The Voyage of Verrazzano Part 5

IX.

THE LETTER TO THE KING FOUNDED ON THE DISCOVERIES OF ESTEVAN GOMEZ.

THE HISTORY OF GOMEZ AND HIS VOYAGE. THE PUBLICATION OF HIS DISCOVERIES IN SPAIN AND ITALY BEFORE THE VERRAZZANO CLAIM. THE VOYAGE DESCRIBED IN THE LETTER TRACED TO RIBERO's MAP OF THE DISCOVERIES OF GOMEZ.

In the proofs adduced, outside of the letter addressed to the king, no direct evidence appears in regard to the discovery. There is no testimony to be found of any one who took part in the setting forth or equipment of the expedition, or in the prosecution of the voyage, or who was personally cognizant of the return of the Dauphiny. No chart or private letter, no declaration or statement of the navigator, in regard to the extraordinary discovery achieved by him, is produced or mentioned, although he belonged to a family of some note in Tuscany, which still existed in the present century. In this respect, Italy, the birth place and home of Verrazzano, is as blank and barren as France. All that is really shown of any pertinency is the single circ.u.mstance, that possibly the claim to the discovery was advanced in Italy, and in that country alone, at the time of the construction of the globe of Ulpius in 1542, but not anterior to the year 1529, or until five years after the event, when, according to the Verrazano map, if that he accepted as genuine in its present form, and the most favorable construction be upon its ambiguous legend, of which that inscription is capable, the claim was for the first time announced. And thus there is nothing showing that the letter or its pretensions were known before the last named year. In view this important fact, and the absence of any evidence whatsoever corroborative of the letter or its contents, it is not unreasonable to believe that the letter was an attempt to appropriate to the Florentine the glory which belonged to Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese pilot, who actually discovered and explored this coast, in 1525, in the service of the emperor, Charles V, and whose voyage and exploration were immediately thereupon made known, both, in Spain and Italy. That such, indeed, was the source from which the Verrazzano letter was derived is susceptible of demonstration; and for that purpose some account of the voyage and discoveries of Gomez and their publication becomes necessary.

Gomez, who was born in Oporto and reared there to a sea-faring life, for some reason, unexplained; left Portugal and entered into the Spanish service, in which he was appointed pilot in 1518, at the some time that Sebastian Cabot was created pilot major in the same service. He proposed immediately to the king, to go in search of a new route to the. Moluccas or Spice islands recently discovered by the Portuguese, and which, he affirmed, were within the limits a.s.signed to Spain by the line of demarkation. He exhibited a chart constructed by him showing this fact, [Footnote: Cespedes, "Regimento de Navigacion," 148.] from which it may be inferred that he had already made a voyage to those islands. The way which he proposed then to take is not mentioned. At the same juncture Magellan also arrived in Spain and tendered his services to find a new route to the Moluccas, specifically by the west, as delineated on a globe which he produced. Magellan prevailed in his suit, which was the reason, according to Pigafetta, the historian of the expedition, that the emperor did not give Gomez any caravels to discover new lands. [Footnote: Primo Viaggio, 38] It is to be inferred, therefore, that the first route proposed by Gomez was not by the west. The fleet of Magellan set sail on his expedition in September 1519, with Gomez as chief pilot, an arrangement intended to conciliate and combine both interests; but it was not a happy one. Actuated, it is charged, by a spirit of jealousy and a desire to embarra.s.s Magellan, and render his voyage abortive, Gomez at the very moment that success was a.s.sured, and the fleet was entering the strait which led into the Pacific, abandoned his commander; and profiting by the opportunity which was offered him in being detached by Magellan with the San Antonio, one of the s.h.i.+ps, to make a reconnaissance in another direction, joined with certain mutineers, seized the captain of that vessel, and returned with her to Spain, arriving there in March 1521. The reasons a.s.signed by him for this desertion of the expedition, were the severity of the treatment of the crew by Magellan, a want of provisions and the unseaworthiness of the San Antonio. He was, however, held by the council of the Indies to answer to any charges which might be preferred against him by Magellan on his return, and in the meantime his pay was sequestered and his property on board the s.h.i.+p attached. In September 1522, the Victoria, the only s.h.i.+p of Magellan's squadron which succeeded in returning to Spain, arrived with the news of Magellan's discovery, and also of his death in a conflict with the natives of the island of Tidore. Upon this information proceedings against Gomez were discontinued and his property released.

