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THE Discoveries of America \ TO THE YEAR 1 525 BY ARTHUR JAMES WEISE, M.A. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK : 27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET LONDON: 35 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN 1884 69609 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year .883. by ARTHUR JAMES WEISE !n the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ^O^' fl" ,^ Press of G. P. Putnam's Sons New York k\ -J 1 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 agfes was one of the inhabited parts of the earth. The Egyptians, who were among the first of the peoples of the east- ern hemisphere to use letters and to write history, fur- nish 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 re- corded by the Egyptians as fictitious and incredible. V/hen 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 navi- gator's opinions were absurd, because, as they argued, no one of all the seamen who had lived since the crea- tion 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 conti- nent by the descendants of Euenor, the good man be- gotten in the beginning from the ground, and of the residence o^" celestial beings among the nhabitants peculiarly confirms the account in the Bible of the vi PREFACE. 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 North- men 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 surround- ing country La Terre d' Anorm^e Berge ; a geograph- ical designation more significantly expressed in the phraseology, The Land of the Palisades. The writing of this work required the personal ex- amination 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 com- parison of the various statements of historical writers concerning the voyages of the persons whom they be- lieved to have been the disco \rerers 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 con- tained 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 PREFACE. Vll 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 acknowl- edge 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'Abbd A. N. Menard, vicar of the parish of St. Roch, Paris, France ; of Pddre Antonio Ceriani, prefect of the Am- brosian Library, Milan, Italy ; of Jules Godeby, profes- sor 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 obliga- tions to these gentlemen. It is also a great pleasure for me to acknowledge the generous favors c* 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. Trov, N. y., Arthur James Weise. March 27, 1884. TABLE OP CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PACK. Antiquity of the red raco. An antediluvian people. Vestiges of an ancient civilization in America. Records of Lgypt. Manuscripts of Solon, the great Greek legislator. Origin oi' the aborigines of the western hemisphere. Founders of an empire. The tradition pre- served by the Egyptians. Early navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. Isolation of the people of the western continent. The Nf^nhmen. Iceland found. Greenland explored. Saga of Eric the Red. Voy- age of Bjarni, Ilerjulf'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. Voyage: of the Welsh adventu-er Madoc. Discoveries o. the Zeui brothers. Story of a Frisland h&iterman. Estotiland. Drogio 1-50 CHAPTER II. Arrival of three strangely clad travellers in Venice. Their surprising dis- closures. The book of Marco Polo. Marvellous wealth of Cathtiy. Gola-covered palaces. Magnificent cities. Extensive traffic. The jmpire 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 en- thusiasm 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 geogra phers. 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 Catliay. Columbus's over- tures to the king of Portugal. Bartolome 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 Santangel's proposals to Queen Isabella. Columbus commissioned to undertake a voyage to Cathay .... 70-93 ix TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The object of Columbus's voyage. His journal. His intent'on to make a map of the lands of the ocean. The vessels of the feet. 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 Salvrdor. Columbus's description of the people and the islands. He believes that he had reached the con- tinent of Asia, and that he was near the dominions of the Grand Xhan 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 Espanola. 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- CHAPTER V. PAGE 144 J 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 Nav- idad burned. The town of Isabela built. Further explcrntions of the coast of Cuba. Depositions taken that Columbus had reached the dominions of the Grand Khan, The cemies of the people of Espanola. The liomewan' age. Ignorance of pilots respecting latitude and longitude. Coju.-ibus's compasses. Amerigo Vespucci's first voyage to tlie Ne'v World. Lands on the coasl of South America. Describes the natives. The count y of Lariab. Columbus's third voyage. He surveys the continent. Explore 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 nadves. Returns to Cadiz. Coluinbus's last voyage. The edifices of Veragua. The evidences of civilizafioji. 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--135 CHAPTER VL England sends ships to search for a navigable way to the Indies. The first voyage of Giovanni Caboto. Pasqualigo's account of it. Dis- covery of the territory of the Grand Khan. The flag of England and that of St. Mark planned 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 ♦he coast of Labrador. La f ierra de los Bacallaos. Sebastiano Caboto's maps and manuscripts ....... 18&-204 I CHAPTER VII. yThe Portuguese rc-xh the Indies. Lpnd of the Holy Cross discoverer? by Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Caspar Cortereaf? voyages. Letter of T>ieuo 0f:. TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI PAGE Pasqualigo. Terra Verde. Amengo Ve«DUcci*s third and fourth voyages along ihe east coast of South America. Johann Kuysch's map. Martin VValdseemuIler's suggestion. The name of America. A Tountain of vivific water. Juan Ponce de Leon explores the coast of Florida. Vasco Nufiez de Balboa beholds the Pacific Ocean. The coast of Yucatan explored by Francisco Hernando de Cordoba. The discoveries of Juan de Grijalva. The cou\itry of New Spain. The expedition of Hernando Cortes. The magnificent presents sent him by Montezuma. Tlie 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 VIK. The discoveries of Alonsc Alvr.rez de Pineda. The project of Francisco de Garay. An unfortunate undertaking. The discovery of the Mis- sissippi River. The jurisdictions of Juan Ponce de Leon and Fran- cisco de Garay. Another exploration of a part of the coast of North America. Chicora. Daharhe. Tall p-iople. Habits of the natives. Tierra de Ayllon. The voyage of Fcrnam de Magalhaens. Dis^ covery of the Strait of the Eleven Thousand Virgins. The Pacific Ocean. The Moluccas or Spice Islands reached. Voyage of Juan Sebastian del Cano. The »arth 'rciimnavigated. The congress of Badajos 2T5-2';6 CHAPTER IX. France emulates Portugal, Spain, and England. Discoveries of the Bretons and the Normans. Explorution of the St. Lawrence River. Giovanni da Veirazzano 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 ;he coast of North America. Designates his first landing-place Diepa. Fn iiless soarch for a harbor. Friendly sav- ages. Description of the country. Palmetto trees. Sails northward. Ex; lorations 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 M.ime. Five hundred and two 'eagues of land inspected. Fr' ncesca. Verrazzano's geographical explanation of his voyage. Arrival ;^f 'he Dauphine at Dieppe 297-334 CHAPTER X. {Aiidenda.) Circuktion of the news of Verrazzano's remarkable discove/ies. Fernando Carli'i letter to his father. The adverse opinion of the people con- cerning Veirazzano '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 xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE 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 pea'jants 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 chateau 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 lii-.iU it 344-363 Index . 365-380 COPIES OF RARE MAPS. I. — Delineation of the hypcrbo.-ean regions by Sigurd Stephanius in IS70 22 II, — A part of the map of the New World contained in the edition of Ptolemy's geography printed in Strasburg in 1 5 13. , . . 124 III. — A part of the Cabot-map of lS44i in the Bibiloth^que nationale, Paris 190 IV. — Map of the New World contained in Peter Martyr's " Legatio B?.bylonica," printed in 1511 220 V. — A tracing .-epresenti-g the limits of the discoveries of Juan Ponce de Leon an 1 Francisco de Garay. 1521 278 VI. — A part of the map of the fourth part of the world contained in the Cosmographie Universelle by Andr^ Thevet, printed in Paris in 1575 304 VII. — Map of Terre de la Franciscane in the cosmography of Jean Al- phonse 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 \rorld made by Gerard Mercator in Du- isburg in 1-569 , 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, con- tained »n 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 1537 ••••••••• cover-pocket DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER I. The oldest scriptures, sacred and profane, attest the antiquity of the red race.' 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 unparaiieled. The skill of its architects and engineers was exhibited in large and imposing edi- fices and in extraordinary and extensive public works. Aggressively belligerent, its armies overran parts of Europe and Africa, exacting tribute, deposing and sub- stituting 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 popu- lated provinces, great cities, temples, palaces, aque- ducts, canals, bridges, and causeways. The astonished adventurers also discovered the vestiges of an aborigi- nal people, among which were many massiv- tablets of stone covered with columns of strange hieroglyph- ics and antique images, picturing a past civilization for * The Hebrew for man is derived from the verb (mx), to be red. I DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. the rise am; growth of which modern archaeologists have not yet satisfactorily determined dates. In the early ages of the world the Egyptians re- corded whatever they deemed important and worthy of preservation concerning the principal inhabitants of the globe. These inquisitive chroniclers of antedilu- vian traditions placed in their archives some remark- able information respecting the original people of the western hemisphere. The historical value of this in- formation is enhanced by the fact that those parts of it which beem to be the most improbable are supported by similar statements in the Bible, while the less as- tounding are verified by the discovery, on the conti- nent 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.^ 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 informa- * Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, was born about the years, c. 639, and died about 'he year B. c. 558. Herodotus, the Greek historian, writing in the fifth century before the Chris- tian era, says • " When these were subdued, and Croesus 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 worF, 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 w^^nt from there to CrtBsus, at Saidis." — Herodotus : Clio xxix, xxx. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. tion that he committed it to writing, intending to use it in an historical poem which he had undertaken to compose.' On his return to Athens he was not per- mitted the leisure that was needed to complete his agreeable task.' 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.^ The latter, when a boy, had studiously perused his eminent ancestor's lanuscript, 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.* In order, there- fore, 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.* " 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 '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. '"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 relin- quish 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 : Timaeus, or Concerning Nature. * Plato was bom about the year B. C. 430 and died about the year B. c. 348. He traced his descent from Solon through his mother. * " 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. * Plato : Critias, or the Atlantic. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. f ■ rr 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 ; never- theless, thfjre 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.' At that time sea-faring men could pass from it to the other islands, and from them to the opposite continent, which ex- ' The so-called Pillars of Hercules were the two mountains, Calpc and Abyla, on the opposite sides of the Strait of (xibraltar. " 1 wonder, therefore, at those," says Herodotus, " who have described the limits of and divided Libya, Asia, and Europe, for the difference between them is triflintj : for in length Europe extends along both of them, but respecting width, it is evidently not to be compared. Libya shows itself to be sur- rounded by water, except so much of it as borders Asia." — Herodotus : Mel- pomene xlii. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 5 tended along the real ocean. For the sea [the Medi- terranean! 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 i«- extended its rule, on our side, over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.' 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. ' " " " ' 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 (f« ^vvrrj? yvvaiKoi), and placed them on a part of the island which we are about to describe.' " ^ Incredible as this information concerning the resi- dence 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 *Tyrrhenia or Umbria, in Italy, new Tuscany. * Plato : Timseus, or Concerning Nature. * Plato : Critias, or the Atlantic l',» , n i;- ^ ... . : t.. ' R Pi ■ Ijj 1 i 6 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. tree, in the plain of Mamre.* Herodotus was told, by certain Egyptians, that " gods had been the rulers of Ii:^gypt and had dwelt among men ; and that one of them always had the supreme power." ' 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 (□''n7> ' \ I ! r blocked up with a great depth of mud made by the sunken island.' " ^ 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 sub- merged island made the Atlantic impassable is seem- ingly 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."' The disappearance of the islands, in sight of which ,=' a- men 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 ' Plato : Timseus, or Concerning Nature. " 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 Cyrenaean 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 aLout 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 oy 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 £>nd 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 Fom.- of theia carry many thousand talents." — Euterpe xcvi. The vessels of the Phoenicians were of a better build, but they also were fitted out with oirs and sails. — Ezekiel xxvii. 3-q. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 19 America passed out of the recollection of the inhabi- tants of the so-called Old Worid 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 v/hom I have created from the surface of the ground.' "' The information con- tained 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 generation::*,' 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 domi- nance and constant ascendency of the human, and the habits of men overpowered them, * * * ^j^gy ^jg. ported 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, col- lected 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 4! 