontificatus Alexandri Sexti anno primo.

A letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our age is greatly indebted,
respecting the islands of India lately found beyond the Ganges. In
search of which he was sent eight months ago under the auspices and at
the expense of the most invincible Ferdinand and Isabella, sovereigns of
Spain. Sent to the magnificent lord, Gabriel Sanchez, treasurer of the
same most serene king, and which the noble and learned man, Leander de
Cosco, translated from the Spanish idiom into Latin. The third day of the
calends of May, 1493. Pontificate of Alexander VI., first year.

[173] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xlii.

[174] Tratado, que compōs o nobre & notauel capitão Antonio Galuão.

[175] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xlvi.

[176] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xlvi, xlvii.

[177] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. l.

[178] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. li.

[179] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. liii-lviii.

[180] “_Que esta tierra de Cuba fuesa la tierra firme al comienzo de
las Indias y fin á quien en estas partes quisiere venir de España por
tierra._”

[181] Informacion del escribano publico. Fernando Perez de Luna.
Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos de los Espagñoles. tom. ii. pp.
143, 149.

[182] In August, 1495, Peter Martyr, writing to Cardinal Bernardino,
says: “Columbus asserts that this region is the continent of the Ganges
of India,—_Indiæ Gangetidis continentem eam esse plagam contendit
Colonus_.”—Opvs, epistolaru Petri Martyris Anglerii Mediolanēsis
Protonotarij Aplici atque a cōsilijs reru Indicaru: nuc pmu et natu y
mediocri cura excursum: quod q dē preterstili venustatē, nostroru quoque
tēporum histori loco esse poterit. Cōpluti Anno dni MDXXX.

[183] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lviii-lxiv.

[184] Columbus writing from Española in October, 1498, says: “Each time
that I sail from Spain to India, as soon as I have proceeded about
a hundred nautical miles to the west of the Azores, I perceive an
extraordinary alteration in the movement of the heavenly bodies, in the
temperature of the air, and in the character of the sea. I have observed
these alterations with especial care, and I notice that the mariner’s
compass, whose declination had hitherto been northeast, was now changed
to northwest; and when I had crossed this line, as if in passing the
brow of a hill, I found the ocean covered with such a mass of sea-weed,
similar to small branches of pine covered with pistachio nuts, that we
were apprehensive that for want of a sufficiency of water our ships would
run upon a shoal. Before we reached the line of which I speak, there was
no trace of any such sea-weed. On the boundary line, one hundred miles
west of the Azores, the ocean is found still and calm, being scarcely
ever moved by a breeze. On my passage from the Canary Islands to the
parallel of Sierra Leone, we had to endure a frightful degree of heat,
but as soon as we had crossed the above-mentioned line, the climate
changed, the air became temperate, and the freshness increased the
farther we proceeded.”

“It is evident that the extract from the third voyage is but an
amplification of his first account, and expresses his conviction that
west of the Azores, where the declination was a little easterly, it
changed to the westward, being nearly zero at Corvo, and gradually
increasing to one point or 11° W., at a distance of 300 nautical miles
W. of the longitude of Corvo. The position of Rosario on the S.E. part
of the island of Corvo is, according to the _Carta Esferica de las Islas
Azores_, Madrid, 1855, in latitude 39° 41´ and longitude 24° 53´ west of
San Fernando, or in 31° 07´ west of Greenwich (according to the _Conn.
des Temps_), 100 leagues or 300 nautical miles west of this longitude
would correspond (in latitude 28°) to 5° 40´, and would bring the
Columbus line in longitude 36° 47´ W.”—An inquiry into the variation of
the compass off the Bahama Islands at the land fall of Columbus in 1492.
By Charles A. Schott. p. 51.

[185] Histoire del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lxiv.

“The necessity for attaching a special and well-informed astronomer
to every great expedition was so generally felt that Queen Isabella
wrote to Columbus on the 5th of September, 1493, ‘that although he had
shown in his undertakings that he knew more than any other living being
(_que ninguno de los nacidos_), she counselled him, nevertheless, to
take with him Fray Antonio de Marchena, as being a learned and skillful
astronomer.’ Columbus writes in the narrative of his fourth voyage that
‘there was only one infallible method of taking a ship’s reckoning,
viz., that employed by astronomers. He who understands it may rest
satisfied; for that which it yields is like unto a prophetic vision
(_vision profetica_). Our ignorant pilots, when they have lost sight of
land for several days know not where they are. They would not be able
to find the countries again which I have discovered. To navigate a ship
requires the compass (_compas y arte_) and the knowledge or art of the
astronomer.’”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. pp. 671-673.

[186] “That any individual among our subjects and natives, that desires,
may go hereafter (according to our pleasure and will) to discover islands
and the mainland in the said part of the aforesaid Indies, either to
those already discovered or to any other, and to traffic in them,
provided it be not in the aforesaid island of Española. He may buy from
the Christians there or from those who may hereafter be there any article
and merchandise, provided it be not gold; and this he may and shall do
with any suitable ship, provided that at the time he leaves our kingdom
he depart from the city of Cadiz, and there present himself before our
officers. And they must carry thence in each of such vessels one or two
persons named by our officers.... And it is our will and pleasure that
of all which the said persons shall find in the aforesaid islands and
mainland they shall have for themselves nine parts, and the tenth shall
be our part.”—_Vide_ Memorials of Columbus; or a collection of authentic
documents of that celebrated navigator. London, 1823. pp. 88-95.

[187] Amerigo Vespucci, the third son of Anastasio Vespucci and
Elizabetta Mina, was born in Florence, March 9, 1451. In his boyhood he
attended the school taught by his uncle, Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a monk
of the order of St. Mark. About the year 1493 Vespucci went to Seville,
and engaged in the business of furnishing and equipping vessels for
voyages of discovery. He died in Seville, February 22, 1512.—_Vide_ The
life and voyages of Americus Vepucius. By C. Edwards Lester and Andrew
Foster. New York, 1846. Amerigo Vespucci. Son caractère, ses écrits
(même les moins authentiques), sa vie, et ses navigations, par F. A. de
Varnhagen. Lima, 1865.

[188] _Vide_ Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima.—A description of works
relating to America published between the years 1492 and 1551. [By Henry
Harrisse.] New York, 1866. pp. 55-68.

[189] “_Electo per sua alteza che io fussi in essa flocta per adiutare a
discoprire._”

[190] “_Partimo del porto di Calis adi 10 maggio_, 1497.”

[191] Likely the double altitude, and therefore eight degrees of north
latitude, or near the mouths of the Orinoco River.

[192] “_Una terra, ch’ la giudica’mo essere terra ferma: la quale dista
dalle isole d’Canaria piu allo occidente a circha di mille leghe fuora
dello habitato d’ rento della torrida zona: perche trouva’mo el polo del
septentrione al zare fuora del suo orizonte 16. gradi, & piu occide’tale
che le isole di Canaria, seco’do che mostrouano e nostri instrumenti 75.
gradi._”

[193] “_Nauiga’mo per el maestrale, che cosi sicorreua la costa sempre a
uista di terra._”

In Italy the different points of the compass were designated by the
winds: North, _tramontana_; northeast, _greco_; east, _levante_;
southeast, _sirocco_; south, _ostro_; southwest, _libeccio_; west,
_ponente_; northwest, _maestro_ or _maestrale_.

[194] Evidently the Gulf of Coquibacoa, called shortly afterward by the
Spaniards the Gulf of Venezuela—the Gulf of Little Venice.—_Vide_ Juan de
la Cosa’s map in the cover-pocket.

[195] “_Questa terra sta dentro del la torrida zona giuntamente, o di
basso del paralello, che descriue el tropico di cancer: doue alza el polo
dello orizonte 23 gradi nel fine del secondo clyma._”

[196] “_Tanto che corremo dessa 870 leghe tutta uerso el maestrale._”

The end of the second climate was at 8° 25´ north latitude. Ptolemy,
the geographer, divided the surface of the globe, from the equator to
the sixty-sixth parallel, into zones, called climates, to represent the
successive increase of fifteen minutes in the length of a mid-summer day.
The first climate extended to 4° 15´, on the north side of the equator;
the second, from 4° 15´ to 8° 25´; and the third, to 12° 30´.

[197] “_Noi alsi facemo uela p, Spagna con 222 prigioni schiaui: &
giugnemo nel porto di Calis adi 15 doctobre 1498._”

[198] Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuouamente trouate in
quattro suoi viaggi. Primo viaggio.

_Vide_ Amerigo Vespucci. Varnhagen. pp. 34-48. Bibliotheca Americana
Vetustissima. [Harrisse.] pp. 55-68, 149, 150.

[199] _Vide_ Memorials of Columbus. pp. 96, 97.

[200] At this time, says Ferdinand Columbus, “in order that Don Diego, my
brother, and I, who had served as pages to Prince Juan, who was now dead,
might not suffer by his delays or be absent from court until the time of
his departure, he [the admiral] sent us, on the second of November, 1497,
from Seville, to serve as pages to her majesty, Queen Isabella.”

[201] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lxv.

[202] Although, according to Ferdinand Columbus’s statement, his father
called the firm land (or rather an island) at the mouths of the Orinoco
River, Isla Santa (Holy Island), Columbus really called the continent, La
Tierra de Gracia (Land of Grace).

[203] Letter from the island of Española.—_Vide_ Select letters of
Christopher Columbus, with other original documents relating to his four
voyages to the New World. Translated and edited by R. H. Major. London,
1870. Second edition. Hakluyt Society pub.

[204] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lxv-lxxiii.

[205] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lxxiv-lxxxvii.

[206] Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci. Secundo viaggio.—_Vide_ Historie
del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lxxxiv. Coleccion de los viages y
descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom. iii. pp. 4-9; 543-545.

In December, 1499, Vincente Yañez Pinzon sailed from Palos, and came in
sight of the coast of Brazil at a point of land which he called Cabo
Santa Maria de la Consolacion. The same month Diego de Lepe sailed from
Palos and made discoveries south of this cape. Rodrigo de Bastidas sailed
from Cadiz in October, 1500, and explored the coast of Paria westward to
the isthmus of Darien.

[207] Nueva España (New Spain), was the name which the Spaniards gave to
Yucatan and Mexico when they first explored these countries.

[208] Mar del Sur, the early Spanish name for the Pacific Ocean.

[209] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lxxxviii-xc.

[210] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xcii.

[211] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xciv-xcvi.

[212] _Vide_ Select letters of Christopher Columbus. Major.

[213] Columbus, in his letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, from
Jamaica, dated July 7, 1503, says: “This is the account I have to give of
my voyage. The men who accompanied me were a hundred and fifty in number,
among whom were many considered to be pilots and good sailors, but none
of them can explain whither I went nor whence I came. The explanation is
simply this: I sailed from a point above the port of Brazil, and while I
was in Española, a storm prevented me from following my intended route,
for I was compelled to go wherever the wind drove me. At the same time
I became very sick, and there was no one who had sailed in these parts
before. However, after some days the wind and sea became tranquil, but
there were rapid currents. I put into a harbor at the island called
Isla de las Bocas, and afterward steered for Tierra-firme. However, it
is impossible to give a correct account of all our movements, for I was
carried away by the current for many days without seeing land.

“I ascertained, notwithstanding, by the compass and by observation, that
I was running parallel with the coast of Tierra-firme. No one could tell
under what part of the heavens we were, nor at what time I changed my
course for the island of Española. The pilots thought we had arrived at
the island of St. John, whereas it was the land of Mango, four hundred
leagues westward of the place mentioned by them. Let them answer and say
if they know where Veragua is situated. I assert that they can give no
other information than that they went to lands where there was plenty of
gold, and this they can surely affirm; but they do not know the way to
return there for it. They would be obliged to go on a voyage of discovery
as if they had never been there before. There is a way of reckoning [the
course and distance sailed] derived from astronomy which is trustworthy
and safe, and a sufficient guide to any one who understands it. This
resembles prophetic vision.

“The vessels of India do not sail except with the wind abaft. This is
done, not because they are badly built or clumsy, but because the strong
currents in those parts, together with the wind, make it impracticable
for them to sail with the bowline (_con bolina_), for in one day they
would lose as much way as they might have made in seven. For a similar
reason I could not use caravels, even though they were Portuguese
lateens. This is the reason for their [the vessels of India] not
sailing except with a favorable wind, and they will sometimes remain
in port, waiting for one, seven or eight months at a time, nor is this
particularly strange, for the same occurs often in Spain.”—_Vide_ Select
letters of Christopher Columbus. Major.

[214] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xcvii-c.

[215] Letter from Jamaica, July 7, 1503.

[216] Pietro Martire d’Anghiera, commonly called Peter Martyr, a
descendant of an illustrious Milanese family originally from Anghiera,
on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, in upper Italy, was born in 1455
at Arona, on the western border of the lake. He was carried to the
baptismal font by a friar of the Dominican order and christened with the
name of Peter, that of the martyr of 1252, whose feast-day falls on the
twenty-ninth of April. In 1477, he went to Rome to fit himself for the
priesthood. There he became acquainted with the Castilian embassador, the
Count of Tendilla, and was induced to return with him to Spain, in 1487.
From King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella he received a number of honoring
commissions. He followed the royal standard through two campaigns. In
1501 he was sent to Egypt to conciliate the sultan. He returned to Spain
in August, 1502. The mission to Egypt furnished him with some of the
material for his Latin work, entitled: “P. Martyris Angli Mediolanensis
opera Legatio Babylonica, Oceani decas, poemata, epigrammata.” In 1505
he was made prior of the cathedral of Granada. Pope Leo X. honored him
with the office of apostolical prothonotary. As a royal counsellor
in the affairs of the Indies he acquired a very extensive range of
information respecting the early voyages of discovery made to the New
World. His work: “De Orbe Novo Petri Martyris ab Angleria Mediolanensis
protonotarij Cesaris senatoris decades,” contains valuable historical
matter. His letters, eight hundred and more, in the collection entitled
“Opus epistolarum,” the first dated January 1, 1488, the last May, 1525,
throw considerable light upon the numerous facts relating to the voyages
of Columbus and other navigators of his time. His “Legatio Babylonica”
was first printed at Seville (Hispalis) in 1511; his “De Orbe Novo” and
letters at Alcala (Complutum) in 1530. He died in 1525, and was entombed
in the cathedral of Grenada.

[217] “_Quanuis huius Christophori Coloni opinio, magnitudini sphaere
& opinion, veterum de subnauigabili orbe, videatur aduersari, psittaci
tamen inde absportatii atque alia multa, vel propinquitate vel natura
solum Indicum has insulas sapere indicant._”—De Orbe Novo decades. dec.
i. cap. i.

[218] “_Tengo propósito de hacer carta nueva de navegar, en la cual
situaré toda la mar y tierras del mar Océanus en sus propios lugares
debajo su viento._”—Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete.
tom. i. p. 3.

[219] _Vide_ Géographie du moyen âge, etudiée par Joachim Lelewel. Atlas.
Bruxelles, 1850. Orbis typus universalis, 1501-1504. Hydrographia charta
marina Portugalensium. Planche xliii. p. xiii.

[220] Claudii Ptolemei viri Alexandrini mathematicae disciplinae
philosophi doctissimi geographiae opus novissima traductione e Graecorum
archetypis castigatissime pressum: cæteris ante lucubratorum multo
praestantius.... Anno Christi Opt. Max. MDXIII. Marcii xii. Pressus hic
Ptolemæus Argentinae vigilantissima castigatione, industriaque Joannis
Schotti urbis indigenae.

[221] _Vide_ Map: Universalior cogniti orbis tabula ex recentibus
confecta observationibus: in cover-pocket.

The somewhat similar inscriptions on the maps of 1501-1504 and 1513:
“_Hec terra cum ad iacentib’ insulis inuenta est per Columbu ianuensem
ex mandato Regis Castelle._”—This land with the adjacent islands was
discovered by Columbus, a Genoese, by the command of the king of
Spain,—are authoritative declarations that the admiral was the discoverer
of the represented territory.

[222] Ruysch has printed on his map these words on a scroll, on the west
side of Cuba: “HVC VSQ NAVES FERDINADI REGIS HISPANIE PVENERVT,”—As far
as this place the ships of Ferdinand, king of Spain, come.

[223] Juan de la Cosa, in 1493, accompanied Columbus, on his second
voyage, as a cartographer. In 1499 he explored the coast of Paria with
Alonso de Hojeda and Amerigo Vespucci. In November, 1509, he again
sailed with Hojeda to South America, and heroically met his death while
defending himself, when surrounded by a party of assailing savages, in
the village of Yurbaco, in the province called Castilla del Oro by the
Spaniards.

[224] Examen critique de l’histoire de la géographie du nouveau continent
et des progrès de l’astronomie nautique aux quinzième et seizième
siècles. Par Alexandre de Humboldt. Paris, 1836. tome troisième. pp. 167,
174, 183.

[225] _Vide_ Notes on Columbus. [By Henry Harrisse.] New York, 1866. Jean
et Sébastien Cabot, leur origine et leurs voyages. Par Henri Harrisse.
Paris, 1881. pp. 52, 103, 156.

[226] _Vide_ Historical and geographical notes, 1453-1530. By Henry
Stevens. New Haven, 1869. p. 11.

[227] St. Christopher, it is said, after he was baptized by the bishop of
Antioch, took up his abode in a desert, near a rapid stream, over which
he carried travellers on his back. While bearing, one day, a child across
the swollen flood, he discovered that it was the Christ, hence his name
Christophorus, the Christ-bearer.

Speaking of his father’s name, Ferdinand Columbus remarks: “As St.
Christopher is reported to have received that name because he carried
Christ over the deep waters with great danger to himself, whence came
the name of Christopher, and as he conveyed over the people whom no
other could have carried, so Admiral Christophorus Colonus, imploring
the assistance of Christ in that dangerous voyage, went over safely
himself and his company, that those Indian nations might become citizens
and inhabitants of the church triumphant in heaven.”—Historie del S. D.
Fernando Colombo. cap. i.

[228] Abaco is one of the Bahama islands.

[229] La Cosa’s map, on three large sheets of paper, is contained in Les
monuments de la géographie ou recueil d’anciennes cartes européennes et
orientales ... publiés en fac-similé de la grandeur des originaux par
M. Jomard, membre de l’institut de France, Paris. Imprimerie de Beau, a
Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

[230] _Vide_ Section of La Cosa’s map in the cover-pocket.

[231] Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. i. fol. 374.

[232] Little is known concerning the early history of Giovanni Caboto. In
the archives of Venice is the record of his naturalization, dated March
28, 1476, which shows that he had lived in that city more than fifteen
years before the privilege of citizenship was granted to him. Archives of
Venice: Senato Terra 1473-1477. tom. vii. p. 109.

[233] An effaced part of the dispatch.

[234] Archives of Simancas. Capitulaciones con Inglaterra. Legajo ii.
fol. 16.

Calendar of letters, dispatches, and state papers relating to the
negotiations between England and Spain, preserved in the archives of
Simancas and elsewhere. Edited by G. A. Bergenroth. London, 1862. vol. i.
p. 89.

[235] Public Records. Bill number 51.

[236] Hakluyt. vol. iii. pp. 4, 5. Rymer’s Foedera. London, 1727. fols.
595, 596.

[237] The history and antiquities of the city of Bristol. By William
Barrett. 1789. p. 172.

[238] In the privy-purse accounts of King Henry VII. is this entry: “Aug.
10, 1497. To hym that found the new Isle, 10 £.”

[239] Diarii di Marin Sanuto. tom. i. fol. 374. MS. in Marciana library,
Venice.

Calendar of state papers and manuscripts relating to English affairs in
the archives and collections of Venice and other libraries of northern
Italy. Edited by Rawdon Brown. London, 1864. vol. ii. p. 262.

[240] Sforza archives, Milan. Calendar of state papers. London, 1864.
vol. ii. p. 260.

[241] “_Esta tierra fue descubierta por Ioan Caboto Veneciano, y
Sebastian Caboto su hijo, anno del nascimierte de nuestro Saluador Iesu
Christo de m. cccc. xciiii. a ueinte y quatro de lunio por la mannana,
ala qual pusieron nobre prima tierra uista, y a una isla grade que
esta par de la dha tierra, le pusieron nombre sánt Ioan, por auer sido
descubierta el mismo dia._”—Tabla primera. No. 8.

The Latin inscription, which seems to be a translation of the Spanish
one, reads: “_Terram hanc olim nobis clausam, aperuit, Ioannes
Cabotus Venetus, necno Sebastianus Cabotus eius filius, anno ab orbe
redempto 1494. die uero 24. Iuly, hora 5. sub dilùculo, qua terra
primu uisam appellarut & Insula quanda magna ei opposita, Insula diui
Ioannis nominarut, quippe quæ solenni die festo diui Ioannis aperta
fuit._”—Tabula prima. No. 8.

“John Caboto, a Venetian, and also Sebastian Caboto, his son, made the
land accessible which formerly was closed to us, in the year of the
redemption of the world 1494 [1497?], on the twenty-fourth day of July
[June?] at five o’clock in the morning, which land he called the first
seen, _primum visam_, and a large island opposite to it, he named the
island of Saint John, because it was found on the day of the feast of
Saint John.”