The success of Magellan served the more to stimulate the purpose of Gomez to undertake a search for the same object. It was supposed at that time, by Sebastian Cabot and others, that the northern parts of America were broken up into islands, but nothing positively was known in relation to them, except in the region of Newfoundland.

Between that country and South Carolina, then recently discovered by the joint expedition of the licentiates, all was unknown; and it was considered not improbable that a pa.s.sage might be found between those points, through to Cathay and the Moluccas, the same as had been discovered in the south, by Magellan. Gomez, released from his disabilities, renewed his application to the emperor for permission to prosecute his search, proposing now to make it through the northern seas; and on the 27th of August 1523 a cedule was made to that effect authorizing him to go with a caravel of fifty toneles burden on the discovery of eastern Cathay. [Footnote: Herrera, III.

Iv. 20. The cedule is still extant in the archives at Seville.] In consequence, however, of the remonstrance of the king of Portugal against any interference with his rights to the Moluccas, Charles suspended the prosecution of further voyages in that quarter until the question should be determined to which of the two crowns those islands belonged by virtue of the pope's demarcation. The voyage of Gomez, and also that of Cabot to the La Plata, were delayed until the decision of the junta convened at Badajos by the two monarchs for the purpose of making this determination. To this body Gomez, in conjunction with Sebastian Cabot and Juan Vespucci as pilots, and Diego Ribero as cartographer, was attached,--a circ.u.mstance which shows the high estimation in which his nautical knowledge was held.

The proceedings closed in May 1524, too late for Gomez to make his arrangements to leave in that year. These were completed, however, in February 1525, in which month he set sail from Coruna, in the north of Spain, in a single caravel, on his voyage of discovery, [Footnote: Navarrete III. 179. Peter Martyr, Dec. VII. 8.] Peter Martyr, after mentioning the proposed expedition of Sebastian Cabot to the south, thus refers in July 1524, to that of Gomez and its destination. "It is also decreed that one Stepha.n.u.s Gomez, who also himselfe is a skillful navigator, shal goe another way, whereby, betweene the Baccalaos and Florida, long since our countries, he saith he will finde out a waye to Cataia: one onely s.h.i.+ppe, called a Carvell, is furnished for him, and he shall have no other thing in charge then to search out whether any pa.s.sage to the great Chan, from out the diuers windings and vast compa.s.sings of this our Ocean, were to be founde." [Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. VI. 10. Eden's trans.]

Gomez commenced his exploration on the coast of South Carolina, and proceeding thence northwardly, reached the Rio de la buelta, where, as that name denotes, he commenced his return, on the island of Cape Breton. He carefully observed the rivers, capes and bays, which occur within those limits, entering the Chesapeake, Delaware, Hudson and Pen.o.bscot, to which he gave appropriate names, derived from the church calendar, or from some characteristic of the locality. He was for a while encouraged to believe, in consequence of the great flood of water which he found issuing from the Pen.o.bscot, or Rio de Gamos, (Stag river), that he had there fallen upon the desired strait.

Though unsuccessful in the object of his search, he nevertheless accomplished an important service for geographical science, in determining that no such pa.s.sage existed within the region he had sailed. Taking in a cargo of Indians from the islands of the great bay, he continued his course to the south, and running along the coast of Florida, returned to Spain by way of Cuba. [Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. VI. c. 10. Herrera, III, VIII. S. Cespedes, Yslario General, in MS. Cespedes was cosmographer major of the Indies in Seville and wrote many geographical works early in the seventeenth century. His Yslario General, embracing a history of the islands of the world, exists in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid.]