'Genesis vi. 5, 6, 7. • Plato : Critias, or the Atlantic. Vide The Works of Plato. Bohn's ed. lated by Henry Davis, pp. 413-429. London, 1849. vol. ii. Trans- >v ,ip'*^' 20 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 R^, which is similar to the declaration of the last clause of Plato's unfinished dialogue.' Lenormant, commenting upon the information contained in the inscription, remarks : " The Egyptians admitted a destruction of the primi- tive 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 Egyp- tian 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 pub- lished and translated by Edward Naville.' " The scene L placed at the end of the reign of the god Ra. * * * 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 Rk 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.' " ^ Singular as the fact may seem, the state, polity, and genius of the people of the western hemisphere ' 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 er.rlier than 1410 nor later than 1400 B.C. * Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archajology. t. iv. pp. 1-19. * Les Origines de 1' Histoire. Lenormant. pp. 448, 440, 4 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 21 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 cen- tury. 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.' 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 imp?3sable. 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 at- tempted to sail beyond the sight of land to any great dis- tance. Their first lessons in navigating the narrow expanse of the the North Sea were taken when their boats were unexpectedly carried away from the rugged ' Vide Historia Verdadera de la Conqvista de la Nueva-Espafla. Escrita por el Capitan Beraal Diaz del Castillo, vno de sus Conquistadores. En Madrid, 1632. Antiquities of Mexico : comprising fac-similes of ancient Mexican paint- ings 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. 33 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. coast of Norway by tempestuous winds to the Het- land' and Fer Ge' (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 o'vn 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 re- specting 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 what- ever plunder they could and departed. Not unfre- quently 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. Jt is said that Naddoddr, a Norwegian pirate, was drifted in his ship by an adverse wind, in 860. to Ice- land, which he called Sneeland (Snowland).^ It is * 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, •The Fer Oe or Far islands lie about 170 miles northwest of the Shet- land group, and are between 61° 20' and 62° 25' north latitude. The name is derived ixoxA fer, far, (Swedish,) and oe, islands. ' Iceland lies between latitude 6g° 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 fie, or Far islands. ) SIGURUI STEPHANII TERRARUM MYl'KRBOREAUUM DELINEATIO, ANNO 1570. Delineation of the Hyperborean Regions, \>y Sigurd Stephanus in the year 1570. (Size of the original, 6} inches square.) DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 33 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 sea- man 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 fruit- fulness in a more attractive way, averred that " milk dropped from every plant and butter from every twig."' 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." But Iceland did not long remain the most remote part of the western world known to the people of Europe. Gunnbjorn, 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 Gunn- * History of the Northmen, by Henry Wheaton. London, 1S31. 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. * " Men of experience say, who have been bom in Greenland, and have recently come from Greenland, that from Stadt, in the north part of Norway, to Horns, on the east coast of Ice'and >s seven days' sailing directly westward." — Antiqvitates Americanae, sive script.ores septentrionales rerum Ante-Colum- bianarum in America. Edidit Societas Regia Antiqvariorum Septentrionalium. Hafnise, 1837. Ivar Bardsen's treatise, p. 302. 24 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ■ ' I I bjorn. He sailed from Iceland about the year 981 , and came in sight of the coast of Greenland, at a place called Midjokul.' 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 hygd).' In the following summer he reached the western uninhabited region {vestri uby^d),^ 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 Ice- land, and called the country which he had explored Graenland (oreenland), "because" he said, "people will be influenced to immigrate to it, if the land bears an attractive name." Among those whom Eric in- duced 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 jDlaces where the colonists were to dwell. Eric the Red settled at Brattahlid, and Herjulf erected his house on a cape called Herjulfsnes (Her- julfs nose, or promontory).* "This was fifteen winters ' " He who sails from Iceland [to Greenland] must steer his course from Snefelsnes, which is twelve nautical miles (tholUt soes) farther to the west than the mentioned Reychenes, and for a day and a night he will sail due west, bat then he must steer to the southwest to avoid the ice that adheres to GunnbjOrn'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 Berger [in Norway] to Greenland with- out 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 ot Greenland called Hvarf." — Antiq. Amer. Ivar Bardsen's treatise, pp. 304, 305 ; 303, 304. * Bygd, inhabited land, a place of residence, an abode. ' Ubygd, an unpeopled tract, dcbert. * " A day before you descry the said Hvarf you ought to see another high mountain called Hvidserk. Under these two mountains— -Hvard and Hvidserk DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 35 before Christianity was established by law in Iceland." * i^mong the traditions preserved of the voyages of the Northmen in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, there are several that have caused con- siderable controversy respecting the historical and geographical value of the information contained in them ; for a number of eminent writers have mad/j use of this information to show that the Northmen were the first discoverers of America and the ex- plorers of a large part of the eastern coast of the continent.' Although the^e sagas or legends of Ice- land were unrecorded for several centuries, the manu- scripts 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 informa- tion respecting the parts of the coast visited by them. — is a promontory (ms) called Herjulfsnes, near which is a harbor called Sand- haffn. • • * The inhabited part of Greenland lying eastwardly, next to Herjulfsnes, is called SkagefjOrd." — Antiq. Amer. Ivar Bardsen's treatise, pp. 304, 305- ' Christianity, it is said, was introduced in Iceland in the year 1000. — Antiq. Amer. pp. 10, 11, 14, and note d. The discovery of America by the Northmen. Py North Ludlow Beamish. London, 1841. pp. 47, ^b 'The traditions of the voyages of Bjami, 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 '.he island called Flato, north of BreidafjOrd, in Iceland. This book of Flattt 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, Jonn, the son of Hakon, owns. * * * The priest, Jonn, 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 Tnorhall, wrote out that which follows, also that which procedes, 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 Ice- land'c on vellum, contained in the Codex Flateyensis, were compiled between the years 1387 and 1395. — Antiq. Amer. pp. 1-4. 26 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Other distinofuished writers consider these traditions as too mythical and vague to be deemed valuable, either historically or geographically ^nd argue that what is thought to describe the physical features and pro- ductions 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 af. the first discov- erers of parts of the continent of America, will suffice to show the grounds upon which rest many of the arguments that have been adv.?r»r -i '.o 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,' 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 respecti.T the suc- cess of the contemplated voyage, for h**. r .•' to his companions : •' Our going there will be d v -d 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 "ail 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 fos" succeeded, Then they were drifted about for many days and nights, not ' Thaettir af Eirtki Kauda ok Graenlendingum, DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 27 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 moun- tainous, 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 favorrible wind having ceased blowing, the sailors d thuc it seemed to them that it would be well to odiv^ 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 sorth-southwest wind. They saw a third land [cr 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.* Bjarni's discoveries, it is said, were often the sub- ject of conversation among the Northmen. It is further related that Leif, the son of Eric the Red, pur- chased Bjarni's ship and set sail in it with thirty-five ^Bjarni leitadi Graenlands. — Antiq. Amer, pp. 17-25. Discovery of America. Beamish, pp. 47, 48. .^Mft^ %^ t^a—^KH'-J^ f ' r ( I I } 23 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. men from Brattahlid about the year locx) 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, p'lt out the boat, and went on land, where they saw no herbage. The whole country was filled with high icy mountains, and fi-om the sea all the way to the icy mountains was a plain of flat stones." Leif called the region Helluland.' 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. " 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 for- tune the weather was serene. They found the grass sprinkled with dew, and it happened by chance that tbey 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 re- turned to the ship and sailed through a bay lying be- tween 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 ' From Aelia, a flat stone. Certain writers believe that Newfoundland was called Helluland by the Northmen. The island lies about six hundred miles south of Greenland. • Nova Scotia is supposed by some writers to be the region named Mark- land by the Northmen. It is about four hundred miles southwest of New- foundland. I by DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 29 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 unwill- ing 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 brousfht 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 con- sultation 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 even- ing 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 wvhen 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-berrfes or hew- ing wine-wood and felling trees, (iesa vinber, edr f i 30 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. hbggva vinvid ok fella morkina,) with which my ships should be loaded." Having loaded the ship and the • spring approaching they prepared to depart. To desig- nate the productions of the region, Leif called it Vin- land (Wine-land). They then put to sea and had a favorable wind until they came in sight of Greenlal^d.* As a number of writers have assumed that the re- gion of Vinland, where Leif and his companions win- tered, 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 oite 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 [be- tween 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, ' Hir Hefr GraenUndinga Thdtt. Antiq. Amer. pp. 2&-40. Discovery of America. Beamish, pp. 59-70. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 31 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."* It is further related, in the saga, concerning Vin- land, that " the days are more equai 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 [dagmala-stady breakfast-time), on the shortest day." ' ' 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 Geo- graphical Society of London. London, 1837. pp. 106, 107. * " Meira var thar jafndaegri enn d Gratnlandi edr Islandi, sdl hafdi that eyktarstad ok dagmdlastad um skamdegi." " Dag-mil, 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 ver kOllum dagmal,' which we call d,, Horn. [Homiliu-bok], 142 ; enn er ekki lidit af dagmdlum, Horn. (St.) 10. Acts 11, 15 ; in Glum. [Viga-Glums Saga], 342, we are told that the young Glum was very lazy, and lay in bed till day-meal every morning, cp. also 343 ; Hrafn. [Hrafnkels Saga] 28 and O. H. L. [Olafs Saga Helga Legendaria] 18 — aeinum morni milli rismdla ok dag. mala — where distinction is made between rismal (fm/t^ /tw) and dagmal, so as to make a separate dagsmark (q. v.) of each of them ; and again, a distinction is made between 'midday' and dagmal, Isl. [Islenzkar], 11, 334. The dagmal is thus midway between ' rising ' and ' midday,' which accords well with the 32 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Ji As there is no reliable informatica to indicate that the Northmen of the tenth century had any instru- ments by which they could accurately measure the changing spaces of day and night, or that their ob- servations 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 present use. The word is synonymous with dagver darmdl, breakfast-time, and denotes the hour when the ancient Icelanders used to lake their chief meal, opposed to nattmal, night-meal ox supper-time, Fms. [Fornmanna SOgur], viii, 330 ; even the MSS. use dagmdl and dagverdarmal indiscriminately ; cp. also Sturl. [Sturlunga Saga] 111,4c; Rb, [Rimbegla], 452 says that at full moon the ebb takes place ' at dagmd-lum.' To put the dagmdl at 7:30 A.M., as Pal Vidalin does, seems neither to accord with the present use nor the passage in Glum or the eccl. hora tertia, which was the nearest hour answering to the Icel. calculation of the day. In Fb. [Flateyjar bok] 1.539, >' >* said that the sun set at 'eykd' (t. e. half-past three o'clock), but rose at 'dagmdl,' which puts the dagmal at 8:30 A.M. Compds. dagmak-stadr, m. the placf. of d. in the hotizon, Fb. [Flateyjar bok]" " Eykt, eykd, f. three or half-past three o'clock, P.M.; many commentaries have been written upon this word, as by Pal Vidalin Skyr, Finn Johnson in H. E. [Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiae] i. 153 sqq. note 6, and in Ilorologium, etc. The time of eykd is clearly defined in K. Th. K. [Krislinnrettr Thorlaks 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 — con- founded the commentators who believed it to refer to the conventional Icel. winter, which (in the old style) begins with the middle of Octol r, 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 statemf it the commciitstors have based their reasoning both in regard to dagmal ana eykt, placing the eykt at half-past four.p.M., and dagmal at half-past seven, A.M., although this contra* diets 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 ■'s- tronomical 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-bo'c] 1. 