[242] “_Sebastian Caboto capitan, y piloto mayor de la S. c. c. m. del
Imperador don Carlos quinto deste nombre, y Rey nuestro sennor hizo esta
figura extensa en plano, anno del nasciemᵒ de nro saluador Iesu Christo
de m.d. xliiii. annos, tirada por grados de latitud y longitud con sus
uientos como carta de marear, imitando en parte al Ptolomeo, y en parte
alos modernos descobridores, asi Espannoles como Portugueses, y parte por
su padre, y por el descubierto._”—Retulo del auctor.

[243] Archives of Milan. Annuario scientifico. Milan, 1866. p. 700.

[244] The thirteenth year of the reign of Henry VII. began on the
twenty-fifth of August, 1497.

[245] “Henry VII., 1498, March 22. To Lanslot Thirkill of London, upon a
Prest for his shipp going towards the new Ilande, £. 20.—Item delivered
to Launcelot Thirkill going towards the new Ile in Prest, £. 20.—April
1. Item to Thomas Bradley and Louncelot Thirkill going to the new Isle,
£. 30.—To John Carter going to the newe Ile in reward 40. s.”—Excerpta
historica. London, 1831. pp. 116, 117.

[246] Public Records. Bill number 6. Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. 5. Memoir of
Sebastian Cabot. [Richard Biddle.] Phila. 1831. pp. 74, 75.

[247] Pedro de Ayala, the Spanish Ambassador, was sent to London in 1497.

[248] Bernardo Buil, a Benedictine monk, who accompanied Columbus on his
second voyage, in 1493, and returned to Spain in 1494.

[249] Archives of Simancas. Tratado con Inglaterra. Leg. ii. Calendar of
letters, dispatches, and state papers. London, 1862. vol. i. pp. 176, 177.

[250] The fourteenth year of the reign of Henry VII. began August 21,
1498, and ended August 21, 1499.

[251] The Chronicle of England, from Brute vnto this present yeare of
Christ 1580. By John Stow. London, 1580. p. 862.

Robert Fabian, from whose work Stow obtained the information concerning
Caboto’s voyage, was the author of the “Chronicle of England and France,”
or, as he called it, “The concordance of stories.” He was born in London
about the year 1450. Besides being an alderman of the city, he was one of
its sheriffs in 1493. He died in London in 1512, and was buried in St.
Michael’s, Cornhill.

[252] “_Quare coactus fuit, uti ait, vela vertere et occidentem isequ
tetenditque tamen ad meridiem, littore sese incurvante, ut Herculei freti
latitudine ferè gradus æquarit ad occidentemque profectus tantum est, ut
Cubam insulam à læua longitudine graduum penè parem habuerit._”

The Strait of Gibraltar (Strait of Hercules) is in 36° north latitude.

[253] Demorgorgon, the spirit of the earth.

[254] The name _bacallaos_, or _baccallaos_, is evidently derived from
the Greek word βάκὴλος, a large, lusty fellow. Names similar to this
appellation were used by the Greeks as early as the third century of the
Christian era. Athenæus, in his work entitled Δειπνοσοφισταί (the learned
men at supper), presents this information respecting certain fish: “They
say that they are usually caught in couples, and that one is always found
following at the tail of the other; and, therefore, from the fact of one
following close on the tail of the other, some ancients call men who are
intemperate and libidinous by the same name.... Euthydemus, in his work
on Cured Fish, says: ‘Some call this fish [the cod] the _bacchus_, and
some the _gelaria_, and some the hake.’”—The Deipnosophists or banquet
of the learned of Athenæus. Literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London,
1854. vol. ii. pp. 442, 496.

Great numbers of the common cod [_morrhua vulgaris_] are annually caught
on the fishing-banks off the coast of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. This
fish is very prolific. It is said that eight millions of eggs have been
counted in the roe of a female cod. Cod are sometimes caught that weigh
ninety pounds.

[255] De Orbe Novo decades. dec. iii. cap. vi.

[256] The birthplace of Sebastian Caboto’s is not definitely known.
Richard Eden, in his translation of the Decades of the New World of Peter
Martyr, says that Sebastiano Caboto told him that he was born at Bristol,
England; and Gasparo Contarini, the embassador of Charles V., avers that
he informed him that Venice was his birthplace. It is conjectured that
he was born about the year 1476. On the twentieth of October, 1512,
Sebastiano Caboto was appointed a sea-captain by King Ferdinand of Spain.
In the service of Charles V., he sailed on the fifth of April, 1526,
to search for a navigable strait along the coast of South America. On
this voyage, in 1527, he explored the Rio de la Plata. In July, 1530,
he returned to Spain. In 1548 he went to England, where he died some
time after the year 1557.—_Vide_ The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West
India. Translated into Englysshe by Richarde Eden. Londoni, 1555. f. 255.
Dispatch of Contarini from Valladolid, December 31, 1522. MS. Marciana
library, Venice. cod. 1019. cart. 281-283. Jean et Sébastien Cabot.
Harrisse. pp. 109-133.

[257] Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias con
todo el descubrimiento y cosas notables que han acaecido dende que se
ganaron ata et año de 1551. [Por Francisco Lopez de Gomara.] Çaragoça,
1552. primera parte. cap. de los Bacallaos.

Francisco Lopez de Gomara was born at Seville in 1510. Hernando Cortes,
on his return to Spain after the conquest of Mexico, made Gomara his
chaplain. Gomara’s General history of the Indies (La historia general
de las Indias), and the Conquest of Mexico and New Spain (La conquista
de Mexico, y de la Nueua España), were first published at Saragossa,
(Çaragoça), Spain, in 1552. Gomara died about the year 1560.

[258] Tratado, que compõs o nobre & notauel capitão Antonio Galuão.

[259] _Terra de Lavrador_, Portuguese: Land of the Farmer.

[260] A Discovrse of a Discouerie for a new Passage to Cataia. Written by
Sir Hvmfrey Gilbert, Knight. Imprinted at London by Henry Middleton for
Richarde Ihones. 1576. sig. D iii.

[261] The eighteenth year of the reign of King Henry VII. began August
21, 1502, and ended August 21, 1503.

[262] Chronicle of England. Stow. p. 875.

[263] Cape Breton Island lies between 45° 27´ and 47° 41´ north latitude.
Its greatest length is one hundred miles, and its greatest breadth
eighty-five miles. The island is isolated from the mainland by the
Strait of Canso, which is twenty-one miles long, and from one mile to
one and a half in width. Cape North is about sixty miles from Cape Ray,
Newfoundland.

[264] The representation of the coast of Cape Breton Island and of Nova
Scotia as trending eastward and westward, as delineated on La Cosa’s
map, evidently exemplifies the incorrect conjecture made by Giovanni
Caboto respecting the situation of the first land seen by him. Columbus’s
delineation of the island of Cuba, as having an east coast that extended
far toward the north, was a similar personal assumption which afterward
was found to be false.

[265] “These regiōs are cauled Terra Florida and Regio Baccalearum or
Bacchallaos of the which you may reade sumwhat in this booke in the vyage
of the woorthy owlde man yet lyuing Sebastiane Cabote, in the vi. booke
of the thyrde Decade. But Cabote touched only in the north corner and
most barbarous parte hereof, from whense he was repulsed with Ise in
the moneth of July. Neuer the lesse, the west and south partes of these
regions haue sence byn better searched by other.”—The Decades of the Newe
Worlde or West India. Eden. The preface to the reader. ci.

[266] “_La gente della andan uestidos de pieles de animales, usan en sus
guèrras arcos, y flechas, lancas, y dardos, y unas porras de palo, y
hondas. Es tierra muy steril, ay en ella muchos orsos plancos, y cieruos
muy grandes como cauallos, y otras muchas animales, y semeiantemete ay
pescado infinito, sollos; salmoes lenguados, muy grandes de uara en largo
y otras muchas diuersidades de pescados, y la mayor multitud dellos se
dizen baccallaos, y asi mismo ay en la dha tierra Halcones prietos como
cueruos Aguillas, Perdices, Pardillas, y otras muchas aues de diuersas
maneras._”—Tabla primera. No. 8.

[267] William Worthington was joined to Sebastiano Caboto in the pension
given by Philip and Mary, May 29, 1557. Rymer. vol. xvi. p. 466. Divers
voyages touching the discouerie of America.

[268] Navigations, voyages, and discoveries, p. 6.

[269] Richard Hakluyt was born at Yatton, England, in 1553. He took a
remarkable interest in geography and navigation, and for a time held
a professor’s chair of these branches at Oxford. In 1582 his “Divers
voyages touching the discouerie of America and Ilands adiacent vnto the
same,” was published in London. He was also the author of “A particular
discourse concerninge the greate necessitie and manifolde comodyties that
are like to growe to this Realme of England by the Westerne discoueries
lately attempted, written in the year 1584.” In 1589, he published his
celebrated work, entitled: The principal navigations, voiages, and
discoveries of the English nation, made by sea or ouer Land, to the most
remote and farthest distant quarters of the earth at any time within
the compasse of these 1500 yeeres. Deuided into three Seuerall parts,
according to the positions of the Regions whereunto they were directed.
This work was further enlarged in 1599 and 1600. He was appointed
prebendary of Westminster in 1605. He died October 23, 1616, and was
buried in Westminster Abbey.

[270] Calicut is on the west coast of India, in 11° 15´ north latitude,
and 75° 50´ east longitude.

Paesi nouamente retrouati. Et Nouo Mondo da Alberico Vesputio
Florentino intitulato. Stampato in Vicentia cu la impressa de Mgrō
Henrico Vicentino: & diligente cura & industria de Zamaria suo fiol nel
mcccccvii. a di iii de Nouember. lib. ii. cap. li-lx. The three voyages
of Vasco da Gama. From the Lendas da India of Gaspar Corvea. Translated
from the Portuguese by Henry E. J. Stanley. London, 1879. Hakluyt. Soc.
pub.

[271] _Vide_ Ruysch’s map of 1508.

[272] Paesi Nouamente retrouati. lib. iii. cap. lxi-lxxxiiii. Raccolta
di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. i. fol. 132-139. Coleccion de los
viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom. iii. pp. 94, 101.

[273] Gaspar Cortereal was the son of João Vaz Cortereal, who, it is
said, had previously made a voyage to the Land of Bacalhão (Terra de
Bacalhão).

[274] Tratado, que compõs o-nobre & notauel capitão Antonio Galuão.

[275] “_Huma terra que por ser muito fresca e de grandes aruoredos
como o sao todas as que jazem pera aquella banda lhe pos nome terra
verde._”—Chronica do felicissimo rei Dom Emanuel. Lisboa, 1566. tomo i.
fol. 65.

[276] Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. iii. fol. 346.

[277] It seems that the writer was ignorant of the fields of the
discoveries of the English in 1497 and 1498. Giovanni Caboto, the
Venetian navigator, no doubt had made the presents found in the
possession of the inhabitants.

[278] Paesi nouamente retrouati. lib. vi. cap. cxxvi.—_Vide_ Letter of
Alberto Cantino. Archives of Modena. Cancelleria ducale. Dispacci dalla
Spagna. Jean et Sébastien Cabot. Harrisse. pp. 262-264.

[279] “_Che fu tenuta a male la mia uenuta da quanti miconosceuano:
perche miparti di Castiglia, doue mi era facto honore, & il re miteneua
i’ buona possessione._”

[280] “_Sta q’sto cauo 8. gradi fuori della linea equinoctiale uerso
laustro._”

[281] “_Tanto fumo uerso laustro, che gia stauamo fuora del tropico di
capricorno: a donde el polo del Meridione salzaua sopra lo Orizonte 32.
gradi: et di gia hauamo perduio del tucto lorsa minore, & la maggiore chi
staua molto bassa, & quasi cisimonstraua al fine delle orizonte._”

[282] André Gonçalves, it is said, had command of the fleet.—_Vide_ O
Brazil no seculo xvi. Estudos de Capistrano de Abreu. Rio de Janeiro,
1880. pp. 9-23.

[283] Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci. Terzo viaggio.—_Vide_ Tratado, que
compõs o nobre & notauel Capitão Antonio Galuão.

[284] Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci. Quarto viaggio.—_Vide_ Chronica do
felicissimo rei Dom Emanuel. Damião de Góes. tomo i. fol. 65.

[285] Ferdinand Columbus gives 1508 as the date of the voyage.

[286] Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas
tierra firme del mar oceano escrita por Antonio de Herrera. Madrid,
1601-1615. dec. i. lib. vi. cap. xvii. Historia del S. D. Fernando
Colombo. cap. lxxxix. Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos.
Navarrete. tom. iii. p. 46.

Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas was born in Cuellar, in Spain, in 1549,
and died in 1625. His General history of the acts of the Spaniards on the
islands and continent of the ocean-sea, is divided into eight decades,
from 1492 to 1554, contained in four volumes, the first one of which was
published in Madrid, in 1601.

[287] Claudius Ptolemy. In hoc opere haec continentvr geographiae
Cl. Ptolemiæi a plurima uiris utriusque linguae doctiss. emēdata: &
cu archetypo graeco ab ipsis collata. Schemata cu demostrationibus
suis correcta a Marco Beneuentano monacho coelestino, & Ioanne Cotta
Veronensis iuris mathematicis consultissimis ... Noua & universalior
orbis cogniti tabula Ioā Ruysch Germano elaborata.... Anno Virginei
Partvs MDVIII. Rome.

The map is twenty-two by sixteen inches. The copy of one half of the
fan-shaped map in the cover-pocket is a reduced fac-simile of the
original section.

[288] The names inscribed along the coast of Terra Nova are: C. Glaciato
(Ice cape), Baia de Rockas (Bay of Rocks), R. Grado, In. Baccalavras
(Codfish island), C. de Portogesi (Cape of the Portuguese), Barbatos In.,
and Biggety In.

[289] The voyage of Nicholas de Lynna, a Franciscan monk, to the regions
near the north pole.—_Vide_ Hakluyt. vol. i. pp. 121, 122. Inscription on
Mercator’s map of the world of 1569.

[290] Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuoumente trouate in
quattro suoi viaggi.—_Vide_ Amerigo Vespucci. Varnhagen. pp. 33-64.
Bibliotheca Americana vetustissima. [Harrisse.] pp. 149, 150.

[291] Cosmographiae introdvctio cvm qvibvsdam geometriae ac astronomiae
principiis ad eam rem necessariis. Insuper quatuor Americi Vespuccij
nauigationes Vniversalis cbosmographiae descriptio tam in solido qzplano
eis etiam insertis quæ Ptholomeo ignota a nuperis reperta sunt....
Finitu. vij. kl’ Maij. Anno supra sesqui Millesium. vij.

[292] Baron von Humboldt furnishes the information that Martin
Waldseemüller of Freiburg, diocese of Constantius, was a student
under the rectorship of Conrad Knoll of Grüningen, the seventh of
December, 1490, and had established a bookstore at St. Dié, shortly
before 1507.—Examen critique de l’histoire de la géographie du nouveau
continent. Humboldt. vol. iv. pp. 104-106.

[293] Hylacomylus, the forest-lake miller.

[294] “_Nūc vo & he partes sunt latius lustratae & alia quarta pars
per Americū Vesputiū (vt in sequentibus audietur) inuenta est quā non
video cur quis iūre vetet ab Americo inuentore sagacis ingenij viro
Amerigen quasi Americi terra siue Americam dicendā: cū & Europa & Asia a
mulieribus sua sortita sint nomina._”

Herodotus, speaking of the designations of the other divisions of the
earth, says: “Nor can I conjecture for what reason these different names
have been given to the earth, which is one, and those derived from the
names of women.... Nor can I learn the names of those who made this
division, nor whence they derived the appellations. Libya [Africa] is
said by most of the Greeks to take its name from a native woman of the
name of Libya; and Asia, from the wife of Prometheus. But the Lydians
claim this name, saying that Asia was called after Asius, son of Cotys,
son of Manes, and not after Asia, the wife of Prometheus; from whom
also a tribe of Sardis is called the Asian tribe. Whether Europe, then,
is surrounded by water is known by no man, nor is it clear whence it
received this name, nor who gave it, unless we will say that the region
received the name from the Tyrian Europa, and that it was previously
without a name like other regions, for she evidently belonged to Asia,
and never came into the country which is now called Europe by the
Grecians, and only passed from Phœnicia to Crete, and from Crete to
Lycia.”—Herodotus: Melpomene xlv.

[295] Until recently the map made by Petrus Apianus (Peter Benewitz),
in the Polyhistor of C. Julius Solinus, printed in Vienna, in 1520,
was supposed to be the earliest on which the name of America was
engraved. However, the discovery, in France, in 1880, of a copy of the
“Cosmographiae introductio,” printed by Jean de la Place, without a title
or colophon-date, containing a map of the world, supposed to have been
made by Ludovicus Boulenger, between the years 1514 and 1520, disentitled
the former to its celebrity. The map is divided into twelve sections or
gores which can be cut and pasted on a globe. The represented territory
of North and South America is shown in two divisions, separated by a
large body of water, between the tenth and twentieth parallels of north
latitude. The word “Nova” appears on the northern division; and on the
southern, “America noviter reperta.” A similar inscription it is said is
on a cartographic representation of the world, in Vienna, made in 1509:
“_Une semblable appellation se lit sur la projection, également imprimée
en fuseaux, d’un globe terrestre à la date de 1509 qui fait partie de la
collectione de M. le général de Hauslab à Vienne._”—Jean et Sébastien
Cabot. Harrisse. p. 182. Note.

[296] “_Americus Vesputius maritima loca Indiæ superioris ex Hispaniis
navigio ad occidentem perlustrans, eam partem quæ superioris Indiæ est
credidit esse Insulam quam a suo nomine vocari instituit._”—Ioannis
Schoneri Carolostadii opvscvlvm geographicvm ex diversorum libris ac
cartis. [Nuremberg, 1533.]

[297] Schoner’s globe is still preserved in the library of Nuremberg.

[298] Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas
tierra firme del mar oceano. Herrera. dec. i. lib. iv. cap. i, ii.
Amerigo Vespucci. Varnhagen. pp. 33-64. Bibliotheca Americana.
[Harrisse.] pp. 62-68, 149, 150, 304, 305. O Brazil no seculo
xvi. Capistrano de Abreu. pp. 1-39. Descobrimento do Brasil e seu
deseuvolvimento no seculo xvi. Capistrano de Abreu. Rio de Janeiro, 1883.
pp. 17-66.

[299] De Orbo Novo decades. dec. ii. cap. x.

[300] The map is found on the reverse page of the forty-fifth leaf of
Peter Martyr’s rare book, entitled: P. Martyris Angli Mediolanensis
opera Legatio Babylonica, Oceani decas, poemata, epigrammata. Impressum
Hispali cu summa diligencia Jacobu Corumberger, Alemanu. Anno Millesimo
quingentissimo. xi. meso vero Aprili. The chart measures seven and a half
by eleven inches.

[301] Juan Ponce was born at Leon, Spain, about 1460.

[302] Historia general. Herrera. dec. i. lib. ix. cap. x.

[303] The Indians called this region _Cautio_. Historia general. Herrera.
dec. i. lib. ix. cap. x.

[304] The Gulf Stream, which at this point is quite deep and narrow, has
a velocity varying from four to five miles an hour.

[305] “On Sunday, the eighth of May, they doubled the Cape of Florida,
giving it the name of the Cape of the Currents (Cabo de Corrientes),
because they are stronger there than the wind, and came to an anchorage
near a town called Abaiòa. All this coast, from the Point of Reefs (Punta
de Arracifes) to the Cape of the Currents, trending north and south one
point to the eastward, is clean, and has six fathoms water, the cape
lying in twenty-eight degrees fifteen minutes. They sailed on till they
met with two islands to the southward, in twenty-seven degrees, one of
which, being a league in compass, they named Santa Marta, and took in
water there.

“On Friday, the thirteenth of May, they sailed along a shoal and a row of
islands as far as the island which they called Pola, lying in twenty-six
degrees and a half. Between the shoal and the row of islands and the
continent is a spacious sea, like a bay.

“On Sunday, the day of the Feast of the Holy Spirit, the fifteenth of
May, they coasted ten leagues along a row of small islands as far as two
white ones, and they called them all the Martyrs, (las Martires), because
the high rocks, at a distance, look like men suffering, and the name has
suited them well on account of the large number of persons who have since
been lost there. The rocks lie in twenty-six degrees fifteen minutes.
The ships held on, sometimes north and sometimes northeast, until the
twenty-third of May; and on the twenty-fourth they ran along the coast
to the southward as far as some small islands which lay out at sea, and
still they did not perceive that it was the main-land.”

[306] Historia general. Herrera. dec. i. lib. ix. cap. x, xii.

[307] Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias.
Gomara. cap. x.