The authenticity of this voyage is established by Oviedo and Peter Martyr both of whom were eyewitnesses of the Indians which Gomez brought home and exhibited at Toledo. Both of these writers have given short accounts of the voyage, which, as it was not successful in the purpose for which it was undertaken and promised no returns of gold, excited no public attention. The results were, however, interesting to the hydrographers of Spain, who soon prepared charts of the coast, according to his exploration, among which that made by Diego Ribero, a.s.sociate of Gomez at the junta of Badajos, and royal cosmographer, will demand especial attention.

The voyage of Gomez and what he had accomplished became immediately known to the world at large by printed publications. He arrived home on his return in November 1525; and three months afterwards Oviedo published his first work, addressed to the emperor, in which he makes the following brief mention of the expedition.

"Shortly after that yowr Maiestie came to the citie of Toledo, there arryved in the moneth of November, Stephen Gomes the pylot who the yeare before of 1524 by the commandement of yowre maiestie sayled to the Northe partes and founde a greate parte of lande continuate from that which is cauled Baccaleos discoursynge towarde the West to the XL and XLI degree, fro whense he brought certeyne Indians, of the whiche he brought sum with hym from thense who are yet in Toledo at this present, and of greater stature than other of the firme land as they are commonlye. Theyr coloure is much like the other of the firme lande. They are great archers, and go couered with the skinnes of dyuers beastes both wylde and tame. In this lande are many excellent furres, as marterns, sables and such other rych furres, of the which the sayde pilot brought summe with hym into Spayne. They have sylver and copper and certeyne other metalles. They are Idolaters and honoure the soonne and moone, and are seduced with suche superst.i.tions and errours as are they of the firme."

[Footnote: Oviedo de la natural hystoria de las Indias. (Toledo, 15 Feby. 1526), fol. 14; and under the t.i.tle of Relucion Sumaria, p.

16, in Barcia's Historiadores primitivas, tome 1. Translated in Eden's Decades of the new worlde, fol. 213-14.]

The details of the exploration appear more distinctly upon the charts which the royal cosmographers at Seville prepared, with the names given to the prominent points of the coast. Two of these maps are still extant, bearing the respective dates of 1527 and 1529, the first by an anonymous cartographer, and the last by Ribero.

[Footnote: Both these maps, so far as they relate to America, have been reproduced, with very valuable notes and ill.u.s.trations, by Mr.

Kohl in Die beiden altesten general karten von Amerika. Weimar 1860.] The whole line of coast from the river Jordan, in lat.i.tude 33 degrees 10', visited by both the expeditions of Ayllon, to Cape Breton, is laid down upon them with sufficient exact.i.tude. The names indicate the exploration to have been made by Gomez the whole distance between those points; for no other navigator of Spain, in the language of which they are given, had sailed within those limits up to the time these maps bear date. The only question which has been raised in this regard relates to the expeditions of Ayllon; but the first of these, a joint descent upon the coast to carry off Indians in 1520 by two vessels belonging to the licentiates Ayllon and Matienzo of St. Domingo, proceeded no further than the Jordan, as we learn from the testimony of Pedro de Quejo, the pilot of Matienzo. [Footnote: Proceedings before the Auditors at St Domingo, by virtues of a royal decree of Nov. 1525, in relation to the dispute between Ayllon and Matienzo concerning their discovery, preserved in MS. at Seville.] The expedition which Ayllon made afterwards in 1526, in person, to the same coast, proceeded directly to the river Jordan, and after remaining there a few days, ran southwesterly along the coast to Gualdape or St Helena, where Ayllon died, and from whence it thereupon immediately returned home to St Domingo, without any further attempt at exploration. [Footnote: tom.