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 Sttgur] r, 385, DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 33 signification of the words eyktar-stad and ddgmdla-stad would consequently be futile and unsatisfactory. Nev- ertheless a number of scholars have attempted to de- termine 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.' These different lengths 446, and Ilem. [Hemings-thattr] 1. c, are of the 13th and 14th centuries. In Norway ykt is freq used metaph. of all the four meal times in the day, mom- ing-ykt, midday-ykt, afternoon-ykt (or ykt proper), and even-ykt. In old MSS,, Grig., K. Th. K. Hem. Heid. S. [GragAs, Kristinnrettr, Thorliks 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 eie-me&X, answering to Engl, lunch, and thenco came to mean the time of day at which this meal was taken. Theeccl. law dilates upon the word, as the Sabbath was to begin at * hora nana ' ; hence the phrase, eykt helgr dagr. * « * " Eyktar-stadr. m. tie place of the sun at half -past three, P.M.; meira var, thar jafndaegri enn d Graenlandi edr fslandi, sol hafdi thar eyktar-stad ok dag- mala-stad um skamdegi, Fb. [Flateyjar bok] i, 539, — this passage refers to the discovery of America ; but in A. A. [Antiquitates Americans], 1. 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 Americanae] is too far to the south." " Dagr, m. * * * a day, * * * 5, the day is in Icel. divided ac- cording to the position of the sun above the horizon ; these fixed traditional marks are called dags-mtirk, day-marks, and are substitutes for the hours of modern times, viz. ris-mal or midr-morgun, Oag-mal, ha-degi, mid-degi or mid- mundi, non, midr-aptan, natt-mal." " Stadr, m., gen. stadar, dat. stad, and older stadi, pi. stadir : ♦ * * a 'stead,' place, abode." — An Icelandic-English dictionary based on the MS. col- lections of the late Richard Cleasby, enlarged and completed by Gudbrand Vig- fusson, M. A. Oxford, 1874. ' Thormod Torfason, or Torfseus, as his name is Latinized, in the addenda of his History of Ancient Vinland (rlisloria Vinlandite Antiqute), 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 im- ply that this land lay between the fifty-eighth and sixty-first parallels of north latitude. " Torfoeus confirms his interpretation by the authority of Arngrim Jonas, a learned Icelander who flourished at the end of the sixteenth and begin- ning 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 san, on the very day of the winter solstice (they had no dials there), passes about six hours above the horizon.' Having cited this passage . \ '.^ « 34 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. of the day involve the inference that Vinland was some- where 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.' Among the number were Thorfinn Karlsefne, Snorro Thorbn ndson, Bjarni Grimolfson, and Thorhall Gam- lason. It is said that the three ships which departed from the western settlement, in the spring of 1007, had on 'uonrd 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 Mar la' ^. When the Northmen dep. * *rom Markland, it is said in the saga that '* they tuen "tailed far to the from Arngrim Jonas, Torfteus proceeds : ' This meaning 1 ii.id long ago given thia passage, first on the authority (if I rightly understood him) of Bryniulf Sveinson, the most learned of all the bishops of Skalkhoit, 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 tha genuine signi- fication 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 Re- view. January, 1838, vol. xlvi. pp. 179-188. Vide Historia Vinlandiae Antiqute, seu partis Americas Septentrionalis. Per Thormodum Torfseum. Havniic, 1705. Addenda. Professor Charles C. Rafn, secretary of the Royal Society of Northern Anti- quaries, 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 Discov- ery of America. Beamish, pp.64, 65. According to Prof. Rafn, the North- men 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'. ' The saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne and Snorro Thorbrandson {^Saga Thor- finns Karlsefnis ok Snorra Thorbrandssonar), This legend is written on vellum, and is one of the valuable Icelandic manuscripts called the Ama-Magnoean col- lection, which is preserved in the library of the university of Copenhagen. The manuscripts were bequeathed to the university by Ame Magnussen, or, as his name is Latinized, Arnus Magnoeus, an Icelandic scholar. The saga of Thorfinn is supposed to have been compiled in the fourteenth centuiy. T DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 3S 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 ordcied them to run to the south of the country and < .plore it, and return within three days. * * * They were absent the designated time. When they returned, one brought a bunch of wine- berries [vinberja kongul), the other an ear of wheat {hveitiax nysaid)J When they were taken on board, the ship sailed farther. They camfe 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 * In the treatise of Ivar Bardsen, it is said that in Greenland "is found the best of wheat, {beste IJvede)," — Antiq. Amer. pp. 302-318, The wild wheat (elymus arenarius) growing on the sand flats of Iceland is thus described : " This plant, the melur ot 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 g'eat 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, 3S6. I t; 36 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. stepping on their eggs. They called this place Straum fjord (Stream inlet). They took the cargo from the ship and made preparations to remain there. They had with them different kinds of cattle. They under- took nothing but the exploration of the land. Without having provided food beforehand they sustained them- selves there durmg the winter. In the summer the fishing was not good and they were in want of provi- sions. Thorhall the Iiunter 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 b^s, as I find noted by Gutyn Owen." — Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. i. • Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. I. ' Kosmos : Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung. Alexander von Humboldt. 1845-1858. Trans, by E. C. Ott^. Bohn's ed. vol. ii. pp. 608, 609. * The history of the voyages of the Zeni brothers was first published with another work entitled : Dei Commentarij del Viaggio in Persia. Venezia, 1558. t," DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 45 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. ' " The crew were saved to- gether with most of the ship's cargo. This occurred in the year 1 380. The inhabitants of the island, having collected in considerable numbers, attacked the cheva- lier and his men, who, being exhausted by the hard- ships 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 power- ful chieftain, with an armed force, was in their neigh- borhood, who, learning that a large ship had been cast upon ihe 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. * * * j^g 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." Nicold Zeno then entered the service of this dis- tinguished 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 Nicolo, which occurcd four years ' The name is evidently a designation for Iceland, frislanda, the cold or frozen land ; Anglo-Saxon," /ryjaw / Icelandic, ftiosaj Swedish, frysa; Danish, fryse j and la.td, land. l\ L 46 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. il after Antonio's arrival, he was appointed to take com- mand of Zichmni's fleet. From letters written by Antonio to his brother Carlo, the lemarkable particu- lars 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, li. last, the tempest abated, they descried an island called Estotiland," 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 acci- dent 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 Estotiland seems to be an anomalous form of the name Scotland, from Anglo-Saxon, scot y Spanish and Portuguese, escote ; Italian, scotto. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 47 library, which they at the present time do not under- stand. 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 con- struct 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 foi themselves. Although they escaped a mis- erable 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 fishiii;: in the sea and in the fresh waters, and take a great number of fish, which he gave to the chief'', and thereby ingratiated himself so much into the*/ 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 prac- tised his wonderful art of catching fish. With this r I 48 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 be- came 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 unculti- vated, 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 ave 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 cap- tives. They have chiefs and certain laws, but differing in different tribes. The farther you go southwestward, hov/ever, 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 49 and made his escape through the woods in the direc- tion 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 ap- peared 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 con- sented 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."' 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 Green- land, from which it sailed to Frisland. ' Dello Scoprimento dell 'Isole Frislanda, Eslanda, Engronelanda, Estoti- landa, & Icaria, fatto per due fratelli Zeni, M, Nicol6 il Caualiere, & M. An- tonio. Libro Vno, col disegno di dette Isole. The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers, Nicol6 and Antonio Zeno to the Northern Seas. By Richard Henry Major. London, 1873. Hakluyt Soc. pnb, pp. 1-24. t >x I 4 r » I M i : i I ' DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 anti- quated 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 compre- hension of that which without it could not be under- stood so easily." Inasmuch as it is difficult to disprove that the names Frislanda, Engronelanda, and Estotilanda were not early designations for Iceland, Greenland, and Scot- land, the supposition that the unnamed Frisland fisher- man passed thirteen years of his life on the continent cf America solely rests upon the particulars of the story of his famous adventures as a maker of fishing- nets. ^/ ,'■;?■ ^ :':■'■'-;.■ •':■:■;;■ /'''<^-\:^::..,>:':'--,,,X::/:^^ I i 1'' ! 1 CHAPTER II. . -•..';^:'J:''^'''\v .-' 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 disem- barked from the Mediterranean galley in which they had come from Negropont, this attention had, it is likely, been bestowed upon their odd garb and imper- fect 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 cplorers of the Atlantic coast territory of America in the fifteenth century. It is therefore properly enti- tled 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. Amer- ica lay in some of the navigable ways which were sought by acquisitive Europeans to go to it, and thus 51 ; f i i:^i 52 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. the return of Nicolo, Maffeo, and Marco Polo, in 1295, to Venice, after an absence of twenty-four years, is inseparably linked to the great chain of events con- necting it with the discovery of the new continent of the western hemisphere.' 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.' ; ^ ^;; .; r : :. fc . 1 " 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 Ve- netian 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. ' In 1260, the two brothers, Nico16 and Maffeo Polo, departed from Con- stantinople, on a trading expedition to the Euxine Sea ; thence they travelled through the western dominions of the Grand Khan of the Tartars, In I26g they returned home with letters from this sovereign to Pope Clement IV. On their arrival in Venice, N;col6 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 thrf 'i returned to Venice after an absence of twenty-four years. ' 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 Vi ggi," comprises three volumes. Volume I. was published in 1554, volume II. in 1559, and volume III. in 1256. Ramusio died in 1557. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 53 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 oc- cupied by some of their relatives, and they had the uvmost 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 sena- tor 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 amo ig 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 vas 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 dov/n 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 r 54 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. h; 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 ar rived. 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 55 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 re- spect. " 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' 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." » ' 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 'Funguses, whose rule subsisted for 200 years, and originated the name Khilai, 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 Set Marco Polo. By Henry Yule. London, 1875. Introd. p. 11. * Ramusio : Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi, vol. it. Prefatione. * . 56 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 peo- ple of Western Europe great pathways of discovery and of commerce around the earth. In order to per- ceive how these descriptions of Cathay led to the ex- ploration 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.' ' Concerning Marco Polo, Humboldt remarks: " Jacquet, who was un- happily 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 ofScially 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 modem travellers DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 57 As justly clximed by Yule, Marco Polo was the first traveller " to trace a route a'^'-oss the longitude of Asia, naming and describing kingdom after king- dom which he had seen with his own eyes ; the des- erts of Persia, the flowering plateaux and wild gorges of Badakhshan, the jade-bearing rivers of Khotan, the Mongolian steppes, * * * xh^ ^ew 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 mu- seum of beauty and wonder, still so imperfectly ran- sacked, 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, 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 com- municated to him, of which, as Governor of the city of Yangui, he was able to have a large number.' (See my Asie CentraU, 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-prist ner and friend, Messer Ruslizielo of Pisa, as if the documents had been lying before him. (Compare Marsden, Travels of Marco Polo, p. xxxiii)." Humboldt : Cosmos. Otto's trans, vol, ii. p. 625. Note. 58 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. (S I I :■ It! its obscene ascetics, its diamonds and tlie strange tales of tlieir acquisition, its sea-beds of pearl, and its power- ful sun ; the first in medieval times to giv any dis- tinct 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 rue and other monstrocities ; and, in a remotely oppo- site region, of Siberia and the Arctic Ocean, of dog- sledges, white bears, and reindeer-riding Tunguses." ' 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 merchan- dise 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 'n different countries returned to write, in Latin, in French, and in English, a narrative of his extended travels." ' Ser Marco Polo. Yule. Second ed. vol. i. pp. 103, 104. ' " 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 i^-wC, and have seyn and gon thorghe manye dyverse Londes, and many Provynces and Kingdomes and lies, and have passed thorghe Tar- tarye, 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 gKt partie ; and thorghe out many othere lies, that ben DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 59 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 tije year 1 343 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 mer- chants 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 abouten Inde. * * * Andzeeschulleundirstonde, that I have put this Boke out of Latyn into Frensche and translated it azen out of Frensche into Eng- lyssche, that every Man of my Naciouu may undirstonde it." — MS. in Cotton Ian hbrary, marked Titus, c, xvi. The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maunde- vile, Kt. By J. O. Halliwell. London, 1849. Prologue, pp. 4, 5. Pi 1 ■ I l\\ \\ r? i 60 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. canal leading from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, he sent certain Phoenicians in ships, with orders to sail between the Pillars of Hercules into the Northern Sea [the Mediterranean], and so to return to Egypt. These Phamicians, 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 at* ution from others, but to me it seems in- credible, lor they affirmed, that having sailed around Libya, they had the sun on their right hand. Thus was Libya for the first time known." ' 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.' * * * 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.