[308] Ten years before this, says Humboldt, “Columbus distinctly learned,
when he was coasting along the eastern shores of Veragua, that to the
west of this land there was a sea ‘which in less than nine days’ sail
would bear ships to the _Chersonesus aurea_ of Ptolemy and to the
mouth of the Ganges.’ In the same _Carta rarissima_, which contains
the beautiful and poetic narration of a dream, the admiral says that
‘the opposite coasts of Veragua, near the Rio de Belen, are situated
relatively to another, as Tortosa on the Mediterranean and Fuenterabia in
Biscay, or as Venice and Pisa.’ The great ocean, the South Pacific, was
even at that time regarded as merely a continuation of the _Sinus magnus_
(μέγας κόλπος) of Ptolemy, situated before the golden Chersonesus, whilst
Cattigara and the land of the Sines (Thinae) were supposed to constitute
its eastern boundary.”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. pp. 642,
643.

[309] Historia general. Herrera. dec. i. lib. x. cap. i, ii, iv. dec. ii.
lib. i. cap. iv, xi. De Orbe Novo decades. Martire. dec. iii. cap. ii,
iii, vi, x. dec. iv. cap. vi. dec. vii. cap. x.

[310] Historia general. Herrera. dec. ii. lib. i. cap. vii.

[311] Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a native of Medina del Campo, Spain,
came to the New World, in 1514, with Pedro Arias de Avila, who had been
appointed governor of Terra Firma. He sailed with Cordoba and Grijalva
on their expeditions of discovery, and was with Cortes in his Mexican
campaign, and participated in more than a hundred engagements. He was
_regidor_ of the city of Guatemala, where, on the twenty-sixth day of
February, 1568, he completed his True history of the conquest of New
Spain.

[312] Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Escrita
por el Capitan Bernal Diaz del Castillo, vno de sus conquistadores. En
Madrid, 1632. cap. i-vi.

_Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, written
by himself, containing a true and full account of the discovery and
conquest of Mexico and New Spain. Translated from the original Spanish by
John Ingrim Lockhart. London, 1844. vol. i. chap. i-vi.

[313] “The dollar of exchange (_peso de plata_) is worth 8 reals of
old plate, or 15 reals 2 maravedis vellon.... The value of the peso of
plate, or dollar of exchange, in English silver coin, is 39½d.” [about
seventy-four cents United States money].—The universal cambist and
commercial instructor. By Patrick Kelly. London, 1811. vol. i. pp. 388,
389.

[314] Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Diaz.
cap. viii-xvi.—_Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap.
viii-xvi.

[315] “He said, though still in broken Spanish, that his name was
Geronimo de Aguilar, and was a native of Ecija. About eight years ago he
had been shipwrecked with fifteen men and two women, on a voyage between
Darien and the island of St. Domingo.... The ship struck against a rock,
and they had not been able to get her off again. The whole of the crew
then got into the boat, with the hope of reaching the island of Cuba or
Jamaica, but were driven on the coast of Yucatan, where the Calachionies
had taken them prisoners and distributed them among the people. The most
of his unfortunate companions had been sacrificed to their gods. Some had
died of grief and the women had pined away, being worn out by the hard
labor of grinding which they had forced them to do. He had been doomed to
be sacrificed to their idols, but had made his escape at night, and fled
to the cacique, with whom he had been living.... He had tried to induce
Gonzalo Guerrero to leave the Indians, but had failed.”

[316] The name is spelled by Diaz “Monteçuma.”

[317] An Indian woman presented to Cortes by the cacique of Tabasco. She
had readily learned to speak in Spanish, and being conversant with the
language of the Mexicans, was of great value to Cortes, who made her his
secretary and then his mistress.

[318] Charles V. ascended the Spanish throne in 1516.

[319] Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Diaz. cap.
xix-xxxix.—_Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap.
xxx-xxxix.

[320] “The Castilian mark weighs 3557 English troy grains.”—The universal
cambist. Kelly. vol. i. pp. 391, 292.

[321] Primera parte de los veinte īvn lībros rituales ī monarchia Indiana
compuesto por Juan de Torquemada. En Madrid, 1723. lib. iv. cap. xvii.
fol. 389, 390.

“The ducat of exchange (_ducado de plata_) is worth 11 reals, maravedi
of old plate, or 20 reals 25¹⁵⁄₁₇ maravedis vellon.... The value of the
ducat of plate in English silver coin is 4_s._ 6½_d._ [or one dollar and
one cent in United States money].”—The universal cambist. Kelly. vol. i.
pp. 388-392.

Diaz gives this description of the presents: “The first was a disk about
the size of a carriage-wheel, representing the sun, the entire plate
being of the finest gold and of the most beautiful workmanship,—a most
extraordinary work of art, which, according to the account of those
who weighed it, was worth more than twenty thousand _pesos de oro_.
The second was a disk, even larger than the former, of massive silver,
representing the moon, with rays and figures on it, and of great value.
The third was a casque, filled with grains of pure gold as they were
found in the mine, worth about three thousand _pesos_, which gold was
of more importance to us than if it had been ten times this value, for
we were now assured that there were rich gold-mines in the country.
Among the other presents there were thirty golden ducks in every way
resembling the living fowl, very elaborately made. Besides, there were
figures of lions, tigers, dogs, and monkeys. There were also ten chains
with lockets, all of gold, and of the most costly workmanship; a bow with
the string and twelve arrows; two staffs like those used by justices,
five palms in length; all of which were made of the purest gold. They
also brought small cases containing the most beautiful green feathers,
interwoven with gold and silver, and fans similarly made, and figures of
all kinds of game made of gold.”

Peter Martyr, who had inspected the presents, says: “_Si quid unquam
honoris humana ingenia in huiuscemodi artibus sunt adepta, principatum
iure merito ista consequentur. Aurum, gemmasque non admiror quidem, qua
industria, quove studio superet opus materiam, stupeo. Mille figuras
et facies mille prospexi quæ scribera nequeo. Quid oculos hominum sua
pulchritudine aeque possit allicere meo iudicio vidi nunquam._—De Orbe
Novo decades. dec. i. cap. xi.

[322] _Teules_, according to Diaz, meant gods or celestial beings.

[323] From Villa Rica de Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico the distance was
about one hundred and seventy-five miles. By the route of the Mexican
railroad the distance from the present city of Vera Cruz to the city of
Mexico is two hundred and sixty-three miles.

[324] A stone of a light green color.

[325] Paper made from the leaves of the maguey or agave-plant.

[326] Cortes conjectured the city contained twenty thousand houses. The
temple of Quetzalcoatl was built on a terraced mound about two hundred
feet high, and was reached by ascending one hundred and twenty steps.

[327] The name of the city is written Tenustitlan Mexico by Diaz. It is
spelled Tenuchtitlan Mexico by some Spanish writers.

“In the spelling of the names of Indian chiefs, the townships, and of
the provinces, we have mostly followed Torquemada, who is considered
more correct on this point, for he lived fifty years in New Spain.”—The
memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. Preface. vol. i. p. vi.

[328] This name, says Diaz, was given to Cortes “because our interpreter,
Doña Marina, was always near him, particularly when embassadors arrived,
and in our negotiations with the different caciques she interpreted
for both parties. They therefore called him the captain of Marina, and
contracted that appellation into the word Malinche.”

[329] It is said that the slimy substance mentioned by Diaz was called
_tecuitlatl_, the excrement of stone. It was variously fashioned, and
dried in the sun.

[330] _Xiquipiles_, according to Torquemada, expressed the number of
8,000 of any thing.

[331] Cacao-beans were used by the Mexicans in lieu of small coin.

[332] Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Diaz. cap.
xxxix-clix.—_Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap.
xxxix-clix.

[333] Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Diaz. cap.
lx, clxii.—_Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap. lx,
clxii.

[334] Tratado, que compõs e nobre & notauel capitão Antonio Galuão.

[335] In June, 1523, Francisco de Garay sailed with a fleet and a large
number of troops from Jamaica to take possession of the province of
Panuco, of which he had been appointed governor. He failed to accomplish
his purpose, and died in the city of Mexico, at the end of December,
1523. Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. cap.
cxxxiii, clxii. _Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap.
cxxxiii, clxii.

[336] Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom. iii. pp.
64-69; 147-153.

[337] The situation of certain places along the coast of the present
states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, is thus
described by Gomara: “From Santa Elena to Rio Seco, in 31°, are other
forty leagues, and thence to La Cruz are twenty, and thence to Cañaveral,
forty; and from Punta Cañaveral, in 28°, are other forty to Punta de la
Florida (the peninsula of Florida).... This is in 25°, which is twenty
leagues in length, and from it are a hundred or more leagues to Ancon
bajo, which is fifty leagues from Rio Seco, from east to west, across
Florida. From Ancon bajo they estimate it to be a hundred leagues to
Rio de Nieves, and thence to that of Flores more than twenty, from
which river it is seventy leagues to the Bay of the Holy Spirit (Baya
del Espiritu Sancto), called by another name, La Culata (the breech of
a gun), which river flows out into the ocean thirty leagues, and is in
29°, and thence it is more than seventy to Rio de Pescadores. From Rio
de Pescadores, in 28° 30´, are a hundred leagues to Rio de las Palmas,
near which crosses the tropic of Cancer; thence to Rio Panuco are more
than thirty leagues; and thence to Villa Rica or Vera Cruz, seventy
leagues.”—Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias.
Gomara. cap. xii.

[338] Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, a native of Toledo, Spain, was one of
the licentiates appointed by King Ferdinand to act as auditors of the
royal court of appeal (audiencia), afterward sitting in San Domingo. In
March, 1520, Ayllon went with Pamfilo de Narvaez to New Spain, who was
sent there by Diego Velasquez to administer the affairs of that country.
When Ayllon landed in Mexico he became so inimical to the purposes of
Velasquez that Narvaez put him under arrest and sent him back to Cuba,
where he arrived in August, 1520.

[339] “So designated,” says Herrera, “because Jordan was the name of one
of the captains or masters of the ships.”

Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias. Gomara.
cap. vii.

[340] Ayllon, in 1523, was made governor (_adelantado_) of the provinces
and islands of Suache, Chicora, Xapira, Tatancal, Anicatiye, Cocayo,
Guacaya, Xoxi, Sona, Pasqui, Arambe, Xamunambe, Huag, Tanzaca, Yenyohol,
Paor, Yamiscaron, Carixagusignanin and Anoxa, that were said to lie
between the thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh parallels of north latitude.
In 1524 it is said that he sent two ships to some of these places. In
July, 1526, he sailed himself from Española, with six vessels, having on
board five hundred men and ninety horses. Diego Miruelo, the pilot of
this fleet, it is said, failed to find the coast of Chicora, which he
had visited in 1520. The natives, where the Spaniards landed, manifested
toward them the greatest friendliness, and so deceived Ayllon with their
unbounded hospitality that he sent two hundred of his men into the
interior on an exploring expedition. While they were sleeping the savages
fell upon them and murdered them to a man. They then attacked those near
the ships, who, being outnumbered, fled before their assailants. One
hundred and fifty escaped, and in a suffering condition returned to San
Domingo. It is further related that Ayllon died on the eighteenth of
October, 1526.—Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom.
iii. pp. 69-74; 153-160.

[341] De Orbe Novo decades. dec. ii. cap. vii.

[342] “Thence to Puerto del Principe are more than a hundred leagues, and
from it to the Rio Jordan, seventy, and thence to Cabo de Santa Elena,
which is in 32°, there are forty leagues.”—Primera y segunda parte de la
historia general de las Indias. Gomara. cap. xii.

[343] Pigafetta writes the name “Magaglianes,” the Portuguese
“Magalhaens,” the Spaniards “Magallanes,” and the French “Magellan.” The
English follow the French spelling.

[344] Fernam de Magalhaens was born at Oporto, about the year 1470. After
entering the Portuguese navy, he sailed to the East Indies and served
under Affonso d’Albuquerque. He returned to Spain about the year 1517.

[345] Before Brazil was discovered, red wood was brought to Europe from
Asia and Africa.

[346] In the edition of Ptolemy’s geography, printed at Rome in 1508,
it is said: “The Land of the Holy Cross diminishes all the way to south
latitude 37°; although, according to navigators who have explored it, it
is said all the way to south latitude 50°; of which remaining part no
description is found.—_Terra Sanctæ Crucis decrescit usque ad latitudinem
37° aust.; quamquam ad Archiploi usque ad 50° austr., navigarint, ut
ferunt; quam reliquam portionem descriptam non reperi._” cap. xiv.

[347] The eastern entrance to the strait lies between the Cape of the
Virgins, on the north, and the Cape of the Holy Spirit, on the south, and
is about twenty miles wide. The strait is three hundred and fifteen miles
long.

[348] On the Maiollo map of 1527, the following inscription is placed
near the delineated strait: “_Streito doute pasas Magaianes Portogese
per andare in le isole de Maluchi de le spesarie de Re de Spania_,” the
strait passed by Magaianes, a Portuguese, to go to the Molucca Islands
for spices for the king of Spain.

[349] “_Il capitano-generale, che sapeva de dover fare la sua navegazione
per uno streto molto ascoso, como vite ne la thesararia del re de
Portugal in una carta fata per quello excellentissimo huomo Martino di
Boemia._”

The chart was evidently one drafted to exhibit the field of the
explorations of Cabral and other Portuguese navigators along the eastern
coast of Brazil.

[350] The fifth vessel, the Santiago, while exploring the coast, when the
other ships were at anchor in the harbor of St. Julian, was wrecked.

[351] Gomez, after deserting the squadron with the San Antonio, returned
to the port of St. Julian, and there took on board Gaspar de Casada and
the priest whom Magalhaens had put on shore. On Gomez’s return to Spain,
the sixth of May, 1521, he told “the emperor that Magalhaens was crazy
and had lied to his majesty, for he did not know where Banda was nor the
Moluccas.”—Letter of Transylvanus and Castanheda.

[352] Spanish, Las Islas Desdichados.

[353] “_Seconda la misura che facevamo del viaggio colla catena a poppa,
noi percorrevamo da 60 in 70 leghe algiorno._”

[354] Sir Francis Drake followed Magalhaens a half century later. The
former departed from England on the thirteenth of December, 1577, and
returned there on the third of November, 1580.

[355] Cape Cattigara was, according to Ptolemy, in one hundred and eighty
degrees of longitude from the Canaries and south of the equator. It is
now known as Cape Comorin, being the southern extremity of Hindostan, in
north latitude 8° 5´, and in east longitude 77° 30´.

[356] Spanish, de los Ladrones. The Ladrone Islands, about twenty in
number, lie between 13° and 21° north latitude, and 144° and 146° east
longitude.

[357] The Moluccas or Spice Islands, more than two hundred in number, lie
between 3° north and 9° south latitude, and 122° and 133° east longitude.

[358] Juan Sebastian del Cano was honored for the notable part he took in
this famous voyage by being permitted to display, as his coat of arms,
the figure of a globe, on which was inscribed: “_Primus circumdedisti
me._”

[359] Primo viaggio intorno al globo terracqueo ossia ragguaglio della
navigazione alle indie orientali per la via d’occidente fatta dal
cavaliere Antonio Pigafetta patrizio Vicentino sulla squadra del Capit.
Magaglianes negli anni 1519-1522 ora publicato per la prima volta, tratto
da un codice MS. della Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano e corredota di
note da Carlo Amoretti. In Milano, 1800.—_Vide_ The first voyage round
the world by Magellan, translated from the accounts of Pigafetta and
other contemporary writers. By Lord Stanley of Alderley. London, 1874.
Hakluyt Soc. pub. _Vide_ Pinkerton’s voyages and travels. vol. i. pp.
288-381.

[360] Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias.
Gomara. cap. x.

[361] According to Jacques Cartier’s statement, the Cape of Buona Vista
was in 48° 30´ north latitude.

[362] Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. iii. fol. 359.

[363] “_Les Dieppois continuoient leur commerce dans les Indes
Orientales, lorsqu’ils apprirent les découvertes que les Espagnols
avoient faites en Amérique: leur émulation s’en trouva piquée, & ils
armèrent deux vaisseaux, pour connoître si cette partie du monde ne
s’étendoit pas du côte du Nord; ils en confièrent le commandement à
deux de leurs plus habiles Capitaines, nommés Thomas Aubert & Jean
Vérassen. Ces deux navires partirent de Dieppe au commencement de 1508,
& découvrirent, la même année, le Fleuve Saint-Laurent, auquei ils
donnérent ce nom, parce que ce fut ce jour-là qu’ils commencèrent à le
remonter; ce qu’ils firent jusqu’ à plus de quatre-vingt lieues, trouvant
des habitants affables, avec lesquels ils firent des èchanges les plus
avantageux en pelleteries._”—Mémoires chronologiques pour servir à
l’historie de Dieppe et à celle de la navigation Françoise. Jean Antoine
Desmarquets. À Paris, 1785. tom. i. pp. 99, 100.

[364] “One of thirty regions or zones of the earth, parallel to the
equator, corresponding to the successive increase of a quarter of an hour
in the length of the midsummer day.”

[365] West coast of Ireland.

[366] Eusebii Caesariensis episcopi chronicon.... In alma Parisiorū
academia. Millesimo quingentesimo duodecimo Idibus vero Iunij. fol. 172.

[367] Giovanni da Verrazzano, the son of Pier Andrea da Verrazzano, was
born at Florence about the year 1480.

[368] Henry Hudson, the navigator. By G. M. Asher. London, 1860. Hakluyt
Society pub. Introduction. p. 79.

[369] The voyage of Pedro Alvarez Cabral, in 1500.

[370] Cronica do muyto alto e muyto poderoso rey destes regnos de
Portugal Dom João o III. deste nome. Francisco d’Andrada. Lisboa, 1613.
part. i. cap. 13, 14.

[371] Letter of João da Silveyra to Dom João III. Archivo de Torre de
Tombo. Corp. Chron. part. i. ma. 29. doc. 54.

[372] The ship La Dauphine is spoken of in the Italian text of
Verrazzano’s letter as “_la nave Dalfina_.” _Dalfina_ is the feminine
form of the Italian word _dalfino_, a dolphin.

[373] A manuscript containing the Italian text of Verrazzano’s letter
was found in 1837, by G. W. Greene, consul from the United States
at Rome, in the Magliabecchian library of Florence, in a volume of
miscellanies, marked “Class xiii. Cod. 89. Verraz.” With this letter was
another written by Fernando Carli to his father, dated Lyons, August 4,
1524. As Carli remarks in his communication that it inclosed a copy of
Verrazzano’s letter to Francis I., it is believed that the transcript he
speaks of is the copy found in the Magliabecchian library.—Vide Life and
voyages of Verrazzano, by G. W. Greene. North American Review. vol. xlv.
October, 1837.

Ramusio placed in the third volume of his collection of voyages and
travels a condensed form of Verrazzano’s letter, entitled “The relation
of Giovanni da Verrazzano, Florentine, to the most Christian king of
France, Francis I., of the land by him discovered in the name of his
majesty; written at Dieppe, July 8, 1524.—_Al Christianissimo Re Di
Francia Francesco Primo, Relatione di Giovanni da Verrazano Fiorentino
della terra per lui scoperta in nome di sua Maesta scritta in Dieppa, adi
8. Luglio_ M.D.XXIIII.”—Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol.
iii. fol. 350.

[374] The copy of Verrazzano’s letter has this superscription: “_Il
Capitano Giovanni da Verrazzano, fiorentino di Normandie, al la
serenissima corona di Francia, dice_”:—Captain Giovanni da Verrazzano, a
Florentine, from Normandy, to the most serene crown of France, says.

[375] Hakluyt’s translation of the letter published by Ramusio, in 1556,
begins with these words.

“I wrote not to your Maiesty, most Christian King, since the time we
suffered the Tempest in the North partes, of the successe of the foure
shippes, which your Maiestie sent forth to discouer new lands by the
Ocean, thinking your Maiestie had bene already duely enformed thereof.
Now by these presents I will give your Maiestie to understand how by the
violence of the Windes we were forced with the two shippes, the Norman
and the Dolphin (in such euill case as they were), to land in Britaine.
Where after wee had repayred them in all poynts as was needful, and armed
them very well, we took our course along the coast of Spaine, which
your Maiestie shall understand by the profite that we receiued thereby.
Afterwards with the Dolphin alone we determined to make discouerie of
new Countries, to prosecute the Nauigation we had already begun, which I
purpose at the present to recount unto to your Maiestie, to make manifest
the whole proceeding of the matter.

“The 17 of January, the yeere 1524, by the Grace of God, we departed
from the dishabited rocke by the isle of Madeira (_Alli, 17. Genaro,
1524. Dio gratia partimmo dallo scoglio dishabitato_), appertaining to
the king of Portugal, with 50 men, with victuals, weapons, and other
ship-munition very well prouided and furnished for eight months; and
sailing Westward with a faire Easterly winde (_per Ponente nauigando con
vento di Leuante assai piaceuole_), in 25 dayes we ran 500 leagues, and
the 20 of Februarie (_alli 20 Febraro_), we were ouertaken with as sharpe
and terrible a tempest as euer any saylers suffered, whereof with the
diuine helpe and mercifull assistance of Almighty God, and the goodnesse
of our shippe, accompanied with the good happe of her fortunate name we
were delivered.”—_Vide_ Voyages. London, 1600. vol. ii. p. 295.

[376] One of three islands lying in a row from north to south, southeast
of the island of Madeira, in north latitude 32° 30´, off the west coast
of Africa. The islands are called Ilhas Dezertas, and are only inhabited
by sea-fowl.