III. p 624. (Madrid 1853.) Mr. Kohl states (Discovery of Mains, 397) that the s.h.i.+ps of Ayllon made an extensive survey of the coast, NORTH of the Jordan, soon after their arrival in the country. In this he is in error; into which he appears to have been misled by Navarrete, a part of whose language he quotes in a note, as that of Oviedo. Navarret, referring to the portion of Oviedo's history, not then (1899) published, as his authority, says on this point that after leaving the river Jordan the s.h.i.+ps of Ayllon proceeded to Gualdape, "distante cuarenta o cicuenta leguas mas al norte" distant forty or fifty leagues more to the north; whereas the language of Oviedo, as contained in the recently published edition of his work, is, "acordaron de yrse a pohlar la costa delante hacia la costa accidental, e fueron a un grand rio (quarenta o quarenta e cico leguas de alli, pocas mas o menos) que si dice Gualdape," (ut supra, p. 628) they agreed to go and settle the coast further on towards the west coast, and sent to a large river (forty or fifty-five leagues from that place, a little more or less) which is called Gualdape. The course of the coast at these points is northeast and southwest. A westerly course was therefore to the SOUTH and not to the north. Besides, Oviedo states that the Jordan was in lat.i.tude 33 degrees 40' and that Gualdape was the country through which the river St. Helena ran, which he also calls the river of Gualdape, and which in another part of his history he places in lat.i.tude 33 degrees N., and expressly stating that the Jordan was north of the St. Helena, towards Cape Trafalgar, or Cape Fear (tom. II p. 144.) Ayllon, therefore did not sail north of the Jordan, and the names on the Ribero map, north of that river, are not attributed to his expedition.]

This disastrous expedition, therefore, went no further north, than the Jordan or Santee. It demonstrated the falsity of the stories told to Peter Martyr by Francis, the Chicorane, as he was called, one of the Indians seized in the first expedition and taken by Ayllon to Spain, of the vast provinces with uncouth names which were upon his authority transferred to the royal cedule granted to Ayllon on the 12th June, 1523. [Footnote: P. Martyr, Dec. VII. o.2; Navarrete III. 153.] That region remained unknown, therefore, until the voyage of Gomez, and to it and it alone can the names on these maps, within the limits before designated, be attributed.

These maps pa.s.sed at once into Italy; and that of Ribero, bearing the date of 1529 and the arms of the then reigning pontiff, Clement VII, and his successors, the most finished of the three copies known to exist, is still to be found at Rome, and is reasonably supposed to have been the original; and like the last decade of Peter Martyr in 1526, which mentions the discoveries of Gomez, to have been sent to the Holy Father at his desire, in order to keep him informed of the latest discoveries. [Footnote: Nouvelles Annales des Voyages.

Nouvelle series, tome x.x.xv. Annee 1853. Tome troisieme. Paris. Les Papes geographes et la cartographic du Vatican. Par R. M. Thoma.s.sey.

Appendix p. 275.] Other copies of the Spanish charts showing the exploration of Gomez, found their way in to Italy about the same time, proving that there was then no interdict against their exportation from Spain to that country, at least. [Footnote: In regard to the freedom which the charts of the Spanish navigators so enjoyed there is confirmatory proof in Ramusio. In the preface to his third volume, dedicated to his friend Fracastor of Florence, he writes: "All the literary men daily inform you of any discovery made known to them by captain or pilot coming from those parts, and among others the aforesaid Sig. Gonzalo (Oviedo) from the island of Hispaniola, who every year visits you once or twice with some new made chart."] This appears by a volume which was published in Venice in 1534 under the auspices of Ramusio, [Footnote: M. d'Avezac in Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic for July and August, 1872.]

embracing a summary of the general history of the West Indies by Peter Martyr and a translation of Oviedo's natural history of the Indies of 1526, containing the account of Gomez' voyage, with a map of America upon which the discoveries of Gomez are laid down the same as upon the Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529, before mentioned.