^ And long before him, Caelius Antipater informs us that he had seen a person who had sailed from Spain to Ethiopia for the purpose of trade. The same Cor- nelius Nepos, when speaking of the northern circum- navigation, tells us that Q. Metellus Celer, the col- league of L. Afranius in the consulship, but then a ' Herodotus : Melpomene xlii. * Caius Plinius Secundus, a Roman writer, born A. D. 23, and died A. D. 79. Hanno's expedition was undertaken about 570 B. c. ' Eudoxus of Cyzicus, a Greek navigator, lived about 130 B c. Ptolemy Lathyrus began his reifjn d. c. 117. Cornelius Nepos flourished in the cen- tury before the Christian era. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. proconsul in Gaul,' had a present made to him by the king of the Suevi,' of certain Indians, who, sailing from India for the {mrpose oi commerce, had been driven by tempests to Germany." ' 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 instru- ments 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 l^efore 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.* The slowness with which its use grew into favor with European seamen is ascribable to the prevailing superstition which hun^ ' Supposed to have been in th; year of the building of Rome, 691. * Suevi, the ancient inhabitants of that part of Germany between '.he Danube and the Baltic Sea, ' Historia Naturalis. lib, ii. cap. Ixvii. " ' ' * "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, betv/een 1204 and 1215. Dan'-' (in h.\i FaraJ. xii., 29) refers, in a simile, to the needle (as^o) ' which points to the star.' " "Navarrete, in )oSs, Discurso historico sobre los progresos del Arte de Nave- gar en Espana, 1802, p. 28, recalls a remarkaMe 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 couv«e, is the intermediary agent (medianera) between the loadstone {la piedra) and the north star.' * * * See the passage in Las Stele Partidas del sabio Key Don Alonsoelix. (accord- ing to the usually adopted chronological order, Alonso the Xth). Madrid, 1829. t. i. p. 473." — Humboldt: Cosmos. Otte's trans, vol. ii. p. 629, and note. h % , 1 I 'I TPT I! rf I,. ti ' 7' I 1 ■' h 62 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. like a darkening cloud over the minds of the people. The strange conservuLism of the age is well described in a letter written, as it seems, in the year I258, by Brunette 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 (>ther things] he showed me a black ugly stone, called a magnet, which has the sur- prising 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 steei' his vessel aright.' " This discovery, which appears useful in so great a degree to all who travel by sea, must remain con- cealed 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 wich 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 re- searches 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 ' " La magnete piere laide ei noire. Ob ete fervolenters se joint. Lontouchet oh une aguilet. Et en festtte Ion Jischie. Puis Ion mette en laigue et se tient desus. Et la point se torne contre lestoille. Quant la nuit feit tenebrous et Ion ne voie estoile ne lune, poet li mariner tenir droite voie." DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 63 Bacon, and do justice to that industry and intelligence for which he and they now meet with no other return than obloquy and reproach." ' 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.' P rom this time forward the use of the magnet gradually found favor with European seamen. The most enthusiastic projector of voyages of dis- covery 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.^ When twenty-one years of age, he witnessed, in 141 5, the taking of Ceuta, on the northern coast of Africa, opposite the southern ex- tremity of Portugal. While at this opulent city, he learned from its merchants and traders that the conti- nent 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 sea- men in the service of Portugal to explore the western coast of Africa. For a time Cape de Nao, in north lati- tude, 28° 45' was considered the limit of safe navigation. It was a common saying among Portuguese seamen, 'The Monthly Magazine, or British Register. London, 1802. vol. xiii. part I. p. 449. The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal. By Henry Major. London, 1868. pp. 58, 59. '"We are told by Antonio Beccadelli, surnamed 11 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 nauiis usum magnetis Amalphis ' ; and 'Jnventrix praclara fuit magnetis Amalphis' * * * The former of these lines is quoted from II 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. * Dom Henrique was born at Oporto, March 4, 1394. n i v i ^ n-. m r I" I' I ] 64 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. that " He who should pass Cabo de Nao, either will return or not." ' Beyond it was Cape Bojador, in 26° 1 2' north latitude. This rocky headland, for a time, was also deemed perilous and impassable. " Beyond this cape " it was said, " there is no people w hatever ; 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 cur- rents are so strong that a ship passing the cape cannot recurn."' The attempts made by Prince Henry's mari- ners to double the two capes are thus commented upon by Antonio Galvano, the Portuguese historian,^ in his treatise respecting the routes by which spices came from India to the year i55o : " In those day5. none of the Portuguese had yet passed Cabo de Nao in 29 de- grees 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." * Of the number ' " Quern passar o Cabo de Nao, ou voltara ou nao." 'Chronica do descobrimento e conquista de Guine, escripta per mandado de el Rey. D. Affonso V. sob a direc^ao scientifica e secundo as instruc9oes do illustre infante D. Henrique, pelo chronista Gomes Eannes de Azurara, fiel- mente transladada do manuscrito original contcmporaneo que se conserva na Bibliotheca Real de Pariz. Edited by the Visconde da Carreira, with introduc- tion and notes by the Vicomte de Santarem. Paris, 1841. cap. viii. ' Antonio Galvano was born about the year 1502. In 1538 he was appointed by the king of Poi tugal governor of the Moluccas or Spice Islands. He was recalled about the year 1545, and died in 1557. * Tratado, que compos o nobrc & notitupl capitSo Antonio Galuio, dos diuersos & desuayrados caminhos, por onde nos tempos passados a pimenta & especearia veyo da India .'s nossas partes, & assi de todos os descobrimen- tos antigos & modernos, que sao fcitos ate a era de mil & quinhentos & cincoenta. » * * Impressa em casa de Joam de Barreira inipressor del rey nosso senhor, na Rua de Sa Mameda. [Lisboa.] Vide The discoveries of tne world, from their first original unto the year of our Lord 1555, by Antonio Galvano, governor ot Ternate. Corrected, quoted, and published in England, by Richard Hakluyt, (1610). Now re- printed, with the original Portuguese text, and edited by Vice-admiral Bcthunc, C. B. London, 1862. Hakluyt Society publication. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 65 of sec:men 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 'hem to maice other and more persistent efforts to double the formidable headland. In 1434, he again sent Gil Eanno , to explore the coast beyond Cape Bojador. Before the latter departed the prince en- deavored to dispel the terrifying fancies that might deter him from attempting to prosecute the undertak- ing 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. T le 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, fo*" 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 opii;ions, and, by the grace of God, you will not fail to secure, by your enterprise, both honor and com- pensation."' Gil Eannes followed the advice of his sanguine patron, and succeeded the same year in doub- ling 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 th^ 'Chronica do desccbrimento e conquista de Guin^. cap. ix. i: it , *• i u t .1 rli ii 'I ! ik ,1 ! m DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. path of the sun, is parched and set on fire by the lu- minary, 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 con- sequence of the scorching heat of the heavenly bodies." ' Conceiving this statemeni to be as fallacious as many other deckraticns of the early geographers had been, Prince Heniy, in 1464, sent Luigi da Cadamosto, a Venetian navigator, to explore the coast beycnd Cape Bojador so long invested with so many imaginary ter- rors. In 1462 Pedro de Cmtra sailed three hundred miles beyond Sierre Leone. As i«- was neti ssary for seamjen to know the latitude and longitude of the places to which they desired to sail, another nautical instrument besides the mariner's compars was needed by them.' The adaptation of an instrument called the astrolabe, by which the latitudes ' Historia Naturalis. lib. ii. cap. Ixviii. ' The distance of a place, noith or south of 'lie equator, was determined by ascertaining with the astrolabe the elevation of the pole of the heavens above thf plant, 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 spac of fifteen degrees of longitude. Although a navigator in the latter part of the fifteenth century could determine with his ustrolabe 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 impossi- ble 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 naviga- tion : " Pilots now are satisfied with knowing the latitude, and are so pre- sumptuous that they refuse to hear longitude mentioned." — MS. in Ambro- sian Library, Milan. To obtain a practical solution h{ the difficulties which perplexed seamen in determining the longitude of places, the Spanish government offered a thousand crowns, in 1598, for an accurafe 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 profferinf^ a gift of money to any person who should discover the best means o^ ascertaining longitude. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 67 of places could be determined, apparently originated with King John II. of Portugal.' It is said that " when Prince Henry began the dis- covery 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 myste- ries of the sea, the facts of which are clearly demon- strated 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 Mas- ter 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 profes- sors of that science,' and these devised the way of navi- gating by the sun's altitude, and they made tables of ' Joam II. of Portugal reigned from 1481 to 1495. "Astrolabes designed for the determination of time and geographical lati- tudes by meridian altitudes, and capable of being employed at sea, underwent gradual improvement from the lime 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 meteoro- scope of his friend Regiomontanus." —Humboldt : Cosmos. Otte's trans, vol, ii. pp. 630, 631. ° Martin Behaim was born in Nuremberg about the year 1459. His com- mercial business induced him to visit Portugal about the year 1480, where, it is said, he became a pupil of Johann Ml\ller, known as Regiomontanus. He accom- panied Diogo Cani to the Congo, in 14S4. He afterward resided on the island of Fayal, one of th; Azores, for a number of years. His celebrated terrestrial i,. 'll i 68 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. his declination such as are now used by navigators, now more complete than tliey were at the beginning when the great wooden astrolabes were first used."* This novel and serviceable nautical instrument, first made of wood and of a triangular phape, was soon in general use on Portuguese vessels. The astrolabe was improved from time to time. At the beginning of the sevente :;nth century, when the French seaman, Samuel de Champlain, v;as 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 circumfere*' tf the disk. At the zenith part of the instrument ..aere was a small ring by which it could be suspended from the thutr b 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. 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 globe was corstructed by him, at Nuro b rg <.r>->u! 'le year 1492. He 'iied at Lisbon, on the twenty-ninth of J i);/, !•/ r\ 'Asia de Joam de Darro? dos lectos q -■ os 7n:ii-^ii<" 's fizeram no descob- rimento & coaiquista do3 r.ar. « & te.ru; U » rrw J h ij^rr »a per Germao Gal- harde em Lixboa : a xk'"'. de Jani k^..mi 's la. v-. lij. dec. i. hb, iv. cap ii. A representation of the astrolahe 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 inciies and five-eights." Vide " Champlain's astrolabe." By A. J. Russell. Montreal, 1879. I 1 ^l^i 1 m !'.■■'. -3 M ' DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 69 two." ' Time was measured by sand-glasses, or am- polletas, as they were called by the Spaniards. Forty- eight changes of these lialf-hour glasses equalled the space of a day." 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 in- domitable zeal of this Portuguese mariner enabled him to reach the southern extremity of Africa, where he found a bold promonitory to which he gave the name of Cabo Tormentoso, (the Stormy Cape,) commemora- tive 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 prom- ontory discovered by Dias, Cabo de Boa Esperan9a (the Cape of Good Hcpe).^ ' Arte de nauegar. Por el maestro Pedro de Medina. Valladolid. 1545. '"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, 1 521, when Magellan had already arrived in the Pacific, 'Seconda la misura (he facevamo del viaggio colla catena a poppa noi percorrevamo da 60 in 70 legAe algiomo' [follo'ving the measure which we made of our progress with the cha'n at the stem, we ran from sixty to seventy leagues a day]. (Aif.oretti. Prinio Viaggio intomo al Globo terracqueo ossia NaWga- zione fattadal Cavaliere Antonio Pigafetta sullasquadra del Magaglianes, 1800. p. 46.) What can this arrangement of a chain at Uc hinaer 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 : Cosmok Ottc's trans, vol. ii. p. 633. « _ ' The Cape of Goo• m ( w^ , * "Historic del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. ix, x. • " Paolo Toscanelli was so greatly distinguished as an astronomer that Behaim's teacher, Regiomontanus, dedicated to him, in 1463, his work, Da Quadratura Circuit, directed against the Cardinal Nicolaus de Cusa, He con- structed 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. Otte's trans, vol. ii. p. 644. Note. H DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 8i 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 s";rene 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 Ice- land, 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 ^he 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 general- ly known to be produced in the East, because those who shall sail westward will always find those places in the II '.« i fti ii, 'm ! i r, J, m m )*• t I,' m i )! 