[377] In Verrazzano’s geographical explanation of the voyage, he assigns
62½ miles to a degree and 4 miles to a marine league. According to this
_data_, 15⅝ marine leagues equal a degree. On Thevet’s map of the fourth
part of the world, printed in 1575, is a scale of leagues which shows
that a marine league was double the length of a French league. With this
information it is easy to ascertain the length of a degree in French
leagues of Verrazzano’s day; 31¼, according to his explanation, equalling
a degree. Columbus made 56⅔ miles equal an equinoctial degree and 60
miles equal to 15 leagues. Pigafetta assigned 17½ leagues to a degree.
“The land-league is three miles,” he says, “the sea-league is four.” The
modern nautical league is one-twentieth of a degree, or three equatorial
miles or 3.45785 statute miles. A sea-mile, according to the United
States standard, is equal to 1.152664 common statute or land-miles. One
degree of longitude at the equator is equal to 69.160 land-miles. A
French geographical league, according to Verrazzano’s reckoning, equals
2⅕ land-miles of the United States standard.

[378] Cape Fear is in 33° 48´ north latitude.

[379] The translation of Verrazzano’s letter by Joseph G. Cogswell,
contained in the New York Historical Society’s collections, second
series, vol. i. pp. 37-54, will be followed hereafter, except when a
better rendering may be presented.

[380] _Vide_ section of Maiollo map in the cover-pocket. The scale of
latitudes on the margin of this part of the map has been appended to
indicate the position given to places by Visconte de Maiollo. A similar
scale is engraved on another part of the rare map.

[381] Palmetto trees.

[382] It was not until 1728 that this conception of the navigator was
disproved. Then Vitus Behring discovered the strait which divides the two
continents. The distance between East Cape in Asia and Cape Prince of
Wales on the continent of America is forty-five miles.

[383] “_Nè pensiamo participando dello oriente per la circumferenza sieno
senza qualche drogheria o liquore aromatico, et altre divitie oro ed
altro del quale colore la terra tutta tende._”

[384] Historical collections of South Carolina. By B. R. Carroll. vol. i.
p. xxi.

[385] In Ramusio’s text the word is _oriente_, east. Raccolta di
navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. ii. fol. 350.

It was the custom of the aborigines to set fire to the underbrush in
spring to enable them to hunt and to inclose game within the limits of
the burning wood.

[386] The harbor of Beaufort was too far inland to be seen by Verrazzano.

[387] In Hakluyt’s translation of the text of Ramusio’s condensed copy of
Verrazzano’s letter is the following respecting the vines of Virginia:
“We saw in this country many vines growing naturally, which, growing up,
took holde of the trees as they doe in Lombardie, which if by husbandmen
they were dressed in good order, without all doubt they would yeeld
excellent wines; for hauing oftentimes seene the fruit thereof dryed;
which was sweete and pleasant, and not differing from ours, we thinke
that they doe esteeme the same, because in euery place where they growe,
they take away the under branches growing round about, that the fruit
thereof may ripen the better.”—Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. ii. p. 297.

[388] Chesapeake Bay “extends 190 miles from its mouth, into the States
of Virginia and Maryland; it is from 7 to twenty miles broad, and
generally 9 fathoms deep.”

The peninsula is “about 60 miles long, and from 10 to 15 wide, and
bounded toward the sea by a string of low sandy islets. The waters of the
Chesapeake enter the sea between Cape Charles and Cape Henry, forming a
strait of fifteen miles in width.”—Gazetteer of Virginia and the District
of Columbia. By Joseph Martin. 1835. pp. 23, 18.

[389] _Vide_ Maiollo map of 1527 in the cover-pocket.

[390] “Epistle dedicatorie” to Hakluyt’s Divers voyages, 1582.

[391] “_Da questo mare orientale si vede il mare occidentale; sono 6
miglia di terra infra l’uno a l’altro._”

[392] Hakluyt’s Particular discourse, 1584.

The English collector illustrates his Divers voyages with Locke’s map,
which the English cartographer dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney.

[393] Sandy Hook light-house is in 40° 27´ 39´´ north latitude.

[394] At Sandy Hook, a low, sandy point of land, eighteen miles from
the city of New York, are two ship-channels through which vessels of
the heaviest tonnage can pass. Immediately north of Sandy Hook is the
spacious roadstead called the Lower Bay. Between Staten Island, north of
it, and Long Island is the Narrows, a channel about one mile and a half
long by one wide. North of it is the Upper Bay or harbor of New York.

[395] The Upper Bay or harbor of New York, about eight miles long by five
wide, lies between the mouth of the Hudson River on the north and the
Narrows on the south. From the bay, vessels can pass into the East River
and thence to Long Island Sound, between Long Island and the main-land.
Westward is Newark Bay, through which vessels can pass from the Upper Bay
of New York, thence into Staten Island Sound, thence into Raritan Bay and
the Lower Bay. The rise and fall of the tide in the harbor of New York is
about four and a half feet.

[396] Belgische ofte Nederlandsche oorlogen ende geschiedenissen
beginnende van ’t jaer 1595 tot 1611.—Door Emanuel van Meteren. 1611.
Boek xxx. fol. 327.

[397] Purchas his Pilgrimes. vol. iii. p. 595.

[398] “_De groote noordt rievier van Nieuw-Nederlandt wordt by eenighe
ghenoemt de Manhattes rieviere naer volckeren die by naer aen’t begin
ofte de mout van de rieviere woonen; by andere oock Rio de Montaigne;
doch by de ouse wordt meest genoemt de groote rieviere._”—Nieuwe Wereldt.
Door Johannes de Laet. Tot Leyden, 1625. Boeck iii. cap. ix.

[399] _Vide_ map entitled: ’t Noorder deel van West-Indien, contained in
the rare work in Dutch: West-Indische Spieghel. Door Athanasium Inga,
Peruen, van Cusco. Amsterdam, 1624. The map-maker’s name, A. Goos, is
inscribed on the chart.

[400] Angoulême, a town on the Charente River, in France, sixty-six miles
northeast of Bordeaux. Angoulême, with the territory of Angoumois, was
governed from the ninth to the fourteenth century by counts. Francis I.,
before he became king of France, was Comte d’Angoulême.

[401] The island of Rhodes, lying off the southwest coast of Asia Minor,
between 35° 50´ and 36° 30´ north latitude, has an area of about 452
square miles.

[402] Blank space in the original copy.

[403] Newport is in 41° 29´, and the city of Providence in 41° 49´ 22´´
north latitude.

[404] _Vide_ Gastaldi’s map.

[405] As described by a late writer: “Narragansett Bay is one of the
most beautiful sheets of water in the United States; it is unrivalled
for its navigable advantages, affording at all times a safe and ready
communication with the ocean; and its shores, which are indented with
innumerable bays and inlets containing many excellent harbors. This bay
... extends more than thirty miles into the interior of the state, and
for this distance affords superior advantages for ship-navigation. The
whole extent of the bay and river, from Point Judith to Providence, is
about thirty-six miles. The average breadth of the lower section of the
bay is nearly ten miles; but the upper part is narrow. Exclusive of
the islands, of which there are about fifteen in number, and some of
considerable extent, the waters of the bay comprise an area of about one
hundred and thirty square miles.”—Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode
Island. 1819. pp. 302, 303, 349, 359.

[406] See note, page 293.

[407] The distance given by the Spanish historian, Francisco Lopez de
Gomara, in 1552, from the Point of Baccalaos, in 48° 30´ to Cape St.
Helen, in 32° north latitude, is more than seven hundred and sixty
Spanish leagues, measured as the coast trended: “From the Point of
Baccallaos are set down eight hundred and seventy leagues to Florida,
counting as follows: From the Point of Baccallaos which is in 48° 30´ are
seventy leagues of coast to La Baya del Rio, which is in more than 45°.
Thence are seventy to another bay called Isleos which is in less than
44°. From Baya Isleos to Rio Fonda are seventy leagues, and thence to Rio
de las Gamas, are other seventy, both rivers being in 43°. From Rio de
los Gamas are fifty leagues to Cabo Bajo, and thence to Rio de San Anton,
they reckon more than a hundred leagues. From Rio de San Anton are eighty
leagues along the shore of a gulf to Cabo de Arenas, which is in nearly
39°, thence to Puerto del Principe are more than a hundred leagues, and
from it to Rio Jordan seventy, and thence to Cabo de Santa Elena, which
is in 32°, there are forty leagues. From Santa Elena to Rio Seco, which
is in 31°, are forty leagues.”—La historia general de las Indias. Gomara.
cap. xii.

[408] The name Francesca is used on the Maiollo map of 1527. Hieronymus
da Verrazzano called the region “_Verrazana seu Gallia nova_,”—Verrazana
or New Gaul. By some French writers it was denominated in the sixteenth
century, “_Terre Francesque_.”

[409] “This distance,” he remarks, “calculated geometrically upon the
ratio that three and one seventh times the diameter of a circle is equal
to its circumference, gives 92⁵⁴¹⁶⁴⁄₄₇₂₇₃₃ degrees. For if we take
114⁶⁄₁₁ degrees as the chord of an arc of a great circle, we have by the
same ratio 95²⁴⁸³⁄₄₉₅₀ degrees as the chord of an arc on the parallel
of 34°, being that on which we first made land, and 300²³³⁄₁₅₇₅ degrees
as the circumference of the whole circle, passing through this plane.
Allowing then, as actual observations show, that 62½ terrestrial miles
correspond to a celestial degree, we find the whole circumference of
300²³³⁄₁₅₇₅ degrees, as just given, to be 18,759³¹⁄₁₂₆ miles, which,
divided by 360, makes the length of a degree of longitude on the parallel
of 34° to be 52⁹⁸⁹⁄₉₀₇₂ miles, and that is the true measure. Therefore,
by a right line to the said rock which stands in 32°, we have to
calculate the distance, the said 1,200 leagues which we have found, from
the thirty-fourth parallel, from west to east, hence I should have run
92⁵⁴¹⁶⁴⁄₄₇₂₇₃₃ degrees, and this many therefore we have sailed to the
West, which was not known to the ancients.”

114⁶⁄₁₁ × 3¹⁄₇ = 360. 300²³³⁄₁₅₇₅ × 7 ÷ 22 = 95²⁴⁸³⁄₄₉₅₀. 300²³³⁄₁₅₇₅ ×
62½ = 18,759³¹⁄₁₂₆. 18,759³¹⁄₁₂₆ ÷ 560 = 52⁹⁸⁹⁄₉₀₇₂. 4,800 by 52⁹⁸⁹⁄₉₀₇₂
= 92⁵⁴¹⁶⁴⁄₄₇₂₇₃₃.

[410] “The Spaniards have sailed south beyond the equator, on a meridian
20³²⁰⁶⁰/₄₇₂₈₁ degrees west of the Fortunate Islands to the latitude of
54° and there still found land. Turning about they steered northward
on the same meridian and along the coast to the eighth parallel, and
then along the coast more to the west, and north to the latitude of 21°
[31°?], without finding a termination to the continent. They estimated
the distance run as 89²⁹⁷⁰⁹/₄₆₇₈₁ which added to the 20³²⁰⁶⁰/₄₇₂₈₁ first
run make 110¹⁴⁴⁸⁸/₄₆₇₈₁, but this may vary somewhat from the truth. We
did not make this voyage, and therefore cannot speak from experience.
We calculated it geometrically from the observations furnished by many
navigators, who have made the voyage and affirm the distance to be 1600
leagues, due allowance being made for the deviations of the ship from a
straight course by reason of contrary winds. I hope that we shall now
obtain accurate information on these points, by new voyages to be made on
the same coasts.”—_Vide_ Maiollo map of 1527.

[411] Verrazzano’s argument is based upon the supposition that the extent
of the land of the new continent was greater than it really was, for
at this time the Pacific coast of the New Land had not been explored.
Verrazzano believed that the New World extended much farther westward
than it does.

[412] Tierra del Fuego, south of the Strait of Magellan, had not yet been
explored, and it was not known how far it extended, or in what direction.

[413] The number of tons is not mentioned.

[414] According to Carli’s statement, Verrazzano at first attempted to
sail to the west by going through the North Sea. Here, as Verrazzano
relates, his vessels were disabled, and he proceeded southward toward the
desert-rock, whence he steered toward the west in quest of new lands.

[415] Carli evidently was not well informed concerning Magellan’s
expedition, for although he speaks of the five ships of the fleet, and of
the return of the one commanded by Del Cano, he appears to be ignorant of
the death of Magellan, and of the arrival of Estevan Gomez, in 1521, with
the ship San Antonio.

[416] King Francis wrote to his parliament, on the second of July,
1524, saying: “I am going to Lyons to prevent the enemy from entering
the kingdom, and I can assure you that Charles de Bourbon is not yet in
France.”—Historie de François Premier. Gaillard. Paris, 1769. tom. iii.
p. 172.

[417] Lettera di Fernando Carli a suo padre. Archivo storico Italiano
ossia raccolta di opere e documenti fiuora inediti o divenuti rarissimi
risguardanti la storia d’Italia. Appendice. tomo ix. Firenze. Gio. Pietro
Vieusseux, direttore-editore al suo gabinetto scientifico letterario.
1853.

[418] Philippe Chabot, Sieur de Brion, admiral of France, was given
command of the French marine, March 23, 1526.

[419] Ango & Son was a noted firm of ship-builders in Dieppe.

[420] Twenty thousand pounds, Tours currency, were to be advanced to meet
the expenses of the undertaking. The admiral of France contributed four
thousand pounds, Guillaume Preudhomme, general of Normandy, two thousand;
Pierre Despinolles, one thousand; Jean Ango, two thousand; Jacques
Boursier, two thousand; and Verrazzano (Jehan de Varesam, as his name is
written in the agreement), chief pilot, two thousand pounds. Verrazzano,
having agreed to provide competent pilots for the other two vessels, was
to receive one sixth of all the goods which should be brought back, and
one tenth of any booty taken at sea from the Moors, or other enemies of
France. Foutette collection. xxx. 770. fol. 60. Bibliothèque nationale.
Paris.

[421] Zanobus de Rousselay, a merchant of Rouen, in a legal instrument,
dated September 30, 1526, gave bonds that “Messire Jehan de Verrassane”
was entitled “to defend a certain _clameur de haro_, obtained against him
by Guillaume Eynoult, called Cornete, living in Dieppe.” The bonds were
placed in the hands of Fremyn Poree and Robert Tassel, sergeant royal,
at Rouen, until the matter could be legally settled. MS. in archives of
Rouen.

[422] Foutette collection. xxx. 770. fol. 60. Bibliothèque nationale.
Paris.

[423] Hakluyt’s Divers voyages, 1582.

[424] “Epistle dedicatorie” to Divers voyages.

[425] Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. _Discorso sopra la nuova
Francia._ vol. iii. fol. 438.

[426] Hakluyt’s Particular discourse, 1584.

[427] In the cover-pocket is a copy of the part of the Maiollo map
representing the continent in the western hemisphere.

[428] The inscription on the chart contains this information: “_Verrazana
seu Gallia nova quale discopri 5 anni fa Giovanni di Verrazzano
fiorentino per ordine et comandamēto del Chrystiannissimo Re di Francia_”
(Verrazana or New Gaul, which Giovanni di Verrazano, a Florentine,
discovered five years ago, by the order and commandment of the most
Christian king of France).

[429] The value of the map made by Hieronymus da Verrazzano is fully
discussed in Notes on Giovanni da Verrazano, and on a planisphere of 1529
illustrating his American voyage in 1524, with a reduced copy of the map,
by James Carson Brevoort. New York, 1874.

_Vide_ Voyage of Verrazzano: A chapter in the early history of maritime
discovery in America. By Henry C. Murphy. New York, 1873.

_Vide_ Verrazano, the Explorer: being a vindication of his letter and
voyage, with an examination of the map of Hieronimo da Verrazano and a
dissertation upon the globe of Vlpius. By B. F. De Costa. New York, 1880.

[430] The true and last discouerie of Florida made by Captain John
Ribault in the yeere 1562. Dedicated to a great noble man of Fraunce, and
translated into Englishe by one Thomas Hackit. Hakluyt’s Divers voyages.
1582.

The whole and true discoverye of Terra Florida (Englished, the Florishing
Land) conteyning as well the wonderful straunge Natures and Maners of
the People, with the mervylous Commodities and Treasures of the Country;
as also the pleasaunt Portes and Havens, and Wayes thereunto never found
out before the last year, 1562. Written in French by Captain Ribauld,
the fyrst that whollye discovered the same, and now newly set forthe in
Englishe, the xxx. of May, 1563.

[431] Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. 232.

[432] Brief recit, and succincte narration de la nauigation faicte es
ysles de Canada, Hochelage, and Saguenay & autres, auec particulieres
meurs, langaige & cerimonies des habitans d’icelles: fort delectable à
veoir. Auec priuilege. On les uend à Paris au second pillier en la grand
salle du Palais, & en la rue neufue Nostre dame à l’enseigne de lescu de
Frāce, par Ponce Roffet dict Fanchuer & Anthoine le Clerc frères. 1545.

[433] “_Septem hoies syluestres ex ea isula (que terra noua dicit)
Rothomagu adducti sunt._”—Eusebii Caesariensis episcopi chronicon. Paris.
1512. p. 172.

[434] “_Manant, s. m. Paysan habitant en un village ou en une metairie à
la campagne. Indigena, incola rusticus.... On appelle proprement manans,
ceux qui sont originaires du lieu; & habitans, ceux qui y sont venus
demeurer._”—Dictionnaire Trevoux. Nancy, 1740.

“_Manant (ma-nan), s. m. 1° Terme d’ancienne pratique. Habitant d’un
bourg ou d’un village.... 2° Absolument, dans le langage ordinaire, mais
archaïque, un paysan.... 3° Aujourd’hui, par extension, homme grossier,
mal élevé._”—Dictionnaire de la langue Française. Par É. Littré, de
l’académie Française. Paris, 1874.

[435] “The French call the Maques, _les Aniuez_, the Oneydes, _les
Onoyants_, the Onondagas, _les Montagneurs_, ... the Caiougas, _les
Petuneurs_, the Senegues, _les Paisans_.”—Observations of Wenworth
Greenhalgh in a journey from Albany to ye Indyans westward. 1677. London
documents in the office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y. vol.
iii. p. 167.

[436] “This region is called by the peasants (_paesani_)
Norumbega.”—Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. iii. fol. 353.

“_Quando per sua buona uentura intese da paesani, che erano giunto alla
marina alcuni nauiglia._” “Here by good luck he heard from the _natives_
that some boats had arrived off the coast.”—Dello Scoprimento dell’ Isole
Frislanda, Eslanda, Engronelanda, Estotilanda, & Icaria, fatto per due
fratelli Zeni.—_Vide_ Voyages of the Venetian brothers. Major. p. 24.

[437] Nieuwe Wereldt. Door Johannes de Laet. Tot Leyden. 1625. boek. iii.
cap. ix.

[438] Novus Orbis, seu descriptionis Indiæ Occidentalis, autore Joanne de
Laet. Antuerpiensi, 1633. lib. iii. cap. vii.

When the island in 1625 was purchased from the Manants by the agents of
the Dutch West India Company, the transaction is spoken of in a letter
addressed to their high mightinesses, the Lords States General of the
United Netherlands, as follows: “Our people have bought the island
Manhattes from the Wilden (wild men) for the value of sixty guilders
[about twenty-four dollars].”—Holland documents, in the office of the
Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y. vol. i. p. 155.

[439] Historische Verhael door Nicolaes à Wassenaer. Amsterdam.
1621-1632. deel vi. fol. 144.

[440] Nieuwe Wereldt. boeck. iii. cap. ix. Novus Orbis. lib. iii. cap. ix.

[441] Korte historial ende journals. Door David Pietersz. de Vries.
Hoorn, 1655. pp. 146, 151.

[442] New York Colonial MSS. xxxv.

Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, describing in 1632 the coast of
America in the vicinity of St. John’s River, New Brunswick, writes: “I
was at four islands near the river St. John.... Farther west there are
other islands, one of which extends six leagues, which is called by the
savages, _Menane_.” Opposite this word, Champlain writes on the marginal
space, “_L’isle de Manthane_,” adding a _t_ and an _h_ to the second
syllable of the words.—Les voyages de la Nouvelle France occidentale,
dicte Canada, faits par le Sr. de Champlain, Sanctongeois. Paris, 1632.
chap. ii. p. 58.

[443] In different historical works and documents the following modes of
spelling the word appear: Manatans, Manates, Manate, Manath, Manathans,
Manathe, Manathes, Manatte, Manetto, Menates, Minates, Manhates,
Manhatas, Manna-hatta, Manhattes, Manahattes, Manahatta, Mahates,
Manahatas, Manahatans, Manahata, Manhatens, Manhathans, Manhatoes,
Manhatoos, Manhatos, Manhattans, Manhatten, Manhattoes, Manhattons,
Manhattos, Manhuttons, Manahactas, Manchatas, Manades, Manadoes, Manados,
Menade, Monhatous, Munhaddon, and Manhattan.—_Vide_ General index to
documents relating to the colonial history of the State of New York.