The following colophon, giving the origin of this map, is to be found at the end of the translation of Oviedo: "Printed at Venice, in the month of December 1534. For the explanation of these books there has been made an universal map of the countries of all the West Indies, together with a special map, taken from two marine charts of the Spaniards, one of which belonged to Don Pietro Martire, Councillor of the Royal Council of the said Indies, and was made by the pilot and master of marine charts, Nino Garzia de Loreno, in Seville. The other was made also by a pilot of the majesty, the emperor, in Seville. With which maps the reader can inform himself of the whole of this new world, place by place, the same as if he had been there himself." [Footnote: This volume has no general t.i.tle, but contains three books, primo, secondo & ultimo della historia de l'India Occidentali. It is very rarely found with the large map of America. We are indebted to the kindness of James Lonox, Esq. of New York, for the use of a perfect copy in this respect.] The special map here referred to is one of Hispaniola, in the same volume, and was undoubtedly taken from that of Nuno Garcia, in the possession of Peter Martyr. It was therefore made in or before the year 1526, since Martyr died in that year. The map of America, by the pilot of the emperor at Seville, was probably the anonymous map of 1527 before mentioned, as it appears not to have had the name of the author upon it. These facts prove at least that the map of Ribero was in Italy in the year 1529, and that the map of 1527 may have been there before that year.

It was from the delineation of the coast on one or other of these two maps, which are in that respect almost identically the same, that the description of it in the Verrazzano letter was derived.

This will now be made manifest by the application of that description to the map of Ribero, so much of which as is necessary, is here reproduced for that purpose.

In making the proof thus proposed, it is to be borne in mind that the letter is positive and explicit as to the extent and limits of the discovery or exploration which it describes. It fixes them by three different modes which prove each, other: 1. By giving the lat.i.tude of the commencement and termination of the voyage along the coast; 2. By a declaration in two different forms of the entire distance run, and 3. By a statement of intermediate courses and distances, from point to point, between the landfall and the place of leaving the coast, separately, making in the aggregate the whole distance named. There can be therefore no mistake as to the meaning of the writer in respect of the extent of the exploration.

As to its limits and extent, we have already had occasion to quote his language in impressing upon Francis the great length of the voyage; giving both at the same time: "In the voyage," he says, "which we made by order of your majesty, in addition to the 92 degrees which we ran towards the west from our point of departure, before we reached land in lat.i.tude 34, we have to count 300 leagues which we ran northeastwardly and 400 nearly east, along the coast, before we reached the 50th parallel of north lat.i.tude, the point where we turned our course from the sh.o.r.e towards home." This distance is also mentioned in the total at the end of the voyage, where he says: "finding our provisions and naval stores nearly exhausted, we took in wood and water, and determined to return to France, having discovered 700 leagues of unknown lands."

The several courses and distances run are described in the letter, from point to point, as follows: [Footnote: The translation of Dr.

Cogswell, in N.Y. Hist. Collections, is here used, somewhat condensed.]

First. "We perceived that it (the land) stretched to the SOUTH and L.

coasted along in that direction in search of some port in which we might come to anchor, and examine into the nature of the country, but for FIFTY LEAGUES we could find none in which we could lie 50 securely."

SECOND. "Seeing the coast still stretched to the south we resolved to change our course and stand to the northward, and as we still had the same difficulty, we drew in with the land, and sent a boat ash.o.r.e. Many people, who were seen coming to the sea-side, fled at our approach. We found not far from this people another. This country is plentifully supplied with lakes and ponds of running water and being in the lat.i.tude of 34, the air is salubrious, pure and temperate, and free from the extreme both of heat and cold. We set sail from this place continuing to coast along the sh.o.r.e, which we found stretching out to the west (east?) While at anchor on this coast, there being NO HARBOR to enter, we sent the boat on sh.o.r.e with twenty-five men to obtain water. Departing hence, and always following the sh.o.r.e, which stretched to the NORTH, we came in the s.p.a.ce of FIFTY LEAGUES to another land which appeared beautiful and 50 full of the largest forests."

THIRD. "After having remained here three days riding at anchor on the coast, as we could find no harbor we determined to depart, and coast along the sh.o.r.e to the NORTHEAST. After proceeding ONE HUNDRED LEAGUES, we found a very pleasant situation among some STEEP HILLS THROUGH WHICH A VERY LARGE RIVER, deep at its mouth forced its way 100 to the sea."