8a DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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-ior 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. ' This country is an ex- ceedingly 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 ' 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. Seconded, vol. ii. p. 186. OnRuysch'smapof 1508, Zaiton is placed on the east coast of China, west of the island of Cuba. Vide map. . DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 83 embassador to Pope Eugene IV., who informed him of the great affection which their princes and people bore toward the Christians. I talked w';;h him a loner 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 protits 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.' Wonderful things are reported of the ingenuity of its inhabitants, its build- ings and revenues. The space previously mentioned is almost a third part of the circumference of the globe.' ' 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 norlhwest of Zaiton. ' 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. ! I '1 n I f i i "■;' 1 ■ , 1 .--IjU li 1' 1 '8 1 ii|t iliii m 1 84 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. The city Is in the province of Mango, bordcrincf 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,' are ten spaces, which include two thousand five hundred miles, or two hundred and twenty-five leagues." The island abounds with gold, pearls, and precious stones ; and you should know that they cover their temples and palaces with plates ot 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 sat- ' 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. * From Lisbon, Spain, in 38° 42' north latitude and g° 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 Pekinj^', China, in 39° 56' north latitude and 116° 27' cast longitude, about twelve thousand one hundred miles. From Liverpool, England, to New York, on the sailing route, the dis- tance 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 dis- tance is about ten thousand six hundred miles. " As the old continent, from f'.ie western extremity of the Iberian peninsula [Portugal], to the coast of ChiUd, 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 T have indicated, depends on the posi- tion 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. Otto's trans, vol. ii. p. 264. Note. ii! kula lie re :rse lOiiU Ifar l. so of DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 85 isfy your curiosity, it being as much as my time and business permit me now to wri;;e. However, I remain ever ready to satisfy and serve his highness to the utmost in all the commands that he sha.'l lay upon me." ' " The admiral, nc w 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 becom- ing a monarch to espouse and to accomplish, he deter- mined 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 coa^ ♦ of Africa, called Guinea. Little success had thus far .e warded 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 inclina- tion to invest any more money in discoveries ; and if he gave any attention to the admiral, it was in conse- quence 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 * Historic del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap, viii. i ^:tv'iSi Ml E>-' I 86 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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,' whom he greatly es^^^oemed, determined to send a caravel secredy to attempt that which the ad- miral 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 y DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 91 say lolly 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. There- fore he entreated the admiral not to proceed any far- ther, for he would himself go to the queen, hoping that, as he was her father-confessor, she would be gov- erned by what he should say to her. Although the ad- miral was disappointed and disgusted with the discred- itable action and judgment of the counsellors of their highnesses, yet, being 01. the other hand very desirous that Spain should leap 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 hir 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 Portu- gal ; 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 F6, 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 dis- couraging, 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 i 11 i I i i i ; 92 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. did not accomplish any thing, they considered it foolish to bestow such titles ; consequently the matter received no favor;ible 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 prep- arations for his journey to France, for he had deter- mined 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 F6. On that same day also Luis de Santangel, previously mentioned, who did not approve of his going away, but was veiy 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 undertrking, 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 Santangel's words, answered, thanking him for his good advice and say- ing 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 Santdngel, 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 high- ness that small service by lending his money. There- upon the queen at once sent an officer post-haste to DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 93 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, never- theless, being informed of the queen's wish and inten- tion, he returned to the camp of Sauca Fe, 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 sub- tracting any thing in them."' ' 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 EspaBoles desde fines del siglo xv., por Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete. Madrid, 1825. tom. i. p. 311. Historic del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xiii, xiv, xv. '!:«. ■:,iii r'»l m II il ; ,?f,»,>i !■ 1 ^1 H U I'll) I i W H r J; III m 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 note- worthy during the voyage. Governed by this inten- tion, 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 ter- minated 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 94 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 95 great numbers of people were lost, believing in idola- try and doctrines of perdition ; therefore your high- nesses, as catholic Christians and sovereigns, who love and promote the holy Christian religion, and are ene- mies of the sect of Mahomet, and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, (Crist6bal Colon,) to the previoush- mentioned coun- tries 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 fur- thermore, 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 suffi- cient 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 eld- est son, and thus descend from generation to gen- eration forever. Thereupon I left the city of Gra- nada, 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 L i 96 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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. More- over, 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." ' The vessels of the fleet were the ship {la nao), Santa Maria," commanded by Columbus, and two caravels, {carabelas,) La Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon, and La Nina, by Vicente Yanes Pinzon, his brother, both being natives and seamen of Palos. "Being furnished with all necessaries and ninety men," ' says Ferdinand Columbus, " they set sail on the third of ' " Tengo propdsito de hacer carta nueva de navegar, en la cual situari toda la mar y tierras del mar Ocdano en sus propios lugares debajo su viento; y mas componer un libra, y poner todo por el semejante par pintura, par latitud del equi- nodal y longitud del Occid(nte, y sobre todo cumple mucho que yo olvide el suenoy tiente mucho el navegar porque asi cumple, las cuales serdtt gran trabajo."- - Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. torn. i. ip. I-3. * 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. * On the pavement of the cathedral of Seville is inscribed: " Con tres gaUras y i)opersonas," wUh three galleys and ninety persons. les, the 'en. ly a and )re- ght ■ing iria sea der and the e it any jire inta els, nso his los. dof ' toda mas efio y 0."- - th of two -sail. dera, iUsail » trei m :PN t i I • I . , i i 11 ii ii (; 1' iilfl I DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 97 August directly tovi^ard 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 witli 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 lor the Canary Islands, it being Saturday, the foarth 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 ^ssitance as command- ers 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." ' 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,' 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 prom- ises of land and of wealth, to raise their hopes and lessen their fears respecting the length of the voyage^ ' Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xvi, xvii. * The island of Ferro is the most westerly of ;he Canary group. The Cana- ries 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. i i ,, I 1 r. i '/■i :?. ^i 1 '■ k ■ 1 i 1; % ■ ii > 1 it fl kM i tffi ; '1 V • i II !i , ;• ; 1 1 iLJ >- 2 ■ S':| * i ' ' '1' . : ( i 1'^ 1 1 98 DISCOVERIES OF- AMERICA. 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 voy- age, 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/ ^ " Continuing his voyage in this way, on Wednes- day, the twelfth of September, about sun-setting, being about one hundred and fifty leagues wer.t of the island of Ferro, he discovered a large piece of tne 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 stronglv toward the northeast. When he had run fifty leagues farther westward, on the thirteenth of Septembei 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 othei 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." ' ' According to Columbus's statement, 56| 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 Colurcbus equalled 4,842 English feet, and the Italian marine league > 9,368 English feet. — ^ie/^ 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 State? Coast and Geodetic Survey. Appendix No. 18. Report for 1880, Washington, 1882. pp. S8. 59- ' '* On September 13, 1492, he had reached far enough to the westward to come from a previously eastern declination within a region of westerly declina- tion, and that on September 17 it amounted to a whole point (iiy°). This constitutes his well -known dbcovety of n part of a line of no-declination. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 99 't- mm '. "J 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 c^'-e, they apprehended that that might hap- pen 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.' " Two hundred and twenty-four leagues or, near enough tor 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', ac- cording 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 huvQ 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 (Englanil), t866, 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 ri° 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, Colutr.bus 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 149!?. By Charles A Schott. United .States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Appendix No, 19. Report for 1880. Wasliington, 1882. p. 5. " Christopher Columbus has not only the merit of being the first to discover a line ivithout fiiagnetic variation, but also of having excited a taste for the study of terrestrial magnetism in Europe, by means of his observations on the progres- sive increase of western declination in receding from that line." — Humboldt: Cosmcs. Otte's trans, voi. ii. p. 656. ' " 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 tie Sargasso, extends between 19° and 34° north latitude. The major axis is situated about 7° west *\ li ,4 il. : i ! ''■ s III' i" 100 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. " The wind at this time blew at southwest, some- dmes more and sometimes less west, which, though con* ary 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 t > 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 nea^ did not permit the waves to risC; 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 peli- can, 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 ihey would not bite at the hook." ' " As often as the men were deceived by these signs of the island of Corvo. The /esser Fucus Bank lies in a space between the Bermudas and the Bahamas. Winds and pa>'tial currents variously I'iTect, ac- cording to the cl aracter of the season, the length and circumference of th>*se Atlantic fucoid meadows." — Humboldt: Cosmos, Otte's trans, vol. ii. p. 663. * Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xviii, xix. sL DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. lOI 'n 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 him- self 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 ven- turing 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 mto the truth of the matter ; which deed would hasten their return home and preserve their lives. Thus they conducted them- selves from day to day, grumbling, complaining, and conspiring together. The admiral was not without ap- prehensions of their inconstancy and evil intentions toward him. Therefore, sometimes with fair words and sometimes with a strong determination to expose I i : **M 102 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 indica- tions, 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 Septem- ber], four rush-tails came to the ship, and as they flew there together, it was thought that land was near, es- pecially-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, fron 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 comj ass-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 ihe 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 ' sis sl£ at* regions. * * * " On Monday, the first of October, at sunrise, a DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 103 pelican came to the ship, and tv^o 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 computa- tions, for the oilot of the caravel Nina, on the following Wednesday afternoon, said they had sailed five hun- dred and forty K^agues, and the other of ihe 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 sun- rise, some signs of land appeared westward, but being undefined, no one said any thing, for fear of the con- sequence of asserting what did not exist, and also for fear of losing the thirty crowns which their catholic majesties had promistd 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 i^ exist in three days from that time, should lose the reward, even if afterward he »', ■if '3 ^^i^ I M ' i ! I ( i li 'li If 1 ^i 104 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. should be declared to be the first discoverer of land. All on board of the admiral's ship being thus fore- warned, 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 expecta- tions diminished and the indication of land disappeared. However, it pleased God to give them soon after some comforting a-^-surances, 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 fbllowing 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 Espafiola, 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 105 numbers of large fowls were seen, and Pjcks 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 * lem. " The admiral being no longer able to withstand the number that opposed him, it ple^s^r', God that on Thursday afternoon, the eleventh of October, the men took heart and rejoiced, because they had unquestion- able signs that they were near land. Those on board the admiral's sh.p 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 stafl" 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 conscious- ness, 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 ^ I ■■' I ;:'! m 1 ■, ; i » I p ,. I )■ K. io6 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 instruc);iGns 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. Shoitly 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 ex- cellent sailer, was far ahead, gave the signal of land, DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 107 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 ^ong time until morning, when they might see what they had so long desired." ' This island, says Bartolom^ de las Casas, the Spanish historian," was " one of the Lucayos, called by the Indians Guanahani.