[444] “_Anormé, ée, & anormal, adj. Ces mots ne sont plus en usage. Borel
dit qu’ils signifient qui est contre la régle commune, & qu’ énorme
vient de ces mots.... Énorme, adj. m & f. Prodigieux, éxcessif. Immanis,
immensus._”—Dictionnaire Trevoux.

“_Par extension de la signification morale à la signification physique,
extraordinaire par sa grosseur ou par sa grandeur. Un énorme bloc
de granit.... Rem. Quand énorme signifie excessif en grandeur ou en
grosseur, il se met avant ou après son substantif._”—Dictionnaire de la
langue Française. Littré.

[445] “_Berge (bèr-j’). s. f. 1°. Bord relevé, escarpé, d’une rivière,
d’un fossé, d’un chemin. 2°. Terme de marine. Certains rochers élevés à
pic sur l’eau...._

“_Etym. Espagn. et ital. barga. Diez ne veut pas qu’ il soit d’origine
germanique, et il en rapproche le kymri bargodi, surplomber, bargod,
bord. Cependant le bas-latin berga, garde, défense (qui vient de
l’allemand bergen, défendre, protéger), n’ aurait-il pas pu donner, par
une série de sens, défense, fortification, meule, et finalement bord
escarpé?_”—Dictionnaire de la langue Française. Littré.

[446] “_On appelle aussi en tèrme de Mèr, bèrges, ou barges, les grands
rochers, âpres & rélevez à pic; c’est-à-dire, droitement & à plomb,
comme les bèrges ou barges d’Olone: telles sont Sylla & Carybde vers
Messine._”—Dictionnaire Trevoux.

[447] Gerard Mercator was born at Rupelmonde, in East Flanders, on the
fifth of March, 1512. Mercator is the Latinized form of his German
name, _Kremer_, a tradesman, merchant. After studying at Bois-le-Duc,
in Brabant, he entered the university of Louvain. He selected for his
profession the manufacture of mathematical instruments and the art of
drawing and engraving. His cartographic fame began with the engraving
of a map of Palestine, in 1537. Next followed a map of Flanders, in
1540. Then in 1541, a large terrestrial globe, which he dedicated to the
“_Illustriss Dno Nicolao Perrenoto, Domino à Granuella_”; the original
drawings of which are preserved in the Royal library of Belgium, in
Brussels. In 1552, Mercator removed from Louvain to Duisburg, where, in
1569, he made his famous map of the world. He died in December, 1594.

[448] The original map is now in the possession of the count of Crawford
and Balcarres, Scotland.

[449] The edict of Francis I., appointing his mother, Louise of Savoy,
regent, is dated October, 17, 1524, but before this time she had
virtually assumed in part the direction of the government.

[450] The large gulf is that which is now called the Gulf of Mexico.

“A discourse of a great French sea-captain of the town of Dieppe
concerning the voyages made to the New World of the West Indies called
New France, from the fortieth to the forty-seventh parallel under the
arctic pole, and concerning the country of Brazil, Guinea, Isle of St.
Lawrence and that of Sumatra as far as the French caravels and ships
have sailed.”—Discorso d’vn gran capitano di mare Francese del Lvogno di
Dieppa. Raccolta di navigationi et viaggi. Ramusio. vol. iii. fol. 353.

[451] Les voyages auantureaux dv capitaine Ian Alfonce, Sainctongeois.
Auec Priuilege du Roy. A Poitiers, au Pelican par Ian de Marnef.

Jean Alphonse died about the year 1548.

[452] The two first leaves of the manuscript are lost and with them the
title of the work. Inasmuch as the subject of the work is defined in
what may be said is the preface, and as the manuscript at the beginning
and at the end bears the names of “Jehan Allefonsce” and “Raulin
Secalart, cosemographe de Honnefleur, 1545,” the title of the work maybe
reconstructed and written: Cosmographie de Jehan Allefonsce et Raulin
Secalart. 1545. The manuscript is a folio of one hundred and ninety-four
leaves. It is designated MS. No. 676.

[453] History of Long Island by Benjamin F. Thompson. 1843. p. 26.

[454] The tide flows up the Hudson as far as the city of Troy, about one
hundred and seventy-four miles from the ocean.

[455] An undeciphered word in the manuscript.

“_Je ditz que le cap de Saint Jehan, dict Cap à Breton, et le cap de
la Franciscane, sont nord-est et sud-ouest et prennent un quart de est
à ouest, et y a en la route cent quarante lieues et icy faict ung cap
appelé le cap de Norombègue. Le dict cap est par quarante et ung degrez
de la haulteur du polle artique. La dicte coste est toute sableuse ...
basse, sans nulle montaigne. Et au long laquelle coste y a plusieurs
isles de sable et coste fort dangereuse de bancs et rochiers._

“_Les gens de ceste coste et de Cap à Breton sont maulvaises gens,
puissans, grandz fleschiers, et sont gens qui vivent de poissons et de
chair, et ont aulcun motz et parlent quasi le mesme langaige de ceux
de Canada et sont grand peuple. Et ceux de Cap à Breton vont donner la
guerre à ceulx de la Terre neufve quand ils peschent et pour nulle chose
ne saulveroyent la vie à ung homme quand ilz le prennent, si n’est jeune
enfant ou jeune fille et sont si cruels que si prennent ung homme portant
barbe, ilz luy couppent les membres et les portent à leurs femmes et
enffans, affin d’estre vengez en cela. Et y a entre eux force pelleteries
de toustes bestes._

“_Audela du cap de Norombègue descend la rivière dudict Norombègue,
environ vingt et cinq lieues du cap. La dicte rivière est large de plus
de quarante lieues de latitude en son entrée et ceste largeur au dedans
bien trente ou quarante lieues el est toute pleine d’isles qui entrent
bien dix ou douze lieues en la mer et est fort dangereuse de rochers et
baptures. La dicte rivière est par quarante et deux degrez de la haulteur
du polle artique._

“_Audedans de la dicte rivière quinze lieues y a une ville qui s’ appelle
Norombègue et y a en elle de bonnes gens et y a force pelleteries de
toutes bestes. Les gens de la ville sont vestuz de pelleteries, portans
manteaulx de martres. Je me doubte que la dicte rivière va entrer en la
rivière de Hochelaga, car elle est sallée plus de quarante lieues en
dedans selon la dict des gens de la ville. Les gens parlent beaucoup de
motz qui approuchent du latin et adorent le soleil et sont belles gens et
grandz hommes. La terre de Norombègue est haulte et bonne._

“_En avant et audeça de la dicte rivière cent cinquante lieues y a
une isle qui s’ appelle la Vermonde qui est par les trente et trois
degrez de la haulteur du polle artique. Et du couste devers louest de
la dicte ville, y a forces rochiers qui s’ avancent dans la mer bien
quinze lieues, et du coste vers le nort y a une anse en laquelle y a
une petite isle laquelle est fort subjecte a tempester et n’ y peut
habiter._”—Cosmographie de Jehan Allefonsce et Raulin Secarlart. 1545.
fol. 184-189.

[456] The Bermudas or Somers’s islands lie between 32° 14´ and 32° 25´
north latitude, and 64° 38´ and 64° 52´ west longitude. In 1522, Juan
Bermudez, a Spaniard, while on a voyage from Spain to Cuba, was wrecked
on them. In 1609 Sir George Somers, sailing to Virginia, met with a
similar misfortune among them. They are said to number three hundred and
sixty-five, and are formed by coral reefs. The principal islands are
Bermuda or Long Island, St. George’s, Ireland, Somerset, and St. David’s
Island.

[457] The map is contained in the third volume of Ramusio’s Raccolta di
navigationi e viaggi.

[458] Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. iii. pp. 239, 240.

[459] Nieuwe Wereldt. boek iii. cap. ix.

[460] In the dedication of Laudonnière’s notable history to Sir Walter
Raleigh, dated March 1, 1586, the delayed publication of the work is
thus adverted to: “It having been suppressed and forgotten for nearly
twenty years, I have, with the diligence of Mr. Hakluyt, a gentleman
well-versed in geographical history and in various languages and
sciences, disinterred it, as it were, from the tomb, where it has lain so
long in useless repose, and brought it before the world.” M. Basanier,
the publisher, says he followed the text of the manuscript _literatim_,
without any emendation or changes.

[461] “That which is toward the arctic or north pole is called New
France insomuch as in the the year 1524, Jean Verrazano, a Florentine,
was sent by King Francis I. and Madame, the regent, his mother, to the
new countries, on which he landed and explored the whole coast extending
from the tropic of Cancer, namely, from the twenty-eighth to the fiftieth
degree, and still more toward the north.

“He planted at this place the ensigns and arms of the king of France,
so that the Spaniards themselves, who were there afterward, have called
this country French land. It extends in latitude from the twenty-fifth
to the fifty-fourth degree toward the north; and in longitude, from the
two hundred and tenth to the three hundred and thirtieth degree. The east
part of it is called by the moderns the land of Norumberge, which ends at
the Gulf of Gamas, which separates it from the island of Canada.”

“_Celle qui est vers le pole Arctique ou Septentrion, est nommee la
nouuelle France, pour autant que l’an mil cinq ces vingt quatre, Jean
Verrazano Florentin fut enuoyé par le Roy François premier, & par
Madame la Regente sa mere aux terres neuues, ausquelles il prit terre &
descouurit toute la coste qui est depuis le Tropique de Cancer, à scauoir
depuis le vingt-huictiesme degrè iusques au cinquantiesme: & encore plus
deuers le North. Il planta en ce païs les enseignes, & armoiries du Roy
de Frāce: de sorte que les Espagnols mesmes qui y furent depuis ont nomé
ce païs terre Francesque.... La partie Orientale d’ icelle est nommee par
les modernes terre de Norumberge, laquelle abortit au Golphe de Gamas,
qui la separe d’auec l’Isle de Canada._”—L’historie notable de la Florida
sitvee es Indes Occidentales. Par le Capitaine Laudonnière. Mise en
lumiere par M. Basanier. Paris, 1586. pp. 1, 2.

[462] The Dutch, when they took possession of Manants Island, in the
seventeenth century, called the lake _het Versch water_ (the Fresh
water). The island on which the French built the fort was, in 1728,
selected as the site of a powder-house, which was erected there to
isolate it from common intruders. John Fitch, in the summer of 1796,
navigated his small steamboat on the Fresh water lake.—_Vide_ History
of the city of New York. By David T. Valentine. 1853. pp. 11, 282-284.
History of the city of New York. By Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. New York and
Chicago, 1877-1880. vol. ii. pp. 423, 424, 565, 736. Documentary history
of New York. vol. ii. p. 603.

[463] André Thevet was born at Angoulême, France, about the second year
of the sixteenth century. He visited Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Palestine,
and on his return to France, in 1554, published an account of his
travels. In July, 1555, he accompanied Chevalier Villegagnon to Brazil to
plant a colony there of French Protestants. When Thevet arrived at Rio
Janeiro in November, he was taken sick, and to hasten his recovery he
embarked for France on the last day of January, 1556. The vessel sailed
on the home voyage northward along the coast of North America as far as
Newfoundland. Thevet died in Paris, November 23, 1590. He was the author
of the following works: “Cosmographie du Levant,” Lyons, 1554; “Les
singulairités de la France antarctique, autrement nommée Amérique, et
de plusieurs autres terres et îles découvertes de notre temps,” Paris,
1556; “Discours de la bataille de Dreux,” Paris, 1563; “Cosmographie
universelle, illustrée de diverses figures des choses les plus
remarquables vues par l’auteur,” Paris, 1571; and “Les vrais portraits et
vies des hommes illustres, grecs, latins, et païens, recueillés de leurs
tableaux, livres, médailles, antiques et modernes,” Paris, 1584.

[464] _Aggoncy_ or _Aggonzi_ signified the head. Voyages. Hakluyt. vol.
iii. p. 231.

[465] “_Ayant laissé la Florida à main gaulche, auec grand nombre
d’Isles, Islettes, Goulphes, & Promontoires, se presente l’vne des
belles riuieres qui soit en toute la terre, nómee de nous Norombègue,
& des Barbares Aggoncy, & marquee en quelques Cartes marines riuiere
grande. Il entre plusieurs autres belles riuieres dans ceste cy, &
sur laquelle iades les François feirent bastir vn petit fort, quelque
dix ou douze lieuës en icelle, lequel estoit enuironé d’eau doulce,
qui se va desgorger das icelle: & fut nommee ceste place le fort de
Norombègue._”—La cosmographie vniverselle. D’André Thevet. A Paris, 1575.
tom. ii. chap. iii. fol. 1008, b.

[466] The copy of Mercator’s map preserved in the National library, in
Paris, which is entitled “_Nova et aucta orbis terrae descriptio at usum
navigantium emendeté accommodata_,” measures seventy-eight and a half
inches by fifty inches. On this map is represented the earth _in plano_,
the meridians being paralleled and the parallels of latitude straight
lines, according to those principles of projection known as Mercator’s
projection. Respecting the latter, he says, in an inscription on the
chart: “On account of which considerations, we have increased gradually
the length of the degrees of latitude toward each pole proportionate
to the increase of the parallels beyond the length which they have on
the globe, relatively to the equator:—“_Quibus consideratis, gradus
latitudinum versus utrumque polum paulatim auximus pro incremento
parallelorum supra rationem quam habint ad acquinoctialem._” Abraham
Ortelius, the eminent cartographer, speaks of this map of Mercator’s as
“his never-enough-praised universal chart,—_Sua nunquam satis laudata
universalis tabula._”

[467] A copy of this chart in the general library of the State of New
York, at Albany, is entitled: “The Original Carte Figurative, of which
the above is an accurate fac-simile, was found on the 26th of June, 1841,
in the Locket-kas, of the States General, in the Royal archives at the
Hague.”

[468] “This map,” says John Romeyn Brodhead, the historian, “is
undoubtedly one of the most interesting memorials we have. It is about
three feet long, and shows, very minutely, the course of the Hudson River
from Manhattan to above Albany, as well as a portion of the sea-coast;
and contains, likewise, curious notes and memoranda about the neighboring
Indians,—the work, perhaps, of one of the companions of Hudson ... and
made within five years of the discovery of our river, its fidelity of
delineation is scarcely less remarkable than its high antiquity.”—Address
of J. Romeyn Brodhead, November 20, 1844. Coll. New York Historical Soc.
1845. p. 16.

[469] “_Ma so vele men heeft connen verstaen uyt i seggen ende beduyen
van de Maquaas so comen de Françoysen met sloupen tot bovem aen haer land
met haerluy handelen._”

[470] “_Fort van Nassoureen is binnen de wallen 58 voeten wydt in ’t
viercant de gracht is wydt 18 voeten._” Fort Nassau is 58 feet wide
between the walls and built as a square; the moat is 18 feet wide. “_’t
hujs is 36 voeten lanch en 26 wyt in t fort._” The house in the fort is
36 feet long and 26 wide.

[471] Journal of a voyage to New York and a tour in several of the
American colonies in 1679 and 1680, by Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter
of Wiewerd in Friesland. Translated from the original MSS. in the Dutch
for the Long Island Historical Society by Henry C. Murphy. Memoirs of
Long Island Hist. Soc. 1867. vol. i. p. 318.




INDEX.


  Abaco, Great and Little, 107, 184.

  Abaiòa, town, 224.

  Aborigines, 1, 18, 19. (_See_ _Indians_.)

  Abraham, 5.

  Abreu, Capistrano de, 213, 220.

  Abyla, mountain, 4.

  Abyssinia, 58.

  Acla, 228.

  Adam, tomb of, 57.

  Adam of Bremen, 40, 41.

  Adamanai, island, 154.

  Adams, Clement, 203.

  Æthiopia, 60, 212.

  Africa, 4, 5, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 69, 70, 73, 77, 85, 219.

  Afranius, L., 60.

  Agave, 249, 252.

  Agesingue, 85.

  Aggoncy, 351, 359, 360.

  Agnaneo, island, 221.

  Aguados, 78.

  Aguajaluco, 234.

  Aguilar, Geronimo de, 239, 240, 242, 267.

  Aguino, Marcos de, 265.

  Ajes, 129.

  Alabama, 275.

  Alaminos, 275.

  Albany, N. Y., 357, 361, 362, 363.

  Albuquerque, Affonso d’, 285.

  Alderley, Lord Stanley of, 295.

  Alexander VI., Pope, 142, 145.

  Alexandria, 59, 194.

  Alfonce, Jan. (_See_ _Alphonse_.)

  Alfragranus, 75, 76.

  Allfonsce, Jehan. (_See_ _Alphonse_.)

  Aloe, 124, 136.

  Alonso X., 61.

  Alphonse, Jean, 352, 353-356, 358.

  Altars, 235.

  Alvarador, Pedro de, 236.

  Amalfi, 63.

  Amasis, 2.

  Amatl, 264, 268.

  Amber, 264, 268.

  America, name, 218, 219.

  Amerige, name, 218, 219.

  Amoretti, Carlo, 295.

  Ampheres, 8.

  Ampolletas, 69.

  Anaximander, 71.

  Ancon bajo, 279.

  Andaman, 57.

  Andrada, Francisco d’, 300, 301.

  Andros, island, 107.

  Angelo, Michael, 265.

  Angels, 5.

  Anghiera, 181.

  Ango, Jean, 298, 339.

  Ango & Son, 339.

  Angoulême, 319.

  Animals, domesticated, 109, 116, 123, 147, 231, 268, 283.

  Animals, wild, 8, 166, 202, 215, 268, 308, 324.

  Anicatiye, 281.

  Aniuez, les, 346.

  Anormée Berge, L’, 348, 349, 350, 351;
    le fort d’, 359, 360.

  Anoxa, 281.

  Antediluvians, 1, 6.

  Antilla, island, 79, 84.

  Antipater, Cælius, 60.

  Antipodes, 88, 89.

  Antiquaries, Royal Soc. of Northern, 23, 33, 34.

  Apianus, Petrus, 219.

  Appalachee Bay, 279.

  Appalachicola Bay, 270.

  Aqueducts, 1, 10, 12, 252, 270.

  Arabian Gulf, 60.

  Arabian Sea, 59.

  Arambe, 281, 284.

  Arctic Ocean, 217.

  Aristotle, 71, 332, 336.

  Arna-Magnœan collection, 34.

  Arnold, Governor Benedict, 43.

  Arona, 181.

  Arana, Diego, 133, 149.

  Arroba, 123.

  Arrows. (_See_ _Indians_.)

  Arsenals, 264.

  Asher, G. M., 300.

  Asia, 4, 57, 142, 153, 192, 215, 219;
    wife of Prometheus, 219.

  Asius, 219.

  Astrolabe, 66-68, 79, 125, 128.

  Athenæus, 198.

  Athens, 17.

  Atlantic empire, 5, 8, 17;
    island, 4-21, 80;
    ocean, early navigation of, 4, 59;
    name, 7;
    impassable, 17, 18, 21;
    navigated, 72, 79, 80, 89;
    race, 17.

  Atlas, 7, 8.

  Atwood’s key, 107, 108.

  Aubert, Thomas, 298, 299.

  Autochthon, 8.

  Avila, Pedro Arias de, 229.

  Axes, 236, 237.

  Ayala, Pedro de, 195.

  Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, 279, 281, 282, 284.

  Azaës, 8.

  Azores, 67, 74, 78, 79, 140, 145, 157, 158, 213.


  Bacallaos or baccallaos, land of, 197, 200, 202, 330.

  Bachian, island, 294.

  Bacon, Roger, 62.

  Badajos, congress of, 296.

  Badakhshan, 57.

  Bahamas, the, 107.

  Bahia de todos os Santos, 214.

  Bakelos, name, 198, 203.

  Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de, 225-228.

  Banda, 292.

  Bardsen, Ivar, treatise of, 23.

  Barges or bèrges, 248, 349.

  Barrett, William, 188.

  Barros, Joam de, 68.

  Bartolomé, Francisco, 240.

  Basanier, M., 357, 358.

  Bastidas, Rodrigo de, 174, 225.

  Baths, 12, 266.

  Baya Isleos, 330.

  Beamish, North Ludlow, 25.

  Bear, the Great and Little, 213.

  Bears, 199, 202.

  Beaufort, N. C., 310.

  Behaim, Martin, 67, 80, 290.

  Behring’s Strait, 303, 308.

  Behring, Vitus, 308.

  Beimeni, island of, 221, 224, 278.

  Belem, 177.

  Belle Isle, Strait of, 297, 345.

  Bells, 176.

  Beneventanus, Marcus, 215.

  Benewitz, Peter, 219.

  Berg, Joshua van, 74.

  Bergenroth, G. A., 187.

  Bermudas, 356.

  Bermudez, Juan, 356.

  Bernaldez, Andres, 120.

  Bernardino, Cardinal, 154.

  Berruguette, Alonso, 265.

  Beseneghe, 212.

  Bethlem, 177.

  Bethune, Vice-admiral, 64.

  Bible, La, 61.

  Biddle, Richard, 195.

  Bimini, fountain of, 222, 224;
    island of, 224, 278.

  Birds, 100, 103, 104, 105, 109, 116, 122, 123, 147, 166, 181, 203,
        308.

  Bjanneyjar, 34.

  Bjarni, voyages of, 25-27, 37, 40.

  Block Island, 320.

  Blood-letting, 164, 298.