FOURTH. "We took the boat and entering the river we found the country on its banks well peopled. All of a sudden a violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our s.h.i.+p. Weighing anchor, we sailed EIGHTY LEAGUES TOWARDS THE EAST, as the coast stretched in that direction, and always in sight of it. At length we discovered an island, triangular in form, about ten leagues from the mainland. We gave it the name of your majesty's 80 ill.u.s.trious mother."

FIFTH. "We did not land there, as the weather was unfavorable, but proceeded to another place, FIFTEEN LEAGUES distant from the island, where we found a very excellent harbor. It looks towards the south, on which side the harbor is half a league broad. Afterwards, upon entering it, the extent between the east and the north is twelve leagues, and then enlarging itself, forms a VERY LARGE BAY, twenty 15 leagues in circ.u.mference."

SIXTH. "Having supplied ourselves with every thing necessary, on the sixth of May we departed from the port and sailed one hundred and fifty leagues, keeping so close to the coast as never to lose it from our sight. WE DID NOT STOP TO LAND, as the weather was very favorable for pursuing our voyage, and the country presented no 150 variety. The sh.o.r.e stretched to the EAST"

SEVENTH. "And FIFTY LEAGUES beyond, MORE TO the NORTH, where we found a MORE ELEVATED COUNTRY. The people were entirely different from the others we had seen, so rude and barbarous that we were unable by any signs we could make, to hold communication with them.

Against their will WE PENETRATED TWO OR THREE LEAGUES INTO THE 50 INTERIOR with twenty-five men."

EIGHTH. "Departing from thence we kept along the coast, steering BETWEEN EAST AND NORTH, and found the country more pleasant and open. Within FIFTY LEAGUES we discovered thirty two islands, all 50 near the mainland."

NINTH. "We had no intercourse with the people. After sailing between east and north ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY LEAGUES MORE we determined to return France, having discovered 700 leagues of unknown lands." 150 Making a total of 695 L.

Now let the reader trace for himself, these courses and distances, as shown on the accompanying sketch of the map of Ribero. according to the following scale, [Proofreaders Note: scale omitted]

representing the measurements in the letter; which are calculated on the basis of 15.625 leagues to a degree, while those on the map are 17 1/2 leagues; and he will find, that not only is the whole littoral distance between the parallels of 34 degrees and 50 degrees on the map about seven hundred leagues, but that the several courses and distances, of which this entire distance is composed according to the letter, correspond with similar divisions on the map, proving to a certainty that this map was the source from which the line of coast described in the letter was derived, or the reverse.

It will be observed that the FIRST course, beginning according to the letter at the landfall, in lat.i.tude 34 N., commences on the map a little north of C. Trafalgar as there laid down, now Cape Fear, and proceeds southerly fifty leagues to C. de S. Roman.

The first course being retraced, the SECOND, also of fifty leagues, starting from the landfall near C. Traffalgar, extends to C. de S.

Juan of the map, the well known point of Hatteras.

The THIRD, runs from C. de S. Juan, one hundred leagues NORTHWARDLY, to the Montana verde, the Navesinks at the mouth of the Hudson, "described as the pleasant situation among steep hills, through which a very large river forced its way into the sea." The perfect identification of this course and distance has already been observed.

The fourth extends EASTERLY from the Montana verde eighty leagues and strikes the islands of the C. de Muchas yllas, or Cape Cod, where, among the Elizabeth islands, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, the island of Louise is intended by the letter to be placed. This course, easterly, fixes the position of that island at this point.

The FIFTH course and distance embrace fifteen leagues from the islands of C. de Muchas yllas, but the direction is not stated, and is left to be inferred from the fact which is stated that they proceeded on to another place where they entered a harbor, at the mouth of a large bay opening between NORTH and east, of twelve leagues in width. This course must therefore have been NORTHERLY and proceeded along the easterly sh.o.r.e of C. de Muchas yllas or Cape Cod.