^ Presently they descried ' Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xx, xxii. The discoveiy of land was made on Friday morning, the twelfth of Octo- ber, old style. According to the calendar of Julius Caesar, 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 leckoned the fourteenth of the new style. This mode of reckoning time is called the new style. • Bartolom^ de las Casas was born at Seville, in 1474. In 1502 he made bis 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 riot printed until i875-'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 Lab 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. ' 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, Wat- ling, 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 il! Hi ! :i I '■ |:( ( If : 1)11 io8 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. people, naked, and the admiral landed in the boat, which was armed, along with Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yaflez, his brother, captain of the Nina. The admiral bore the royal standard, and the two cap- tains 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 ' 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 differ- ent 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 Sancher 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 per- ceived that if they should have much friendship for us that it. was a people that could be emancipated and con- verted 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 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 T.2 north and south. It has 8.6 square miles. The east end is in latitude 23° 05' N. ; longitude, 73° 37' west of Green- wich. * * * 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, ' F and Y : Fernando and Ysabel. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 109 r. .4 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 ^irh 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 a^e of the color of those of the Canary Islands — neither black nor white ; others paint them- selves 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 w^en 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, a.^, of a commanaing 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 them- selves. I thought then, and still believe, that those a ') iftj i^S u 4. f ll 1 1 ■SS ■*1 'Jol r ■M^ £;. d|ff E K . il hi* ' BK m \ \m I I > ■■ ll^ f no DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. people came from the continent, {ticrra Jlftne,) 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 tl ey seemed to me as if they had no religion. If pleasing .oour 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 ihe Canaries, nor ought it to be expected otherwise, for it is east-west {Lesteottesie) with the island Ferro of the Canary group, on the same parallel.' * * * 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 we f> as many as forty or forty-five men, and in others tiiut 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 ' 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Ill any thing that was given them. And I was inquisitive and endeavored to ascertain if they had gold, ana 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." ' Columbus describing this island, which he named San Salvador (the Holy Saviour), under whose protec- tion 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 six- teen balls of cotton thread, which weighed about twenty-five pounds, exchanged for three Portuguese ceutis' 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 quan- tities 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 deter- mined to proceed and ascertain whether I can reach Cipango (Japan). * * * ^Vide Personal narrative of the first voyage of Columbus to America. From a manuscript recently discovered in Spain. Translated from he Spanish. [By Samuel Kettell.] Boston, 1827. pp. 33-38. Historia general de las Indias. Por Bartolome de las Casas. lib. i. cap. xxxix-xli. Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. I^ avarrete. torn. I. * A coin of less value than a mill. I «;! i i 112 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ilvi " In the morning, [Sunday, the fourteenth of Octo- ber,] I ordered the boats to be manned and furnished, and coasted along the island toward the north-north- east, 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 them- selves 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 Christen- dom. * * * " After I had taken a survey of these parts, I returned to ihe 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. * * « ti; DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. MS " 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 dliection 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. * * * j ^^^ ^^^ g^|| Cqj. another large island to the west. * * * jj^jg 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 Matia, having a good shore which was not rocky, except a few ledges under the water, where it is necessary to anchor ac some distance out, although the water is cleav 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 towaid the north, with another be- tween 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 ill ! ■ I i '■■'■]■: I li! i 1 m * ! t t^ i I If 'ki * ■ 'ii. il 114 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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. * * * 'pj^jg 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 extens: e bay, with many large and dense groves. * * * j 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 v/ith the king, in order to see if I ran 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 the^ call Bosio, and inform me that it is very large. The others DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 115 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 high.iesses 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 rouiiu 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 com- merce, 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 opiniop that we shall find much profit there in spices, but my want of knowledge in these articles occasions ms 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 proper- ties 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 high- nesses. * * * " 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 If- m i u 1 t i i; I i H il If . f.i ir \ V? ii6 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. north part, where I had remained preparing to depart for the island of Cuba, in which pbce 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 thos*^ 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 wonder- ful things. According to my geographical knowledge it must be somewhere in this neighborhood." On Sunday, the twenty-eighth of October, Colum- bus's ships arrived off the coast of Cuba and " entered an attractive river, free from shallows and all other ob- structions. * * * 'j'j^g mouth of the river had a depth of twelve fathoms of water, and a breadth suffi- cient 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 Avere here in great number singing most charmingly. Numeror^ 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 leavv^s, 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 un- able to bark. Both houses contained nets of palm, lines, horn fish-hooks, harpoons of bone, and other " DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 117 implements for fishing, as also many fire-places, and each house seemed sufficiendy large to shelter a great num- ber of people. The admiral gave orders that nothing should be touched. * * * Xhey returned on board the boat and ascended the river ^ome distance. * * * The admiral declares this to be the most beautiful island ever seen, abounding in good harbors and deep rivjrs, 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 'vas so large that with their canoes they could not sail round it in twenty days. * * * The Indians told them there ^ are mines of gold here and pearls. * * * Jhey fur- ther 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 itnprove. 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 ii8 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. houses scattered here and there. Their interiors were found very clean and neat, well furnished and set in order. The houses were all buih of fine palm branches. They found herfe many statues shaped like women, and numerous heads somewhat like masks, well made ; whether these were used as ornaments, or objfjcts 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 Pal- mas ; it is fifteen leagues distant from the place of their depar^^Tire. The Indians on board the Pinta signified to the Spaniards, that beyond this cape was a river, and from this ri''c:r to Cuba was a distance of a voyage or a journey of four days. The captain of the Pinta de- clared that he understood Cuba to be a city, and that the land here was a continent of great extent w^ich stretched far to the north ; also that the king of this country was at war with the Grand Khan, whom the In- dians 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 cor- rupted 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 fron- a short exploration of the coast, the DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 119 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 c ne 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, bring- ing 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 ob- served an Indian with a piece of wrought silver in his nose, he conceived it to be an indication of the exist- ence of that metal in the country. The Indians in- formed 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 hdC 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 whe vessels en- gaged in any act of worship, but they would, when di- ; . : .< I20 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ,'i' reeled, make the sign of the cross, and repe t the Salve and Ave Maria, with their hands extended toward heaven. The language is the same throughout these islands and Ihe 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." ' 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, Chal-. daic, 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 pur- chase 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 '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 Colum- bus into his house, in 1496, on his return from his second voyage." — Hum- boldt : Cosmos. Otte's trans, vol. ii. p. 640, and note. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 121 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." ' Among the noticeable things which the embassa- dors 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 in- toxication, and according to the statement of the natives relieves them from the feeling of fatigue. These tubes they call by the name oi tabacos." ' 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, pro- ducing mames, a root like a carrot, tasting like chest- nuts. Be*ans 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 ' The real distance is said to be eleven hundred and five leagues. — Vide Per- sonal narrative of the first voyage of Columbus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 38-73. * Historia gene al de las Indias. Las Casas. cap. xlvi. Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. torn. i. f ; t I! v^l i1 li 11 122 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. plant blossoms, buds, and open pods. A thousand otlier productions I have also observed, which doubt- less are of great value, but it is impossible for me to describe them." On the fifth of November, the party sent to the Grand Kahn 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 largfe 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 mani- festing 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. * * * j^Jq village was seen upon the roadofalarger size than five houses. * * * Great numbers of birds were observed, all different from those of Spain except the nightingaks, which delighted DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 133 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, prgducing the mantes 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^ of it. Four thousand quintals might be collect- ed here yearly. * * * Xhese people are inoffen- sive and peaceable. They are unclothed, but the women wear a slight covering. about their loins. Their man- ners 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,' say;, 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, al- though 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 re- peat to them, and also to make the sign of the cross.' aN 4: 4: 'An arroba is equal to twenty-five pounds. >f'.!; • i '• .{ IB:' ■I m 124 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. •' Along the Rio de Mares, which I left last evening, [Sunday, the eleventh of November,] there is undoubt- edly 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 observ^e'l 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 sh doubtless discover, as well as many others belonging ^v^ 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 win- ter, he thought it not prudent to prosecute his discov- eries any farther toward the north." ' ' Las Casas remarks : " From what he here relates, it appears that had he proceeded farther northerly he would undoubtedly, in two more days, have dis- covered Florida." — MS. of Las Casas. Vide Personal narrative of the first voyage of Columbus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 73>86. be ke jit in be er .le !■ at Id of le of le in ir le St 'U i 'HtFfnrjtmnt AUattntil^rnMii mn€nhtflrparCiitsaf» A c py of a part of the map of the New World (tabvlu terre nove) contained in the edition of Ptolemy's Geography printed at Strasburg in 1513. (This part of the original is 9^^ inches long.) DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 125 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 dis- tance, and not arriving at any, and finding myself proceedinsf 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." * 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. * * * j^^ declares that it is his opin- ion 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 eigb*;y miles southeast of Puerto del Principe, "the admiral" says Las Casas, " found they were fort) two degrees north of the equator as at Puerto de Ivlares,' but he says here that he has stopped using the quadrant until he should go ' Letter of Columbus to Rafael (or Gabriel) Sanchez, dated Lisbon, March 14, 1493- *"Only 21° of latitude."— Nav»"'ete. ! f t I itVt 126 DISCO^^ERIES OF AMERICA. on land that he might mend it. From this statement it would seem that he doubted that he was so far from file equator, and he had reason, for it was not likely since these islands are in degrees.' 