  Bobadilla, Francisco de, 172.

  Boemia, Martin of, 290.

  Bohemia, Martin of, 67.

  Bohio or Bosio, 114, 130, 133.

  Boiuca, 221.

  Borriquen, island of, 148, 221.

  Boulenger, Ludovicus, 219.

  Bourbon, Charles de, 338.

  Boursier, Jacques, 339.

  Bows. (_See_ _Indians_.)

  Bradley, Thomas, 195.

  Brahmans, 57.

  Brass, 8, 269.

  Brattahlid, 24, 28.

  Brazil, 173, 206, 207, 212, 213, 214, 216, 220, 228, 286, 300, 352,
        359;
    island of, 195;
    port of, 175, 179.

  Brazil-wood, 216, 229, 286.

  Breidafjörd, 25.

  Bretons, 297.

  Brevoort, James Carson, 343.

  Bridges, 164, 258, 270.

  Brisa or Briso, island, 320.

  Bristol, 73, 188, 189, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197, 199.

  Britons, 297.

  Brittany, 301, 304.

  Brodhead, John Romeyn, 362.

  Brown, Rawdon, 190.

  Brunelleschi, Alderotto, 338.

  Buil, Friar Bernardo, 152, 196.

  Burma, 57.

  Bygd, 24.


  Cabo Bajo, 330.

  Cabo Casinas, 175.

  Cabo de Arenas, 330.

  Cabo de Boa Esperança, 69.

  Cabo de Campana, 126.

  Cabo de Cinquin, 127.

  Cabo de Corrientes, 224.

  Cabo de Cuba, 125.

  Cabo de las Conchas, 171.

  Cabo de las Higueras, 278.

  Cabo del Elefante, 127.

  Cabo del Estrella, 127.

  Cabo del Isles, 115.

  Cabo del Monte, 127.

  Cabo del Pico, 126.

  Cabo de Palmas, 118.

  Cabo de San Nicolas, 152.

  Cabo de Santa Elena, 279, 280, 284, 330.

  Cabo Deseado, 292, 293.

  Cabo Fuerte, 152.

  Cabo Hermoso, 114.

  Cabo Lindo, 127.

  Cabo Santa Cruz, 154.

  Cabo Santa Maria de la Consolacion, 174.

  Caboto, Giovanni, his proposals to Henry VII. of England; sails from
        Bristol, 188;
    his voyage, 188, 189;
    Prima Tierra Vista, 190;
    island of Sant Joan, 190;
    maps, 185, 191, 192;
    Soncino’s account of his discoveries, 192-194;
    his globe, 193;
    Cabot’s second voyage, 194, 195;
    described, 195, 196;
    field of his discoveries, 185, 201, 210, 300.

  Caboto, Ludovicus (Lewis), 188.

  Caboto, Sanctus, 188.

  Caboto, Sebastiano, his voyages, 196-199;
    extent of his explorations, 200, 202;
    his maps and discoveries, 203, 204;
    congress of Badajos, 296.

  Cabo Tormentoso, 69, 205.

  Cabot. (_See_ _Caboto_.)

  Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, 206, 207.

  Cacamatzin, prince of, 256, 260.

  Cacao, 267;
    liquor, 263;
    nuts, 176, 269.

  Cadamosto, Luigi da, 66, 300.

  Cadiz, 7, 60. (_See_ _Gades_.)

  Cæsar, calendar of Julius, 107.

  Caiougas, 346.

  Calachionies, 239.

  Calicut, 206, 336.

  Calpe, mountain, 4.

  Cam, Diogo, 67.

  Cambaluc, 57.

  Camos, Martin, 238.

  Campeachy, 230, 238.

  Canada, 345, 354, 355;
    river of, 357;
    island of, 357, 358.

  Canals, 9, 10, 13, 14, 252.

  Canary Islands, 72, 74, 79, 95, 97, 104, 134, 158, 160.

  Cañaveral, 279.

  Cannibals. (_See_ _Indians_.)

  Canoes. (_See_ _Indians_.)

  Cano, Sebastian del, 295.

  Canso, Strait of, 201.

  Cantino, Alberto, 211.

  Capac, 289.

  Cap de la Franciscane, 354.

  Cape Bojador, 64, 66, 145.

  Cape Breton, 342, 351, 354, 355.

  Cape Breton Island, 191, 201, 297.

  Cape Briton. (_See_ _Cape Breton_.)

  Cape Buona Vista, 297.

  Cape Catticara, 293.

  Cape Charles, 314.

  Cape Comorin, 294.

  Cape de Bertoni. (_See_ _Cape Breton_.)

  Cape de Não, 63, 64.

  C. de S. Maria, 316, 319.

  Cape Fear, 306.

  Cape Henry, 314.

  Cape Lookout, 310.

  Cape Neddock, 329.

  Cape North, 201.

  Cape of England, 185, 201.

  Cape of Florida, 224.

  Cape of Good Hope, 69, 85, 205, 323.

  Cape of Norombègue, 354, 355.

  Cape of St. John, 354.

  Cape of St. Mary, 316, 319.

  Cape of the Bretons, 297. (_See_ _Cape Breton_.)

  Cape of the Franciscan, 354.

  Cape of the Holy Spirit, 289.

  Cape of the Virgins, 289, 292.

  Cape Prince of Wales, 308.

  Cape Ras, 297.

  Cape Ray, 201.

  Cape St. Augustine, 212, 229, 286.

  Cape St. Roque, 228.

  Cape St. Vincent, 77, 84.

  Cape Verd, 74, 78.

  Cape Verd Islands, 72, 74, 75, 86, 145, 146, 168.

  Caradoc of Llancarvan, 43.

  Caravels, 96, 180.

  Caria, sierras of, 215.

  Cariay, 178.

  Caribbees, 148.

  Caribbean Islands, 174.

  Caribi, 160.

  Caris, island of, 135.

  Carixagusignanin, 281.

  Carli, Fernando, 302, 335.

  Carli, Francisco, 338.

  Carolinas, archipelago, 85.

  Carpets, 260.

  Carreira, Visconde da, 64.

  Carroll, B. R., 309.

  Carthagena, Juan de, 289.

  Carthaginian merchants, 79.

  Cartier, Jacques, 42, 344, 345, 352.

  Cartier, John, 195.

  Carvajal, Alonzo Sanchez de, 152.

  Casada, Caspar de, 289, 292.

  Casas, Bartolomé de las, 107, 118, 126.

  Caspian Sea, 75, 334.

  Cassava, 242.

  Cassia, 213, 216.

  Castellanos de Oro, 250.

  Castilblanco, 250.

  Castilla del Oro, 183.

  Castle Island, 361, 362, 363.

  Cathay, 51, 58, 72, 74, 82, 84, 118, 125, 174, 175, 178, 180, 182,
        186, 188, 199, 201, 205, 207, 284, 297, 301, 306, 332, 336.

  Cat Island, 107, 108.

  Cattigara, 227.

  Caunaboa, 149, 156.

  Causeways, 256, 257, 258, 270.

  Cautio, 223.

  Cavalcanti, Guido, 62.

  Cavo de Inglaterra, 185, 201.

  Cāzabi, 164.

  Cazadilla, Diego Ortiz de, 86.

  Celer, Q. Metellus, 60.

  Cemies, 154, 155.

  Cempoalla, 249.

  Ceuta, 63.

  Ceylon, 57.

  Chabot Philippe, 339.

  Chalchihuis stones, 251, 259, 265.

  Champlain, Samuel de, 68, 347, 348.

  Champoton, 230, 233.

  Chapultepec, 252, 270.

  Charles V., of Spain, 191, 199, 240, 249.

  Charles’s wain, 102.

  Charybdis, 349.

  Chehkiang, 83.

  Chersonesus aurea, 226, 227.

  Chesapeake Bay, 314, 343.

  Chiahuitzla, 249.

  Chicora, 280, 281, 282.

  Chila, 277.

  China, 55, 57, 74, 75, 82, 84.

  Cholula, 254.

  Churchhill, collections of A. and J., 71.

  Cibao, mines of, 150.

  Cimbri, 334.

  Cinnamon, 345.

  Cintra, Pedro de, 66.

  Cipango, 84, 204, 111, 114, 115, 116, 193.

  Circumnavigation of the earth, 295.

  Claude, wife of Francis I., 320.

  Claude or Claudia, island, 320.

  Cleasby, Richard, 33.

  Cleito, 7, 11.

  Clement IV., Pope, 52.

  Climates, 166, 299, 336.

  Cloves, 294, 345.

  Cocayo, 281.

  Cocca, Antonia, 289.

  Cochin China, 57.

  Codfish, 198, 202, 203.

  Coelho, Gonçalo, 215.

  Coelho, Nicolas, 206.

  Cogswell, Joseph G., 307.

  Cohoes, N. Y., 351.

  Cojohuacan, 258, 274;
    prince of, 260.

  Colba, 114.

  Colibre, 135.

  Coligni, Admiral Gaspard de, 340.

  Coloma, Juan de, 93.

  Colombo, Cristoforo. (_See_ _Christopher Columbus_.)

  Colombo, Dominico, 70.

  Colombo, Fernando. (_See_ _Ferdinand Columbus_.)

  Colon, Cristobal. (_See_ _Christopher Columbus_.)

  Colon, Diego. (_See_ _Diego Columbus_.)

  Colon, Luis, 71.

  Columbus, Bartolomé, 86, 87, 172.

  Columbus, Christopher, birthplace, 70;
    parents, 70;
    sea-faring, 72, 73;
    geographical knowledge, 74-80;
    correspondence with Toscanelli, 80;
    proposals to King John II., of Portugal, 85;
    sends his brother to England, 86;
    goes to Spain, 87;
    his project discussed at Salamanca, 87-90;
    its consideration postponed by Ferdinand and Isabella, 90;
    intends to go to France, 90;
    befriended by Friar Juan Perez, 90, 91;
    another conference, 91;
    unfavorable decision, 91;
    Luis de Santángel’s help, 92;
    Columbus commissioned, 93-95;
    intends to make a sea-chart, 96;
    sails from Palos, 96;
    keeps his reckoning short, 98;
    observes the variations of the magnetic needle, 98, 99;
    conduct of his crew, 100-102;
    discovers island of Guanahani, 107;
    his landing, 108;
    the people, 108-110;
    calls the island San Salvador, 111;
    discovers the islands of Santa Maria de la Concepcion, Fernandina,
        Isabela, and Cuba, 113-116;
    believes he has reached Asia, 120;
    sends embassadors to the Grand Khan of Cathay, 120;
    productions of Cuba, 121;
    natives, 122, 123;
    returns from the north, 124;
    his high latitudes, 126;
    explores the coast of Española, 127, 128;
    its natives, productions, and soil, 128-130;
    builds Villa de la Navidad, 132, 133;
    sails for Spain, 135;
    the voyage, 137;
    anchors in the Tagus, 140;
    visits the king of Portugal, 141;
    arrives at Palos, 141;
    celebration of his discoveries, 142-144.

  Columbus’s second voyage, 146;
    discovers the islands of Dominica, Marigalante, Santa Maria de
        Guadalupe, 146, 147;
    his sea-chart, 148;
    arrives at Villa de la Navidad, 148;
    builds the town of Isabela and castle of San Tomas, 150, 151;
    appoints a council, 152;
    coasts Cuba, 152;
    believes it to be Asia, 153;
    sails for Spain, his compasses, 157;
    his pilots, 158;
    arrives at Cadiz, 159;
    goes to Burgos, 159;
    his privileges prejudiced, 167.

  Columbus’s third voyage, 168;
    discovers the island of Trinidad, 169;
    sees the continent, 169;
    Tierra de Gracia, 170;
    enters the Gulf of Paria, 171;
    map of the country, 171;
    reaches Española, 172;
    sent in chains to Spain, 172.

  Columbus’s fourth voyage, 174;
    discovers the island of Mantinino, 175;
    reaches Española, 175;
    sails to the Guanaia islands, 175;
    captures a canoe laden with Indian commodities, 175;
    explores the coast of Veragua, 177-187, 226, 227;
    sails to Jamaica, 180;
    returns to Spain, 182;
    dies at Valladolid, 182;
    his map, 182, 183, 300.

  Columbus, Diego, 87, 90, 152, 168.

  Columbus, Ferdinand, 70, 71, 168.

  Comargo, 277, 278.

  Combahee River, 284.

  Comogre, 225.

  Compass. (_See_ _Mariner’s compass_.)

  Conchillos, Lopez de, 276.

  Connecticut, 253, 354;
    river, 354.

  Contarini, Gasparo, 199.

  Copper, 8, 10, 111, 176, 178, 199, 236, 237, 269, 322, 328.

  Coquibacoa, Gulf of, 164.

  Cordoba, Francisco Hernando de, 229, 233, 238, 278.

  Corn, 283.

  Coronel, Pedro Fernandez, 152.

  Correa, Pedro, 77.

  Cortereal, Gaspar, 207-211.

  Cortereal, João Vaz, 207.

  Cortereal, Miguel, 207, 208, 211.

  Cortes, Hernando. Diego Velasquez appoints him captain-general, 237;
    sails to the island of Cozumel, 238;
    receives embassadors from Montezuma, 239;
    the presents, 243-245;
    explores the coast of Mexico, 247;
    builds Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, 249;
    begins his march toward the city of Mexico, 249;
    engagements with the Tlascallans, 250;
    enters Tlascalla, 251;
    marches to Cholula, 253;
    escorted into the city of Mexico by Montezuma, 259-261;
    visits the market-place and the temple of Huitzilopochtli, 267-272;
    besieges the city, 273;
    sends presents to the emperor, 274.

  Corvea, Gaspar, 206.

  Corvo, island, 100, 158.

  Cosa, Juan de la, 173, 183, 184, 185, 201.

  Cosco, Leander de, 142.

  Cotastlan, 239, 266.

  Cotta, Joannes, 215.

  Cotton, 109, 110, 111, 119, 121, 123, 124, 136, 148, 176, 178, 265,
        284.

  Cotys, 219.

  Coyba, 226.

  Cozumel, 238, 239.

  Crato, prior of, 141.

  Crawford and Balcarres, count of, 350.

  Critias, or the Atlantic, 3.

  Crœsus, 2.

  Crooked Island, 107.

  Crosses, 230.

  Cruz, Juan de la, 265.

  Cuba, 114, 115, 116, 118, 126, 127, 128, 152, 153, 154, 184, 197,
        202, 216, 232.

  Cuitlahuac, prince of, 260.

  Cuitlahuatzin, 270.

  Culba, 232.

  Culhua, 248.

  Culua, 235.

  Cusa, Cardinal Nicolaus de, 80.


  Dagaghiano, Pier Francisco, 338.

  Dagmala-stad, 31-33.

  Datha, 282.

  Damascus, 59.

  Dankers, Jasper, 363.

  Darien, isthmus, 174, 177, 225, 226, 227, 228, 315, 342.

  Davila, Pedrarias, 228.

  Davis, Henry, 19.

  Davis’s Strait, 318.

  Declination, line of, 98, 99, 102, 158.

  De Costa, B. F., 343.

  Degree, measures of, 76, 83, 98.

  Delaware Bay, 315.

  Demons, 217, 288.

  Demorgorgon, 198.

  Denis, Jean, 298.

  Denmark, 334.

  Desmarquets, Jean Antoine, 299.

  Despinolles, Pierre, 339.

  Diaprepes, 8.

  Dias, Bartolomeu, 69, 205.

  Diaz, Bernal, 21, 229;
    Father Juan, 240.

  Diepa or Dieppe, 297, 298, 307, 334, 351, 352.

  Dighton rock, 42.

  Disraeli, 350.

  Dods, Marcus, 89.

  Dogs, 123, 268.

  Dominica, island of, 146.

  Doña Marina, 240, 242, 259, 260, 261, 267.

  Drake, Sir Francis, 292.

  Drogio, island of, 47, 49.

  Ducats, 244, 245.

  Duero, Andres de, 237.

  Duharhe, 281, 283.

  Duisburg, 360.

  Dwarfs, 263.


  Eannes, Gil, 65.

  Eannes de Azurara, Gomes, 64.

  Earth, globular form of, 71, 88, 193;
    circumference of, 74, 75, 83;
    circumnavigation of, 295.

  East Cape, 308.

  East Indies, 145.

  East River, 317.

  Eden, Richard, 199.

  Egypt, priests of, 2, 3, 21;
    invaded, 5, 8;
    gods rule in, 6, 15;
    stars seen in, 72.

  Egyptians, chroniclers, 2, 4, 15;
    chronology of, 17;
    ships of, 18;
    hermetic books of, 20.

  Eider-ducks, 35.

  Ekallumiut, 30.

  Elasippus, 8.

  El Crespello, 265.

  Elephants, 8, 9.

  El Gran Cairo, 229.

  El Marien, 249.

  Elohim, 6.

  Emeralds, 244.

  Emmanuel, king of Portugal, 207, 211.

  England, 73, 74, 186, 188.

  Eric, the Red, 23, 24;
    the wanderer, 25.

  Escovedo, Rodrigo de, 108, 133, 149.

  Española, 104, 128, 130, 133, 135, 148, 154, 159, 172, 175, 179, 182,
        184.

  Espiritu Santo, Rio del, 278;
    Baya del, 279.

  Estotiland, 46, 49, 50.

  Estrithson, Sveyn, king of Denmark, 40.

  Ethiopia, 60, 212.

  Eudæmon, 8.

  Eudoxus, 60.

  Euenor, 6, 7.

  Eugene IV., Pope, 83.

  Eumelus, 7.

  Europa, 219.

  Europe, 4, 5, 219.

  Eusebius, 299, 345.

  Euthydemus, 198.

  Euxine Sea, 52.

  Evangelista, island of, 153, 154.

  Everett, E., 34.

  Eyktar-stad, 31-33.

  Eynoult, Guillaume, 340.

  Ezcapuzalco, 265.


  Fabian, Robert, 197.

  Faroe islands, 22, 23.

  Fayal, island of, 67, 68.

  Ferdinand, king of Spain, 70, 72, 142, 143, 144, 159, 160, 168, 172,
        187, 195, 216.

  Fernandina, 113.

  Fish, 198, 202, 209, 241.

  Fitch, John, 359.

  Flateyensis, codex, 25.

  Flatö, 25;
    book of, 25.

  Floki, the viking, 23.

  Flores island, 78.

  Florida, 124, 126, 200, 223-225, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 307, 330,
        342, 344, 351, 352, 357, 358.

  Flowers, 9, 115, 116, 251, 266, 309, 314.

  Fonseca, Juan Rodriguez de, 168, 276.

  Fornari, Baltano de, 71.

  Fort Caroline, 357.

  Fort Nassau, 363.

  Fortunate Islands, 74, 75, 331, 332.

  Foster, Andrew, 159.

  Fowls, 268, 283.

  Fox, G. V., 98, 107, 108.

  Francis I., king of France, 300, 301, 319, 320, 338, 344, 351, 352,
        357, 358.

  Francesca, 307, 330, 351.

  Frederic III., of Denmark, 25, 34.

  Freydis, 39.

  Frisland, island of, 45, 46, 49, 50, 73;
    story of a fisherman of, 44, 46-50.

  Frizeland, 73.

  Fruits, 9, 115, 116, 147, 166, 171, 241, 263, 324, 352.

  Fucus natans, 99, 100.

  Fuenterabia, 135, 183, 227.

  Fuerteventura, island of, 97.

  Fundy, Bay of, 201.

  Furdustrandir, 35, 41.


  Gadeira, 7.

  Gadeirica, 7.

  Galleys, 21.

  Galicia, 135, 141.

  Gallia Nova, 343.

  Galvano, Antonio, 64, 144, 200.

  Gama, Vasco da, 205, 206.

  Gamart of Rouen, 298.

  Gamlason, Thorhall, 34.

  Gamas, Gulf of, 357, 358.

  Ganges, 142, 154, 226.

  Gardens, 12, 256, 257, 266.

  Garay, Francisco de, 275, 278.

  Gastaldi, Giacomo de, 326, 356.

  Gaul, 61.

  Georgia, State of, 279.

  Germany, 61.

  Giants, 6, 252, 253, 274, 282, 287.

  Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 200, 201.

  Ginnungagap, 41.

  Gioja, Flavia, 63.

  Godeffroy, Adam, 340.

  Gods, divide the earth, 5;
    marry the daughters of man, 5;
    rule in Egypt, 6, 15;
    half-gods, 6.

  Góes, Damião de, 208.

  Golfo de las Flechas, 134, 135.

  Golfo de las Perlas, 171.

  Golfo Dulce, 214.

  Gold, 111, 115, 116, 117, 132, 136, 149, 151, 167, 178, 179, 216,
        226, 229, 234, 236, 243, 251, 265, 269, 274.

  Gomara, Francisco Lopez de, 199, 200.

  Gomera, island of, 97, 99.

  Gomez, Estevan, 291, 296.

  Gonçalves, André, 213.

  Graah, Captain W. A., 30, 31.

  Gracia, Tierra de, 170.

  Greenland, from Iceland, 22;
    discovered, 24;
    eastern district in, 25;
    sea of, 26, 216, 217;
    from Newfoundland, 28.