The sixth runs easterly from the harbor on the C. de Muchas yllas, or Cape Cod, one hundred and fifty leagues EASTERLY which include the opening of the great bay of twelve leagues and proceeds along the Arecifes or C. Sable on the coast of Nova Scotia to the Sarcales, probably Cape Canso at Chedabucto bay, WHERE THE COAST TRENDED MORE NORTHERLY.

The SEVENTH, from the Sarcales, fifty leagues MORE TO THE NORTH, extends along the tierra de los Bretones or island of C. Breton to the cape of that name, pa.s.sing the R. de la buelta, the easterly limit of the voyage of Gomez. From this river easterly the map is compiled, as the names indicate, from Portuguese charts.

The EIGHTH, from C. Breton FIFTY LEAGUES between north and east, runs along the easterly coast of the tierra de los Bretones, to the supposed northerly sh.o.r.e of the bay between that land and the tierra de los Bacallaos or Newfoundland, but in reality the southerly entrance into the gulf of St. Lawrence,

The NINTH from the termination of the last course, embraces one hundred and fifty leagues between north and east along the coast of the Bacallaos to C. Ra.s.so or Cape Race and thence along the easterly coast of the Bacallaos to the Y. de Bacallaos In lat.i.tude 50 degrees N., the point of departure from the coast, and making the complement of 695 leagues, in all.

Such exact and unexceptional concurrence in the observation of distances for over two thousand miles, as this comparison exhibits, by two different navigators sailing at different times, under different circ.u.mstances of wind and weather, and under different plans of exploration, is impossible. So far as regards the distances running north and south, such an agreement might happen, because the truth in that direction was ascertainable by any one, by means of observations of the lat.i.tude; but not as regards those running east and west; for these, no means of determining them existed, as before explained: and accordingly on the Ribero map they are grossly incorrect. From the Montana verde to the C. de Muchas yllas, that is, from the Hudson to the west end of the peninsula of Cape Cod, the distance appears to be eighty leagues, or nearly double its true length; while the width of the great bay between the C. de Muchas yllas and the Arecifes, or from Cape Cod to Cape Sable is shown to be less than twenty leagues, whereas it is more than fifty. And so also from the Arecifes to the Sarcales, from Cape Sable to Cape Canso, it is one hundred and thirty-five leagues on the map, or twice the actual distance. These great errors show how impossible it was at that time to calculate longitudinal distances correctly. But two navigators, sailing independently as mentioned, could not have fallen into these errors exactly to the same extent, exaggerated in the two cases by the same excessive length, and in the other by the same extraordinary diminution. Yet in the particulars just described the map and the letter correspond precisely. Such a coincidence of mistakes, could not have been accidental.

One of these doc.u.ments must, therefore, have been the source of the other. In determining between them, there can be no mistake in adopting as the original, that one which has a certain and indisputable authenticity, and rejecting that which is unsupported by any other testimony. The voyage of Gomez was long the subject of consideration and preparation, and was heralded to the world for months before it was undertaken. The order of the king of Spain under which it was made, still exists in the archives of that kingdom. The results of the expedition were announced by credible historians of the country, immediately after its return; and the nautical information which it brought back, and in regard to which alone it possessed any interest at the time, was transferred at once to the marine charts of the nation, imperfectly it is true, and spread before the world. These charts still remain in their original form, as they were then prepared. With these incontrovertible facts to sustain it, the discovery of Gomez must stand as established in history and, consequently, the claim of Verrazzano must fall.

[Footnote: The map of Ribero is not a faithful representation of the exploration of Gomez, in many respects. The tierra de Ayllon is made to embrace a large portion of the country the coast of which was discovered by Gomez. The bay of Santa Maria, or the Chesapeake, is placed two degrees further south than it should he, that is, in lat.i.tude 35 degrees, instead of 37 degrees N. The R. de los Gamos, or Pen.o.bscot, mentioned by Cespedes, is not named at all. The question, however, of its greater or less correctness is of no importance on the present occasion; it is sufficient that it was followed by the writer of the letter, erroneous as it was.]