  Grain, 23, 176, 178, 268, 283, 325.

  Grand Canary, 97.

  Grande River, 318, 319, 320, 346, 348, 351, 353, 356, 358, 359, 360.

  Grand Khan of Cathay, 52, 54, 55, 56, 58, 82, 94, 115, 117, 118, 120,
        124, 153, 189.

  Grand Scarp, the, 348.

  Grand Turk Island, 78.

  Grapes, 42, 151, 313.

  Gratiosa, island, 107.

  Great Exuma Island, 107.

  Greco, wind, 161.

  Greece, invasion of, 5.

  Greeks, early civilization of the, 4.

  Greene, G. W., 302.

  Greenhalgh, Wenworth, 346.

  Gregory XIII., calendar of Pope, 107.

  Grijalva, Juan de, 233, 237, 247, 278.

  Grimolfson, Bjarni, 34.

  Groote River, 318, 319, 346.

  Guacanagari, 149.

  Guacasualco River, 236.

  Guacaya, 281, 284.

  Guadalupe, 147, 148, 157.

  Gualdape, 280.

  Guanaco, the, 287.

  Guanahani, the island, 107.

  Guanaia islands, 175, 214.

  Guatemala, 229.

  Guazpaltepec, 239.

  Gudrid, 40.

  Guerrero, Gonzalo, 239.

  Guinea, 64, 67, 74, 81, 85, 88, 352.

  Guisay, 115, 120. (_See_ _Quinsay_.)

  Gulf of Castles, 267.

  Gulf of Coquibacoa, 164.

  Gulf of Gamas, 357, 358.

  Gulf of Mexico, 352.

  Gulf of St. Lawrence, 297.

  Gulf of Venezuela, 164.

  Gulf Stream, the, 223.

  Gunnbjörn, the Norwegian, 23;
   skerries, 24.

  Gutierrez, Pedro, 107, 133, 149.

  Guyneth, Madoc, 43;
    Owen, 43, 44.

  Guyot, 61.


  Habacoa, 184.

  Hackit, Thomas, 344.

  Haki, 35.

  Hakluyt, Richard, 42, 44, 64, 203, 204, 357.

  Hakon, Jónn, son of, 25.

  Half Moon, 362.

  Hamacas, 147, 156.

  Hammocks, 147, 156, 163, 286.

  Hangchau, 83.

  Hanno, 60.

  Harlem River, 353.

  Harrisse, Henry, 160, 184.

  Hatchets, 176.

  Hauslab, M. le général de, 220.

  Havannah, the, 249.

  Hawks, 22.

  Hayti, 128, 167.

  Hekja, 35.

  Hell-Gate, 353.

  Helluland, 28, 34, 41, 42.

  Henderson, Ebenezer, 23.

  Henry, prince of Portugal, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 79.

  Henry II. of France, 350.

  Henry VII., king of England, 86, 186, 187, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197,
        199, 200, 201;
    VIII., 315, 341.

  Herbs, 115, 147, 173, 174, 178.

  Hercules, pillars of, 4, 7, 17, 18, 21, 59, 60, 72, 197, 198.

  Herjulf, 24.

  Herjulfsnes, 24, 25.

  Herodotus, 2, 59.

  Heroes, 6.

  Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de, 215.

  Hetland, 22.

  Hieroglyphics, 1, 177, 249.

  Hitha, 283.

  Hochelaga, 345;
    river of, 354, 356.

  Hojeda, Alonzo de, 150, 173, 183.

  Holy Sepulchre, 133.

  Honduras, Bay of, 175, 214.

  Honfleur, 298.

  Hóp, 37, 40.

  Horns, 23.

  Horses, 12.

  Huag, 281.

  Hudson, Henry, 318, 361, 362.

  Hudson River, 316, 317, 318, 319, 269-272, 353, 357, 362.

  Huexotzinco, 258.

  Huitzilopochtli, idol, 247;
    temple of, 267.

  Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von, 44, 56, 57, 183.

  Hvarf, 24.

  Hvidserk, 24, 25.

  Hylacomylus, 218.


  Iberian peninsula, 84.

  Ibernia, 192, 194.

  Icaria, 49.

  Iceland, 22, 23, 24, 25, 45, 193, 199. (_See_ _Island_.)

  Ignami, 164.

  Incense, 235.

  India, 57, 61, 69, 70, 74, 75, 77, 181, 206.

  Indian Ocean, 314.

  Indians (_See also_ _Manants_, _Paesani_, _Paysans_, _Wild Men_,
        _Wilden_);
    ancestors, 252, 253;
    axes, 236, 237, 324;
    ball-players, 284;
    bows and arrows, 134, 136, 162, 202, 210, 230, 252, 265, 287, 288,
        299, 312, 324, 355;
    burial, 156, 163;
    caciques, 129, 240, 258, 259, 267;
    cannibals, 135, 148, 164, 216;
    canoes, 110, 119, 135, 164, 165, 175, 258, 299, 312, 313, 324;
    carpenters, 266;
    carpets, 260;
    cities, 251, 254, 256, 258, 270;
    clothing, 123, 170, 176, 178, 201, 202, 209, 216, 230, 234, 235,
        243, 280, 284, 286, 287, 288, 298, 306, 312, 317, 321, 322,
        328, 356;
    clubs, 162, 202;
    color, 123, 129, 130, 161, 169, 209, 281, 282, 284, 287, 299, 307,
        311, 312, 321;
    concubines, 262, 266;
    courts, 268;
    cuirasses, 230, 252, 263;
    darts, 202;
    dwellings, 116, 117, 130, 163, 164, 170, 209, 225, 286, 288, 314,
        324, 325;
    edifices, 230, 256, 257, 258, 260, 261, 272;
    enchanters, 178, 217;
    eyes, 110, 307, 322;
    fabrics, 170, 176, 178, 234, 241, 243, 244, 250, 254, 256, 265,
        266, 267;
    faces, 110, 287, 307, 311, 321;
    fans, 245;
    farmer-generals, 239;
    feather-work, 216, 230, 241, 245, 259;
    fishing-hooks, 116, 178;
    fishing-nets, 116, 178, 189;
    flags, 230;
    food, 129, 162, 164, 176, 201, 232, 234, 241, 262, 264, 268, 288,
        299, 312, 325, 328;
    friendliness, 108, 298, 306, 310, 311, 316, 317, 321, 322, 352, 355;
    furniture, 244, 260, 268;
    giants, 252, 253, 282, 287;
    goldsmiths, 265;
    hair, 109, 110, 136, 161, 170, 281, 282, 283, 286, 287, 288, 299,
        307, 321, 322;
    hammocks, 147, 156, 163, 286;
    helmets, 243, 265;
    hieroglyphics, 1, 177, 249;
    idols, 118, 154, 155, 229, 230, 232, 234, 235, 247, 270, 271, 272;
    implements, 176, 189, 236, 237, 324;
    javelins, 109, 110, 134;
    kidnaped, 279, 280, 281;
    kings, 216, 323;
    knives, 268;
    lances, 162, 202, 230, 231, 252, 264;
    language, 120, 162, 201, 210, 299, 355, 356;
    lapidaries, 265;
    liquors, 263;
    longevity, 216;
    magistrates, 130;
    markets, 267, 271;
    masks, 129;
    medicine, 164, 216, 288, 325;
    merchandize, 267, 268;
    mirrors, 244;
    money, 176, 269;
    morions, 265;
    musical instruments, 230, 272;
    name, 345;
    oars, 110, 324;
    occupation, 12, 13, 14, 15, 178, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268;
    ornaments, 111, 119, 163, 170, 225, 229, 234, 236, 241, 243, 244,
        248, 250, 267, 274, 287, 321, 322, 328;
    palaces, 225, 256, 266;
    papermakers, 252, 264;
    painters, 242, 265;
    painted faces, 109, 130, 210, 230, 286, 287, 288, 299, 323;
    paintings, 230, 252;
    phlebotomy practised, 164, 288;
    pikes, 252, 264;
    pipes, 264;
    plantations, 230, 257;
    police-system, 267;
    priests, 235, 269, 283;
    public works, 9, 10, 252, 256, 257, 258, 270;
    religion, 110, 119, 123, 154, 155, 156, 216, 229, 286, 288, 299,
        330, 331, 356;
    sacrifices, 16, 235, 239, 247, 254, 270-272;
    sculptors, 265;
    sculptures, 177, 178, 229, 230;
    sepulchre, 178;
    servants, 264;
    shields, 230, 234, 243, 252, 264, 265;
    shoes, 244, 288;
    silversmiths, 265;
    slaves, 110, 136, 167, 210, 225, 267, 269;
    slings, 202, 230, 252;
    snares, 189, 324;
    songs, 284, 325;
    spinners, 109, 110;
    stature, 109, 110, 129, 161, 209, 307, 311, 321, 356;
    stone-cutters, 266;
    superstitions, 156;
    swords, 176, 230, 231, 252, 264;
    tanners, 268;
    temples, 11, 12, 229, 230, 234, 235, 254, 260, 270, 271;
    theatres, 266;
    thread, 267, 284, 311;
    tobacco, 121, 264, 268;
    traditions, 252, 284, 363;
    traffic, 13, 109, 110, 111, 129, 174, 298, 328;
    utensils, 162, 262;
    villages, 13, 112, 117, 122, 130;
    wares, 263, 267, 268, 269;
    warlike, 355;
    warriors, 12, 14, 15, 230, 231, 251, 252;
    weaving, 266;
    wines, 171, 178;
    wives, 162, 262, 323;
    women, 122, 129, 162, 171, 262, 281, 284, 288, 311, 312, 322.

  Indies, 81, 134, 159, 187.

  Infante Fortuna, 144.

  Insubria, 283.

  Inzignanin, 284.

  Ilhas Dezertas, 304.

  Ireland, 192, 194, 196;
    island of, 356. (_See_ _Ibernia_.)

  Isabela, island of, 113, 115;
    town of, 150, 154, 156, 157.

  Isabella, queen of Spain, 72, 91, 92, 93, 142, 158, 159, 167, 168,
        172, 187, 195.

  Isla Blanca, 234.

  Isla de las Bocas, 179.

  Island, 23, 55. (_See_ _Iceland_.)

  Isla Rica, 228.

  Isla Santa, 169.

  Isole de Ladroni, 294.

  Isole Sfortunato, 292.

  Ithaca, 52.

  Iti, island of, 167.

  Iuca, 164.

  Iucatan, 215. (_See_ _Yucatan_.)

  Iztapalapan, 256, 270.


  Jackals, 268.

  Jacobus, 61.

  Jacquet, 56.

  Jamaica, 133, 152, 154, 180, 182.

  Japan, 57, 84, 111.

  Java, 57, 294.

  Jerez of Ayamonte, Rodrigo de, 120.

  Jerusalem, conquest of, 133.

  Jesters, 263.

  John I., king of Portugal, 63;
    II., 67, 69, 85;
    III., 300, 301.

  Jomard, M., 185.

  Jonas, Arngrim, 33.

  Jones, Inigo, 43.

  Jordan River, 280, 284.

  Joseph, Master, 67.

  Juan, Prince, 70, 159, 168.

  Juana, island, 127, 182.

  Juanillo, 232.

  Juet, Robert, 319.


  Karlsefne, Snorro, 40;
    Thorfinn, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40.

  Kelly, Patrick, 237.

  Kennebec River, 354.

  Kettell, Samuel, 111, 126.

  Khotan, 57.

  Kingsborough, collection of Lord, 21.

  Kjalarnes, 35.

  Klaproth, 56.

  Knoll, Conrad, 218.


  La Baya del Rio, 330.

  Labrador, cape of, 199;
    land of, 200, 202, 345.

  La Boca de la Drago, 171;
    Sierpe, 171;
    de Terminos, 234.

  La Cruz, 279.

  Lactantius, 89, 90.

  La Culata, 279.

  Ladrone islands, 294.

  Laet, Johannes de, 319, 346, 347.

  La Isla de Trinidad, 168, 169, 170.

  Lake Maggiore, 181.

  Lamb, Mrs. Martha J., 359.

  Land of Ayllon, 284.

  Land of Codfish, 197, 200, 202, 207.

  Land of Cortereal, 208.

  Land of Fire, 334.

  Land of Grace, 170.

  Land of Pearls, 173.

  Land of Red wood, 286.

  Land of the Farmer, 200.

  Land of the Grand Scarp, 349-351.

  Land of the Holy Cross, 287.

  Land of the Palisades, 349.

  La Nouvelle France, 330.

  Lanzarote, island, 97.

  Lares, Almador de, 237.

  La Rabida, 87, 90, 91.

  Laos, 57.

  Lapidaries, 265.

  La Plata, port of, 279.

  Lappenburg, M., 41.

  Lariab, country of, 166.

  Las Barbas, islands, 180.

  Las Islas Desdichados, 292.

  Lateens, 180.

  Lathyrus, 60.

  Latini, Brunetto, 62.

  Latitude, 66-68.

  Laudonnière, René Goulaine de, 351, 367.

  Leagues, land, 83, 305;
    sea, 83, 305, 329, 331.

  Leather, 243.

  Leicester, earl of, 350.

  Leif, son of Eric the Red, 25, 27, 30, 35, 42.

  Lelewel, Joachim, 182.

  Lemos, Gaspar de, 207.

  Lenormant, François, 15.

  Leo X., Pope, 181.

  Leon, Juan Ponce de, 221, 223-225, 278.

  Lester, C. Edwards, 159.

  Leucippe, 17.

  Levante, wind, 161.

  Lepe, Diego de, 174.

  Libeccio, wind, 161.

  Libya, 4, 5, 59, 60, 64, 219.

  Line of declination, 98, 99, 102, 158.

  Line of demarkation, 145, 296.

  Lings, 203.

  Lions, 268.

  Liquors, 171, 176, 178.

  Lisbon, 83, 84.

  Littré, É., 246.

  Liverpool, 84.

  Llwyd, Humphry, 43.

  Locke, Michael, 79, 315.

  Lockhart, John Ingrim, 233.

  London, 186, 194, 197.

  Longitude, 66-68, 332.

  Long Island, N. Y., 316, 317, 319, 320.

  Long Island, West Indies, 107, 356.

  Long Island Sound, 317, 353, 355.

  Looms, 148.

  Louise of Savoy, 320, 351, 352, 357, 358.

  Louisiana, 275.

  Luisa, island of, 320.

  Lully, Raymond, 67.

  Luna, Fernando Perez de, 153.

  Luxan, Juan de, 152.

  Lynna, Nicholas de, 217.

  Lynx, 322, 324, 328.


  Machian, island, 294.

  Madagascar, 58.

  Madeira, island, 78, 304.

  Madoc, Guyneth, 43, 44.

  Maestrale, wind, 161.

  Maestro, wind, 161.

  Magalhaens, Fernam de, 69, 284-294, 337.

  Magellan: (_See_ _Magalhaens_.)

  Magellan’s Strait, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 333.

  Magnetic needle, 61-63, 65, 98, 99, 102, 157, 158, 217, 293.

  Magnetism, terrestrial, 98, 69, 158, 217.

  Magua, island, Great and Little, 107.

  Maguey, plant, 252;
    root, 268.

  Magnussen, Arne, 34.

  Maine, 327, 328, 329.

  Mainwaring, 350.

  Maiollo, Visconte de, 307, 342.

  Maize, 176, 178, 230, 234, 283.

  Major, Richard Henry, 49, 171.

  Malinche, 261.

  Malpiero, Gasparo, 53.

  Malvas, port of, 208.

  Mames, 121, 123.

  Mamre, 6.

  Mandeville, Sir John, 58, 76.

  Mango, 84, 179, 180.

  Manants or Manans, 345, 346, 347, 348, 358. (_See_ _Indians_.)

  Manants Island, 359.

  Manhattan, 362.

  Manhattans, 346.

  Manhattes, 347;
    island of, 347;
    river of, 319.

  Mantinino, island, 175.

  Manzi, 82.

  Maques, or Maquaas, 347, 362.

  Maravedi, 245.

  Marchena, Fray Antonio de, 158.

  Mar del Sur, 176, 227, 228.

  Mar de Sargasso, 99, 100.

  Mar Dulce, 228.

  Mare de Verrazana, 315.

  Mare Oceanum, 41, 96, 182, 184, 293.

  Margarita, Don Pedro, 151.

  Margarita, island, 171.

  Margarita of Austria, 159.

  Marigalante, island, 147.

  Mariner’s compass, 61-63, 98, 99, 102, 157, 158, 161, 293, 296.

  Mar Indicum, 314, 343.

  Marini, Giorgio Baptista, 71.

  Marinus of Tyre, 74, 75, 76.

  Mark, a weight, 174, 244.

  Markland, 28, 34, 40, 41, 42.

  Marmora, 180.

  Marnef, Jan de, 352.

  Mar pacifico, 289, 292, 293.

  Martens, 306, 356.

  Martha’s Vineyard, 227.

  Martin, Joseph, 314.

  Martinez, Ferdinand, 80, 81.

  Martin V, Pope, 145.

  Martin of Bohemia, 67, 290.

  Martire d’Anghiera, Pietro, 154, 181, 197, 221.

  Martires, islands of las, 224.

  Martyr, Peter. (_See_ _Pietro Martire d’Anghiera_.)

  Mastic, 124, 136.

  Mataia, 180.

  Matan, island, 294.

  Maurice, prince of Orange and Nassau, 363.

  Mauritius River, 347.

  May River, 357.

  Mecca, 193.

  Medea, 76.

  Medina, Pedro de, 69.

  Mediterranean Sea, 5, 60.

  Melchorejo, 232, 233, 238.

  Melaccha, island of, 214.

  Mendoza, Luis de, 289.

  Mercator, Gerard, 76, 350, 360.

  Mercator’s projection, 360.

  Meredith ap Rhees, 44.

  Merrimack River, 354.

  Meschita, Alvaro de, 291.

  Mestor, 8.

  Meteren, Emanuel van, 318.

  Mexico, 21, 175, 234, 235, 249, 250, 252, 256-274;
    Gulf of, 352.

  Midjökul, 24.

  Miles, sea and land, 76, 98, 305, 331.

  Millet, 283.

  Miruelo, Diego, 282.

  Mississippi, state, 275;
    river, 278, 279.

  Mnesis, 8.

  Mohawk River, 360.

  Moluccas, islands, 59, 64, 294, 296.

  Mona, island, 154.

  Moncada, Don Hugo de, 336.

  Montagneurs, les, 346.

  Montauk Point, 320.

  Monte Cristo, 289.

  Montejo, Francisco de, 247, 249.

  Monte Pascoal, 206.

  Monteregius, John of, 67.

  Montezuma, 240, 241, 242, 243, 245, 247, 250, 251, 259, 260-273.

  Montreal, 345.

  Moors, 79, 94, 145.

  Morales, Gaspar, 228.

  Moses, 6.

  Mount Hope Bay, 30, 34, 37.

  Müller, Johann, 67.

  Murphy, Henry C., 343, 363.

  Mutir, island, 294.

  Myos Hormos, 75.

  Myrrh, 213.


  Naddoddr, 22.

  Nantucket, 327.

  Napkins, 264.

  Narragansett Bay, 320, 321, 325, 326.

  Narrows, The, 316, 317.

  Narvaez, Pamfilo de, 279.

  Navarrete, Martin Fernandez de, 61, 107.

  Navidad, Villa de la, 133, 136, 148, 149, 150.

  Naville, Edward, 20.

  Necho, 59.

  Negropont, 51.

  Nepos, Cornelius, 60.

  Nequen, 252, 268.

  Newark Bay, 317.

  Newfoundland, 28, 198, 201.

  New France, 330, 345, 352, 357, 361.

  New Gaul, 330.

  New Land, 185, 207, 297, 299, 306, 330, 334, 344, 355.

  New Netherland, 319, 347, 361.

  Newport, stone tower of, 43;
    situation, 325.

  New Providence, island, 107.

  New Spain, 21, 175, 176, 249.

  New World, 206, 216, 217, 334.

  New York City, 84;
    bays, 316, 317;
    site, 347, 358.

  Nicobar, 57.

  Nile, navigation of, 18;
    canal from, 60.

  Nirando, Alonso Perez, 168.

  Nombre de Dios, 176, 342.

  Normans, 297.

  Norombègue, cape of, 354, 355;
    town of, 355, 356;
    river of, 355, 356, 357, 359, 360.

  North America, 185.

  North Carolina, 302, 306, 311.

  Northmen, galleys of, 21, 24;
    deported, 22;
    voyages, 25-41.

  North Sea, 21, 301, 302.

  Norumbega, 346, 351, 352, 356, 360.

  Norway, 22, 23, 24, 333, 334.

  Noun, the god, 20.

  Nova Scotia, 28, 198, 201, 297.

  Novaya Zemlya, 318.

  Nucay, 119.

  Nuestra Senora, La Mar de, 125.

  Nueva España, 21, 175.

  Nuova Terra, 306-330.

  Nuremberg, 67, 68.


  Olafs, 55.

  Olone, 349.

  Oneydes, 346.

  Onondagas, 346.

  Onoyants, les, 346.

  Onslow Bay, 309.

  Orichalcum, 8, 10, 11, 199.

  Orinoco River, 160, 168, 170, 171.

  Orteguilla, 267.

  Ortelius, Abraham, 79, 360.

  Ortubia, Juan Perez de, 224.

  Ostro, the wind, 161.

  Otté, E. C., 44.

  Otters, 268.

  Oxford, 62.


  Pachol, 264.

  Pacific Ocean, 289, 292, 293.

  Paesani, 346, 352.

  Paisans or paysans, 345, 346.

  Palisades, the, 348.

  Palfrey, John Gorham, 43.

  Palos, 87, 95, 96.

  Palma, island, 97.

  Palmetto trees, 308.

  Panama, isthmus, 177, 342.

  Panic, 123.

  Panuco, province, 236, 247;
    river, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279.

  Paor, 281, 284.

  Paper, 252, 264.

  Paria, Gulf of, 171;
    country of, 172, 173.

  Pascua Florida, 223.

  Pasqualigo, Alvise, 189;
    Francesco, 189;
    Lorenzo, 189;
    Pietro, 209.

  Pasqui, 281.

  Patagonians, 289.

  Pearls, 117, 170, 173, 174, 216, 226, 243, 259, 271, 274, 283.

  Peasants, 345, 352. (_See_ _Indians_.)

  Peking, 84.

  Peltry, 298, 355, 356, 358.

  Penobscot River, 354.

  Perestrello, Bartolomeo Moñis de, 70.

  Perez, Friar Juan, 90, 91;
   Fray Rodrigo, 133.

  Perpignan, 135.

  Persia, 44, 57.

  Pertz, George Henry, 41.

  Peso, 236.

  Peter, the Martyr, 181.

  Petuneurs, les, 346.

  Philippe, duke of Savoy, 320.

  Philippine Islands, 294.

  Phœnicians, 7, 18, 59, 60.

  Pigafetta, Antonio, 66, 69, 83, 284, 295.

  Pillars of Hercules, 4, 7, 15, 17, 18, 21, 59, 60, 72.

  Pilots, 67, 102, 103, 157, 158, 179.

  Pineda, Alonso Alvarez de, 275-279.

  Pinkerton’s collections, 71.

  Pinzon, Martin, Alonso, 77, 96, 108, 134, 137, 141, 143, 174;
    Vicente Yañez, 96, 108, 134, 214, 278.

  Pisa, 227.

  Pizarro, Francisco, 228.

  Place, Jean de la, 219.

  Plato, 3, 80.

  Plethron, 9.

  Pliny, 60, 65.

  Plutarch, 3.

  Pocorosa, 180.

  Point Judith, 326.

  Pola, island, 224.

  Pole, antarctic, 293;
    arctic, 293.

  Polo, Maffeo, 52, 53, 54, 55;
    Marco, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 76, 82, 83;
    Nicolò, 52, 53, 54, 55.

  Ponente, wind, 161.

  Potonchan, 239, 248.

  Porcelain, 363.

  Poree, Fremyn, 340.

  Porland, 45.

  Port du Refuge, 326, 327.

  Porto Bello, 180.

  Porto Rico, 128, 221.

  Porto Santo, island, 77, 78.

  Porto Seguro, 206.

  Portugal, 84, 196.

  Poseidon, 5, 7, 11, 15.

  Potatoes, 283.

  Poughkeepsie, 353.

  Powel, David, 43, 44.

  Prado, prior of, 87, 91.

  Preudhomme, Guillaume, 339.

  Prima Tierra Vista, 190, 191.

  Providence, 325, 326.

  Psenophis, 3.

  Ptolemy, 73, 74, 75, 77, 182, 191, 215, 336.

  Puebla, Ruy Gonzales de, 187.

  Puertocarrero, Alonso, 249.

  Puerto de la Concepcion, 128.

  Puerto del Principe, 125, 330.

  Puerto de Mares, 125.

  Puerto de San Nicolas, 128.

  Puerto de Santa Catalina, 126.

  Puerto Grande, 152.

  Puerto Maria, 127.

  Puerto Santo, 126.

  Pumpkins, 147.

  Punta de Arenal, 169, 170.

  Punta de Arracifes, 224.

  Punta de Cotoche, 221, 232.

  Punta de la Aguda, 170.

  Punta de la Galera, 169.

  Punta de la Playa, 169.

  Punta Santa, 130, 131.


  Quetzalcoatl, temple of, 254.

  Quinsay, 75, 83, 84, 115, 120.

  Quintalbor, 242, 243, 245.

  Quitlalpitoc, 239, 245, 246, 247.

  Quohathe, 284.


  Râ, the god, 20.

  Race-course, 12.

  Rafn, Charles C., 34.

  Raleigh, Sir Walter, 357.

  Ramusio, Giovanni Battista, 52.

  Raritan Bay, 317.

  Ravens, 22, 23.

  Razors, 264.

  Real, money, 244, 245.

  Red race, 1.

  Red Sea, 60.

  Red wood, 193, 213, 286.

  Refugio, 321.

  Regiomontanus, 67, 80.

  Retrete, port, 180.

  Reychenes, 24.

  Rhodes, island of, 320.

  Ribauld. (_See_ _Ribaut_.)

  Ribault. (_See_ _Ribaut_.)

  Ribaut, Jean, 340, 344.

  Ribero, Diego, 296.

  Rio Coatzacoalcos, 236.

  Rio de Banderas, 235.

  Rio de Belen, 227.

  Rio de Flores, 279.

  Rio de Janeiro, 228.

  Rio de la Cruz, 224.

  Rio de la Plata, 228, 287.

  Rio de las Gamas, 330.

  Rio de las Palmas, 279.

  Rio del Espiritu Santo, 278, 279.

  Rio del Sol, 124.

  Rio de Luna, 117.

  Rio de Mares, 117, 118, 124, 182.

  Rio de Montaignes, 319.

  Rio de Nieves, 279.

  Rio de Pescadores, 279.

  Rio de San Anton, 330.

  Rio Fonda, 330.

  Rio Grande, 247.

  Rio Janeiro, 286, 287.

  Rio Jordan, 280, 284, 330.

  Rio Nevado, 208.

  Rio Panuco, 275, 276, 277, 278.

  Rio Seco, 279, 330.

  Roanoke, island, 311.

  Roberval, Sieur de, 352.

  Roderic, Master, 67.

  Roffet, Ponce, 345.

  Roque, Jean François de la, 352.

  Rousselay, Zanobus de, 339.

  Rum Cay, island, 107.

  Rustichi, 338.

  Rustizielo, 57.

  Ruysch, Johann, 215.

  Rymer’s Foedera, 188.


  Saint Amaro, 99.

  St. Augustine, 89.

  St. Christopher, 184.

  St. David’s island, 356.

  St. Dié, 218.

  St. George’s island, 356.

  St. Germain, port of, 222.

  St. Iago de la Spata, 285.

  St. John’s island, W. Indies, 179;
    Canada, 190, 192.

  St. Julian, port of, 287, 290.

  St. Lawrence, Gulf of, 297;
    isle of, 352;
    river of, 290, 291, 292, 293, 298, 333.

  St. Malo, 344, 345.

  St. Lucy’s day, 286.

  Saga of Eric the Red, 26;
    of Thorfinn Karlsefne, 34.

  Sagres, 63.

  Saguenay, 345;
    sea of, 357.

  Salamanca, 87.

  Samana, island, 108.

  Salmon, 29, 30.

  Sanchez, Rafael, 125, 142.

  Sand-glass, 69.

  Sand-haffn, 24, 25.

  Sandwich islands, 75.

  Sandy Hook, 316, 317, 353.

  San Juan de Ulua, 235.

  Salt, 268.

  Saltes, 141.

  San Domingo, 128, 172, 179, 232.

  San Juan Baptista, island, 148.

  San Lazaro, 229.

  San Lucar de Berrameda, 168, 182.

  San Miguel, bay of, 227.

  San Pablo River, 276.

  San Pedro River, 276.

  San Salvador, Cuba, 117;
    island, 107, 111.

  Santa Elena, cape of, 279, 289, 284.

  Santa Fé, 91, 92, 93.

  Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien, 225, 226, 227, 228.

  Santa Maria de Guadalupe, island, 147, 157.

  Santa Maria de la Concepcion, 113.

  Santa Maria, island, 140;
    port, 184.

  Santa Marta, island, 224.

  Santángel, Luis de, 87, 92.

  Santarem, Visconte de, 64.

  Santee River, 184.

  Santiago, Cuba, 231, 233.

  Sant Joan, island, 190, 192.

  San Tomas, fort of, 151.

  Santonge or Santongeois, 348, 352.

  Saomete, island, 113.

  Sardis, 2, 219.

  Scandinavia, seamen of, 21, 22, 23.

  Schooner, Johannes, 220.

  Schoolcraft, Henry R., 42.

  Schott, Charles A., 99, 158.

  Schotti, Joannis, 182.

  Scio, island, 124.

  Scotland, 46.

  Scylla, 349.

  Sea-weed, 99, 100, 134.

  Sebastian, harbor of, 99.

  Secalart, Raulin, 352, 353.

  Sanchis, 3.

  Seneca, Lucius Annæus, 76, 80, 88.

  Senecas, Indians, 346.

  Seres, 74, 75.

  Seti I., of Egypt, 20.

  Seven Cities, 79, 84, 190, 195.

  Seville, 141, 143, 285.

  Shetland Islands, 22.

  Ships, Egyptian, 18;
    Phœnician, 18;
    Northmen, 24;
    speed of, 68;
    of India, 180.

  Siam, 57.

  Siberia, 58.

  Sidney, Sir Philip, 315.

  Sierra de Quarequa, 226.

  Sierra Leone, 66, 158, 213, 286.

  Silver, 119, 243, 251, 265.

  Silveyra, Fernão de, 301.

  Sinae, 74.

  Sines, 227.

  Sirocco, 161.

  Skagefjörd, 25.

  Skalholt, 25.

  Skraelings, 38, 39, 40.

  Skraelings’ land, 41.

  Skulls, 250.

  Slaves, Indian, 167.

  Sluyter, Peter, 363.

  Smith, Captain John, 318.

  Sneeland, 221.

  Snefelsnes, 24.

  Snorrason, Thorbrand, 39.

  Snorro, Thorbrandson, 34.

  Socotra, 58.

  Soles, 203.

  Solinus, C. Julius, 219.

  Solis, Juan Diaz de, 214, 287.

  Solon, 2, 3, 6.

  Somerset island, 356.

  Somers, Sir George, 356.

  Somer’s Island, 356.

  Sona, 28.

  Soncino, Raimondo di, 190, 192.

  South America, 160, 166, 167, 169, 170, 173, 184, 185.

  South Carolina, 284, 302, 309.

  South Sea, 176, 226, 227, 228.

  Spain, early voyages from, 60, 76, 77;
   conquered, 79.

  Spices, 59, 64.

  Spice Islands, 59, 64, 294, 295, 296.

  Stadium, 6.

  Stanley, Henry E. J., 206.

  Staten Island, 316, 317;
    Sound, 317.

  Stephanius, Sigurd, 41.

  Steppes, Mongolian, 57.

  Stevens, Henry, 184.

  Stock-fish, 193.

  Stow, John, 197.

  Strait of Belle Isle, 345.

  Strait of Magellan, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 333.

  Strait of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, 289.

  Straumey, 35.

  Straumfjörd, 36, 40.

  Style, old and new, 107.

  Suache, 28.

  Suevi, 61.

  Sumatra, 57, 352.

  Sveinson, Bishop Brynjulf, 25, 34.


  Tabasco, 240, 245, 248.

  Tadore, island, 294.

  Tahout, sacred books of, 20.

  Tale, 232.

  Tanais, 193.

  Tanzaca, 281, 284.

  Tarenate, island, 294.

  Tassel, Robert, 340.

  Tatancal, 281.

  Tehuacacinco, 250.

  Tendilla, count of, 181.

  Teneriffe, 97.

  Tepeaquilla, 270.

  Terceira, 74, 207.

  Terra de Lavrador, 200, 202.

  Terra delle Perle, 211.

  Terra del Verzino, 286.

  Terra de Santa Cruz, 207, 216, 289, 300.

  Terra de Vera Cruz, 207, 211.

  Terra dos Cortereals, 208.

  Terra Florida, 307, 342, 344.

  Terra ferma, 189, 192.

  Terra Nova, 207, 215, 354.

  Terra Sanctæ Crucis, 287.

  Terra Verde, 208.

  Terre d’Anormée Berge, La, 349, 353, 356, 357.

  Terre de Norumberge, 357, 358.

  Terre Francesque, 330, 357, 358.

  Terre Neufve, 354.

  Tetzcat, 272.

  Tetzcatlipuca, the god, 235, 247, 272.

  Teules, 245, 251, 260.

  Teuthlille, 239, 241, 242, 243, 245.

  Texas, 275.

  Tezcuco, lake, 256.

  Theatres, 266.

  Thebes, 20.

  Thevet, André, 351, 359, 360.

  Thinae, 227.

  Thirkill, Launcelot, 195.

  Thompson, Benjamin F., 353.

  Thor, the god, 36.

  Thorbrandson, Snorro, 34, 37, 39, 40.

  Thord, Jónn, son of, 25.

  Thorhall, 36, 37, 42.

  Thorvard, 39.

  Thucydides, 80.

  Thule, 73, 70.

  Tibet, 57.

  Tierra de Ayllon, 284.

  Tierra de Gracia, 170, 171.

  Tierra del Fuego, 334.

  Tierra de los Bacallaos, 197, 200, 202, 207.

  Tierra firme, 110, 179.

  Tigers, 268.

  Tihe, 283.

  Tin, 269.

  Tiphys, 76.

  Titus, 232.

  Tlacupa, 260, 270.

  Tlalmanalco, 258.

  Tlascalla, 250, 251, 258.

  Tlatateteclo, 239.

  Tlatelulco, the, 267.

  Tobacco, 121, 264, 268.

  Tordesillas, 146, 295, 296.

  Torfæus, or Torfason, Thormod, 33, 34, 41.

  Tokio, 84.

  Torquemada, Juan de, 243.

  Torralva, Juan de, 276.

  Torres, Antonio de, 150, 156;
    Luis de, 120.

  Tortosa, 187.

  Tortuga, island, 127.

  Toscanelli, Paolo, 80.

  Tramontana, wind, 161.

  Trees, 12, 108, 114, 115, 116, 124, 163, 166, 189, 209, 212, 223,
        266, 308, 309, 324, 326, 327, 352.

  Triana, Rodrigo de, 107.

  Trico, Catelyn, 347.

  Trinidad, island of, 168, 169, 170, 171.

  Trireme, 10, 12.

  Troy, N. Y., 353.

  Tryggvason, King Olaf, 35.

  Tsiuenchau, 82.

  Tunguses, 58.

  Turk Island, 107, 108.

  Turkeys, 268.

  Turin, papyrus of, 15.

  Tuspa, 236.

  Tusta, 236.

  Tustepec, 239.

  Tyrker, 29.

  Tyrrhenia, 5, 8.


  Ubygd, 24.

  Ulloa, Alfonso de, 71.

  Ulysses, 52.

  Uraba, Gulf of, 225.


  Valentine, David T., 359.

  Valladolid, 182.

  Valparaiso, 140.

  Van Rensselaer Island, 361.

  Vargas, 276.

  Varnhagen, F. A. de, 159.

  Vegetables, 9, 121, 123, 129, 147, 151, 164, 176, 232, 268, 283, 288.

  Velasquez, Diego, 231, 232, 233, 236, 237, 278, 359.

  Venezuela, 164, 168, 171.

  Venice, 51, 59, 164, 188, 199, 227.

  Vera Cruz, 249, 266, 277;
    land of, 207, 211.

  Veragua, 176, 177, 178, 179, 226, 227.

  Vermonde, isle de, 355, 356.

  Verrazana seu Gallia nova, 330.

  Verrazzano, Giovanni da:
    Varasenne, Jean de, 340;
    Varesam, Jehan de, 339;
    Varezano, João, 300;
    Verarsanus, 342;
    Vérassen, Jean, 298;
    Verazano, João, 301;
    Verazanus, John, 315;
    Verrassane, Jehan de, 340;
    Verrazano, Jean, 357, 358.
    First voyage to America, 298, 299;
      second voyage, 300;
      his ship, 301, 304;
      letter to Francis I., 301-303;
      discovers land, 305, 306;
      map, 314, 315;
      on peninsula of Virginia, 314;
      Sea of Verrazzano, 315;
      enters New York Bay, 316;
      discovers the Hudson, 317;
      gives a name to Block Island, 320;
      anchors in Narragansett Bay, 321-326;
      sails along the coast of Maine, 327-329;
      extent of land discovered, 329, 351, 357;
      geographical explanation, 331;
      news of his return, 335;
      unfavorable opinions concerning the voyage, 337;
      his former voyages, 338;
      agreement for a third voyage to America, 339;
      his death, 340, 341;
      map and globe, 341, 342.

  Verrazzano, Hieronymus da, 315, 339;
    map, 315, 330, 343.

  Verrazzano, Pier da, 300.

  Verzino, 213, 216.

  Vespasian, 232.

  Vespucci Amerigo, his first voyage, 160;
    reaches the continent of America, 160;
    explorations, 161-165;
    land of Lariab, 166;
    island of Iti, 167;
    returns to Spain, 167.

  Vespucci’s second voyage, 173;
    explorations along the coast of South America, 174;
   returns to Spain, 174.

  Vespucci’s third voyage, 212;
    explores the east coast of Brazil, 213;
    returns to Lisbon, 214.

  Vespucci’s fourth voyage, 214;
    sails southward along the coast of Brazil, 214;
    Bay of All Saints, 214;
    returns to Portugal, account of his four voyages, 217, 218;
    his name given to the continent, 218, 219;
    false imputations, 220.

  Vicente, Martin, 77.

  Vieusseux, Geo. Pietro, 339.

  Vigfusson, Gudbrand, 33.

  Vikings, 21.

  Villa, Pedro de, 138.

  Villa de la Navidad, 133, 136, 148, 149, 150.

  Villalan, Doctor, 91.

  Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, 249, 279.

  Villa Segura, 277.

  Villegagnon, Chevalier, 359.

  Villers, 350.

  Vinland discovered, 30;
    shortest day in, 31-34;
    island, 41;
    promontory, 41.

  Virginia, peninsula of, 313, 314, 315, 318.

  Vision, prophetic, 158, 180.

  Vries, David Pieterse, 347.


  Walckenaër, Baron de, 183.

  Waldseemüller, Martin, 218.

  Walker, E., 99.

  Wassenaer, Nicolaes à, 347.

  Watling Island, 107.

  Wells, 266.

  Western Sea, 315, 343.

  West Indies, 145, 203.

  Westminster, 201, 203.

  Wheat, in Vinland, 35, 37;
    in Greenland, 35;
    in Iceland, 35.

  Wheaton, Henry, 23.

  Whitehall, 200.

  Wilden, 347.

  Wild-men, 345, 347.

  Wine, 171, 178.

  Wine-berries, 29, 35, 42.

  Wine-land, 30.

  Wine-wood, 29, 37, 42.

  Worthington, William, 203.


  Xamunabe, 283.

  Xamunambe, 281.

  Xapida, 283.

  Xapira, 281.

  Xathi, 283.

  Xicales, 262.

  Xiquipiles, 269.

  Xocotlan, 250.

  Xoxi, 281.


  Yahveh, sees the wickedness of man, 19.

  Yamaye, island of, 133.

  Yamiscaron, 28.

  Yebra River, 177.

  Yenyohol, 281.

  Yonge, C. D., 198.

  Yuca, 232.

  Yucatan, 148, 175, 214, 215, 229, 230, 232, 233, 239.

  Yule, Henry, 55, 57.

  Yurbaco, 183.


  Zacton, or Zayton, 82, 120.

  Zanzibar, 58.

  Zapata, 276.

  Zeno, Antonio, 45, 46, 50;
    Carlo, 45, 50;
    Nicolò, 44, 45, 46.

  Zeni brothers’ voyage, 44, 49, 50.

  Zeus, assembles the gods, 19.

  Zichmni, 45, 49.

  Zipangi, 84. (_See_ _Cipango_.)

  Zodiac, 244.

  Zuanta, 148.

  Zubu, island, 294.



THE END.

[Illustration: A copy of one half of the map of the world made by Johann
Ruysch, contained in the edition of Ptolemy’s Geography printed at Rome
in 1508. The map is entitled: “Vniversalior cogniti orbis tavula ex
recentibvs confecta observationibvs.”

(The copy is nearly as large as the original.)

[Copyright. “Discoveries of America.” Weise. G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS, New
York, 1884.]]

[Illustration: A copy of a part of the map of the world made by Visconte
de Maiollo in Genoa in 1527. (The scale of latitudes was copied from one
on another part of the map. The original in the Ambrosian Library, Milan,
is twenty-three inches wide.)

[Copyright. “Discoveries of America.” Weise. G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS. New
York, 1884.]]

[Illustration: A copy of a part of the map of the world made by Juan de
la Cosa in the port of St. Mary, Spain, in 1500. (The original is about
one-third larger.)

[Copyright. “Discoveries of America.” Weise. G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS. New
York, 1884.]]