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 ? ' Moreover, it is said that the heat was great. It is evident that if he were along the coast of Florids, it should not have been hot, but cold.3 A.nd 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 Cata- lina, Cabo del Pico, Cabo de Campana, and Puerto i 'A blank space in the original. '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. ' The argument of Las Casas concerning the heat at forty-two degrees north lacitude is invalidated by Columbus's reasons for not sailing farther tu the north. In his letter to Rafp.el 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 tl e North to which he had sailed. If he had not mentioned that he was in doubt respecting the working condition of his quad- rant, the question of his sailing as far north as the forty-second parallel would be an important matter for geographical discussion. Navarrete says : "The qu.idrants of that time measured the double altitude, and consequently the forty-two degrees which Colambus 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 descubrimienios. Navarrete. tom. i. pp. 44, 47, 62. Personal narrative of the first voyage of Columbua to AmericA. [Kettell.] p. 95. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 127 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. Qn Wednesday, the fifth of December, " he determined to leave Cuba or Juana,' 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 be- cause the wind always came round from the north to northeast, and from there to east aqd southeast. It blew hard and they carried ail sail, having a smooth sea and a current favoring them, so that from morning to one in the afternoon ..hey 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 ap- peared 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 ' Ferdinand Columbus says the admiral called the island of Cuba, Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, heir of Castile. — Vide Histoire d^l S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xxvi. 128 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. I- m 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 har- bor 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 Cas- tile, except that they surpass them. On this account the admiral named the island Espaiiola." * 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 sun- set there passed twenty glasses of half an hour each, although he says there may be some error in the cal- culation, 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 ' The island of Espaiiola, which the nat ves 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 129 as subjects, the females showir.g no evidences of bash- fulness. 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 ^e air was cool and excj^.edingly pleasant. The land is h'gh, 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 pro- duces 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 adrulral, were stoutly built and coura- geous, very different from the timid islanders of the other parts ; agreeable In their intercourse and without any religion. * * * Xhey 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." 130 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. !■ - J I .* - ii\ I "I think," Columbus writes, " no one who has 3een 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 Espanola, 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, ih done to keep the sun from injuring them. The houses and towns are very attractive, and the inhabitants live in each settlement nnder 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 Espafiola, off the headland named Punta Santa, " at the end of the first watch, 'bout eleven at night, when the vessel was about a leag le dis- tant 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 131 " 1 ,51 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 re- mained 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 regi jn had offered to Columbus for that purpose. The same ruler after- ward 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 ^issuaging 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 132 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. '<• 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 mme. 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 hop^s to find, on his return from Castile,- a ton of gold collected DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 133 by those who remained, by tradinor 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 under- take 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 Espafio!a, which the In- dians called Bohio, a fort and thirty-nine men, whom he states to have been great friends of King Gua- canagari. Over these he placed Diego de Arana, a natiA-^e 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 trafick- ing, 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 Ya- maye." ^ " It was the admiral's intention to coast farther along the island of Espafiola, which he might have ' Apparently the original name of Jamaica. The island of Jamaica is about eighty-five miles from Cuba. 134 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. •■' . done upon his homeward course, but as he considered that the captains of the two caravels were brothers, namely, Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yafiez, 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 misde- meanors, as well as the treachery of Martin Alonso, in deserting him,' he had winked at, without complaining, in order not to throw impediments in t^ e 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 o^ the other islands, which are m^de 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. * * * fhe bows of the In- dians appear to be made of yew." The quantity of sea- weed which he found growing in this bay led Colum- bus to infer that the Indies were near the Canary Islands, not more than four hundred leagues distant. On Wednesday morning, the sixteenth of January, ' On the twenty-first of November, 1492, Martin Alonso Pinzon, in the Finta, had left the other vessels and remained avtray from them until the sixth of January, 1493. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 135 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 [)roceeded 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 ac- count 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." ' Columbus, afterward writing to Rafael Sanchez re- specting his explorations along the coast of Espanola, remarks that the island of Espanola is "greater in cir- cuit 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 Espanola to India. This island is inhabited by a people who are regarded by their neighbors as exceedingly ferocious. They feed upon human flesh. These peo- ple have many kinds of canoes with which they make 'MS. of Las Casas. — Vide Personal narrative of the first voyage of Colum- bus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 86-205. I } 1- 'A f li 'PI li ! 1 I 4 I t I 1 ;;ia ■X I I ' !' !(i 136 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. incursions upon all the islands of India, robbing and plundering wherever they go. Their difference from the others consists in their wearing long Iiair 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." ' : Speaking of the pecuniary profits of the voyage Columbus wrote : " I am enabled to promise the ac- quisition, 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 ser- vice 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 ' lild 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 f)eet. Nevertheless the greet 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 ' Columbus's letter to Rafael Sanchez. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 137 that I have succeeded in an undertaking never before accomplished by man." ' On Thursday night, the fourteenth of February, a violent tempest arose, " the waves crossing and dash- ing 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 Guada- lupe 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 pur- pose 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 pil- grimage. 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 ' Columbus's letter to Rafael Sanchez. 'J-T If- i' 11 I n fi i' I I If*' (. 138 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. fell on a sailor of Puerto de Santa Maria, called Pedro de Villa. The admiral promised to furnish him with the money '"or his expenses. A third lot was deter- mined 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 dis- coveries, 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 accom- plished 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 139 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 ind ilges in the hope that he will continue to favor him, ana 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 reso- lution 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 wonder- ful favors he had enjoyed, he says he ought not to be in fear of the tempest ; but he adds that his apprehen- sions and the anguish of his mind would not allow him to rest. Besides, he continues, his anxiety was in- creased 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 pre- vail 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 .a^ !'>■ I 1 1 mm wiM p i 1*' I i HI i ' Jit.'. I 1^1 i I i; 140 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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." ' 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 en- countered 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 ves- sel 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. * * * 'j-j^g jjgj^j. ^^^^y ^j^^ 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 Val- paraiso, nine leagues from Lisbon]. * * * 'Yhe king ordered all the nobility of his court to go out to ' MS. of Las Casas. — Fide Personal narrative of the first voyage of Colum- bus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 215-222. '\i% DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 141 i meet him, and when the admiral came into the pres- ence 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 ad- miral 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 conver- sation, the king commanded the prior of Crato, the greatest man then about him, to entertain the admiral, and show him all civility and respect, wh'ch was done accordingly. Having remained there all Sun-iay, and all Monday until after mas*?; 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 ntreatythat he would not pass by without seeing her. ^he was much pleased to see him, and bestowed upon him all he favor and honor that were due to the greatest lord. That night a messenger came from the kin to the admiral; to inform him that if he wished to go v 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,' from which ' Martin Alonso Pinzon had previously arrived in Galicia. li * ( m i ^ i 142 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. \r : he had departed on the third of August, the previous year, 1492, seven months and eleven days preceding his return." ^ 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." ' Conscious of the greatness of h"s discovery, Colum- bus 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 ' Historic del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xli, xlii. ' Epistola Christofori Colom : cui etas nostra multu debit : de Insulis Indie supra Gangem nuper inuetis. Ad quas perqrendas octauo antea mense au- spicies & ere invictissimor' Fernadi & Helisabet Hispaniar' Regu missus fuerat : ad magnificum dnm Gabrielem Sanchis eorunde Serenissimor' Regum Tesaurariu missa : quia nobilis ac literatus vir Leander de Cosco ab Hispano ideomate in latinum couertit tertio kal's Mail m.cccc.xciii Pontificatus Alexan- dri Sexli anno primo. A letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our age is greatly indebted, tespecting 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. Pon- tificate of Alexander VI., £.rst year. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 143 processions be ordered, let solemn festivals be cele- brated, 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 mu- tinous 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 neigh- boring 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 high- nesses an account of the good fortune attending his voyage, which exceedingly pleased them, and they ap- pointed 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 ap- , proached 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 ■ i 'I I •(' 1 144 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. him to retire to his apartment, to which he was at- tended by all the couit. 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."' 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."' * Historic del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xlii. * Tratado, que compos o nobre & notauel capitEo Antonio GaluSo. CHAPTER V. i493-i5o6. The Spanish sovereigns, in order to obtain the privilege of extending their sway over the islands dis- covered 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 league^' 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 Christ- mas, and to Portugal all the territory, on the same conditions, which lay east of it. These territorial con- cessions of the pope caused the possessions of Spain, in the western hemisphere, to be called the West In- dies, and those of Portugal, in the eastern hemisphere, the East Indies. The position of the line of demarka tion displeased the Portuguese. To settle the dispute 145 i. "P" 146 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Ill ;; t / 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 agri- cultural 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 Septem- ber, 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 be- lieving 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 day- break, land was descried seven leagues to the west- ward, 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 please^ to bestov/ on them, all the men assembled on deck and sang the Salve Regina., i DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 147 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 betv/een them to bfi between seven hundred and fifty and eight hun- dred 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." ' Thence he pro- ceeded 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 Asd 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 diiferent 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 ' Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xlvi. Ill 11^ i '{ m . « r 148 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. direction Espafiolalay. 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 iniiabitants 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. * * * Qpg Qf |.|^^^ women told them that toward the south there were many islands, some in- habited, 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 greai joth they and the people of Espanola called Zuanta [Yucatan ?], because in former times canoes had come from that land to barter. * * * ^\^q same women gave them infor- mation where the island of Espanola 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." ' - On his way to the island of Espanola, Columbus discovered an island which he called San Juan Baptista, but the Indians, Borriquen. On the twelfth of No- vember he arrived off the north coast of Espanola. 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 ' Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. xlvi, xlvii. ,1 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 149 deserted. The next morning " the admiral landed, much concerned to sec the houses and fort in ashes and nothing left belonging to the Christians except some ragged clothiii;^^ and similar thip'^s 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 Chris- tians, 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 thr; 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. Tlio 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 ishore, whose bodies they showed to them. Guacan- agari undertook to defend the Christians, but he and l¥. I.'E ' iN! t ! ■ ( 150 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. M li ii ! f his men were wounded and were compelled to flee for their lives." ' About the ninth of December Columbus sailed east, wardly 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, pro- visions 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 north- west, 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 Ciban, Afterward, on the second of February, twelve ships of the fleet set sail for Castile, under the com- mand of A.ntonio de Torres." " In March Cclumbus with a body of armed men ex- plored the country of Cibao. " It is rough and stony. ' writes Ferdinand Columbus, "full of gravel, grass^y, and watered by several rivers in which gold is found. ' Historic del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. 1. ' Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. li. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 151 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 leaejues 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. * * * Qn Sunday, the twenty-ninth of March, Columbus arrived at Isa- bela, 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. * * * M y^ it l$$ DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ( V. " The admiral, having determined to go to discover the continent, aj ^lointed a council to govern the island in his absence. The persons composing it were Don Dieo-o Colon, the admiral's brother, with the title of president ; F. Boyl [Friar Buil] and Pedro Fernandez Corouel, 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 pu<- into a large bay which he called Puerto Grande. * * * " On Saturday, the third of May, the admiral re- solved to sail from Cuba over to Jamaica, that he might not leave it behind without knowing whether the re- port 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 vesrels 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 de- termined 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 s V DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 153 ■n it were ?, continent or an island. * * * Qj^ 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 K\ 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 Espanola. To supply himself with wood and water, he anchored at the island Evangelista, which is thirty leagues in circuit, and seven hundred from Do- minica." ' 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 indis- putable evidence that he had reached the dominions of the Grand Khan, sent Fernando Perez de Luna, his notary, with four attesting witnesses, to the vesr^h, 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 be- lieved any one could go from it by land to Spain.' 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 lashts and have his tongue cut out.^ Strange ' Historic del S. D. Fernando Colombo, cap. liii-lviii. * " Que esta tierra de Cuba ftiesa la tierra finite al comienzo de las Indyis y fin d quien en estas partes quisiere vent de Espafia por tierra." •informacion del escribano publico. Fernando Perez de Luna. Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos de los £spag!\oles. torn. ii. pp. 143, 149. m ■ .- ' i 154 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. .fj» , '^ I ^-i- S M as it seems, it was Columbus's belief that this watery expanse was really the gulf of the Ganges.* Departing from the island of Evangeliota, 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 Espanola, called respectively by the Indians Adamarai and Mona. On the twenty- ninth of September, 1494, he returned to Isabela. The people of the island of Espanola having acquired some knowledge of the Spanish language, were able at this time to give Columbus considerable information respecting their religion. From his con- versations with them he was enabled to write the following account of their pec'iHar 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 Espanola as on all the other islands and continent, has a hor e 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 r^^pair to perform certain cere- monies, 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 ' In August, 149S, Peter Martyr, writing to Cardinal Bernardino, says : " Columbus asserts that this region is the continent of the Ganges of India, — Indiae Gangetidis continentem earn essi plagam contendit Colonus." — Opvs, epistqiaru Petri Martyris Anglerii Mediolanesis Protonolarij Aplici atque a cosihjs rem Indicaru : nuc pmu et natu y mediocri cura excursum : quod q de preterstili venustate, nosfroru quoque teporum histori loco esse poterit. Copluti Anno dni MDXXX. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 155 this powder. The words they use none of our people understand. The powder intoxicates them, and they act as if they ware 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 fore- fathers, 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 anotner, 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 csmies and hide them in the woods for fear that they should be deprived of them. Wh:.i 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, speak- ing in their language, which showed that it was arti- ficially made. The cem.i being hollow, they had at- tached 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 arti- fice. * * * Three large stones are also in the possession of almost all the caciques, which are highly !X'I fJ^ immmmmKm . _,■■ 156 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 obse»;ing {que ninguno de los naci- dos), she counselled him, nevertheless, to take with him Fray Antonio da Marchena, as beiag 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 under- stands it may rest satisfied ; ft^ that which it yields is like onto a prophetic DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 159 day, 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 favor- ably received by their catholic majcoties, who were there celebrating the nuptials of Prince Juan, their son, who married Margarita of Austria." While Columbus was in Espanola, 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.' Commissioned by their highnesses, Amerigo Vespucci' went with a fleet of four vessels, in 1497, to make discoveries. The ac- vision {vision prpfeticd). Our ignorant pilots, when they bjive ^"'t sight of land for several days know not where they are. They would not be able »y find the countries again which I have discovered. To navigate a ship requires the com- pass {compas y arte) and the knowledge cv art of the astronomer.' " — Humboldt : Cosmos. Otte's trans, vol. ii. pp. 671-673. ' " That any individual among our sul^jects 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 discov- ered or to any other, and to traffic in them, provided it be not in the aforesaid island of Espailola. 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 .,hip, provided that at the time he leaves our kingdom he depart from the city of Cadiz, and there present him- self before our officers. And they must carry thence in each of such vessels one or two persons named by our ofTicers. ♦ * * And it is our will and pleasure that of all which the said persons shall find in the aforesaid islands and main- land they shall have for themselves nine parts, and the tenth ahall be our part." — Vide Memorials of Colunbus ; or a collection of authentic documents of that celebrated navigator. London, 1823. pp. 88-95. ' Amerigo Vespucci, ttie third son of Anastasio Vespucci and Elizahetta Mina, was born in Florencs, March 9, T.+51. In his boyhood he attended the school taught by his uncle, Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a monk of the o;der 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. lie died in Seville, February :22, 1512. — Vide The life and voyages of Americus Vepucius. By C. Edwards Lesler and Andrew Foster. New York, 1846. Amerigo Ves- pucci. Son caractdri;, ses ecrits (meme les moins autheni iques), sa vie, et ses navigations, par F. A. de Varnhagen. Lima, 1865. m If I PI !?■ 1 5 i i6o DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. [J.' I j !■■ 1 Oj . count of the voyage is contained in a letter written by him, in Lisbon, on the fourth of September, i5o4. 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 'ed many scholars to discredit the statements of the intelligent and enterprising Ital- ian.' 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.' 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.^ 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 ehvation of sixteen degrees above the horizon,* and that we were more than seventy- five degrees west of the Canary Islands as our instruments showed.* We anchored ' yidg Dibliotheca 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. ' " Electa per sua alteza che io ftissi in essa Jlocta per adiutare adiscoprire" * " Partimo del porta di Calls adi 10 maggio, 1497." * Likely the double altitude, and therefore eight degrees of north latitude, or near the mouths of the Orinoco River. ' " Una terra, cV la giudica'mo essere terra ferma ; la quale dista dalle isole d' Canaria piu alio occidente a circha di mille leghe fuora dello habitato d' rento della torrida zana : perche trouva'mo ^l polo del septentrione al zare fuora del suo orizante 16, gradi, &' piu occide'tale che le isole di Canaria, seed do che mostrouano e nastri instrumenti 75. gradi." i Mi, ''if 1 iij ff ll ' li i If ''At ■'. ti^ V' if |;J^i ■if 1 1 Ira' m flw ^Kp B j tt f DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. i6r our ships a league and a naif from the coast. We got out our boats, and, having manned and armjd them, we went on land. " Before we went ashore we were greatly delighted in seeing many people wandering a' ng the beach. We saw thrt they were naked and that they seemed to be frightened when they beheld us, likely, as I sup- posed, by seeing us clothed, and of a different stature from their own. They retired to a moimtain, and we could not entice them to hold any ir.tercourse \\\/\ us, notwithstanding we endeavored to induce them by signs of peace and friendship. * * * " We sailed to the northwest' in which direction Lie coast extended, always in sight of land, seeing con- tinually, 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 trifler;, we enticed a number of them to approach and enter into friendly relations with us. * * * /' These people go cntirel) naked and wear not a particle of clothing. They are of a me iium size and very well proportioned. Their skin is re Idish 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 uncon- " ' Nauiga' mo per el maestrale, che cost sicotreua la costa sempre a uista di terra. In Italy the different points of the compass were designated by the winds : North, tramontana; northeast, ^^« y east, levante ; southeast, «>wft> y south, ostro; southwest, libeccio ; yrest, poncnh y northwest, maeslro or maestrale. i \\1 i 1 1 , i i'M I ■VA M I ill mmm^' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^ » {/ ^C Mj.. /£ 10 I/a m •«•- 1.0 I.I i^y^ |Z5 1.8 1.25 MIU 6" ^ 7] rV-si^^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) •72-4503 1 62 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ■ V strained in their deportment. Tliey walk and run rapidly. The women do not think it a difficult thing to run a league or two. * * * These people are excel- lent 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 what- ever 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 frequent- ly 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 difier 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 163 " 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 con- tinually bathing. * * * They live together in common, and make their houses like cottages, which are very strongly built with the largest trees and cov- ered with palm leaves. * * * \Yq found one which contained six hundred persons, and we saw the occupants of thirteen houses, who must have numben^cl four thousand souls. New sites for these houses arc 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 peo ^le are the feathers of birdr. 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 suf- ficient 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 re- turn with ceremony. * IM i? m « * 164 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. " 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 armpit. 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 luca, and another which they call CdsaOi, and another which they call Ignami. Very little meat is eaten by them except human flesh. * * * They devour with fierce avidity their ene- mies, 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 ' 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. * * * Vi^hen we were descried by the people they were seemingly terrified, and to protect themselves they immediately drew their bridges and shut them- selves 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 ' 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 165 direction of the sea. These canoes are boats '«vhich 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 cbserved a great number of people swim- ming 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. Suspect- ing 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 vigor- ously attacked them. We upscl. 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 w^ounded. 13 1 i ill lit # ft ,1%! •>.r. n , ,n' * * ' ill .:'i .;* I66 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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.' * * * j^ ^.j^jg 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.' * * * -^g found ' " Questa terra sta dentro del la torrida zona giuntamente, o di basso del paralello, cite descriue el tropica di cancer : doue alza el polo dello orizonte 23 gradi net Jine del secondo clyma." * " Tan to chg corremo dessa 870 leghe tutia 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 167 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. * * * w/^^ 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 01 Cadiz on the fifteenth of October, 1498,' where we were well received, and sold our slaves. This is what happened to me in this my first voyage that may be considered note- worthy." ' " Shortly after the departure of the fleet with v/hich 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." 3 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'. •" Noi alsifacemo uela p, Spagna con 222 prigioni schiaui : &f giugnemo nel porta di Calls adi 15 doctobre 1498." ' Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuouamente trouate in quattro suoi viaggi, Primo viaggio. Vide Amerigo Vespucci. Vamhagen. pp. 34-48. Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima. [Harrisse.] pp. 55-68, 149, 150. • Vide Memorials of Columbus, pp. 96, 97. i .y^ii:cnt." The Strait of Gibralter (Strait of Hercules) is in 36° north latitude. ' Demorgorgon, the spirit of the earth. ' The name Ikiialiaos, or baccallaos, is evitlcntly derived from the Greek word fiaWjXoi, a large, lusty fellow. Names similar to this appellation rvere used by the Greeks as early as the third century of the Christian era. Athcnreus, in his work entitled ^etTTVO^OcpiffTcxi (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 cli>se on the tail of the other, some the seauenth, and entered the same fret: afifirming, .ir he sailed very far westward, with a quater of the isorth, * Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias con todo el descubrimiento y cosas notables que ban acaecido dende que se ganaron ata et afiodei55i. [Por Francisco Lopez de Gomara.] ^aragofa, 155^. primera parte, cap. de los Bacallaos. Francisco Lopez de Gomara was bom at Seville in 15 10. Hernando Cortes, on his return to Spain after the conquest of Mexico, made Gomora his chaplain. Gomara's General history of the Indies (La historia general de las Indias), and the Conquest of Mexico and New Spam (Laconquista Je Mexico, y de la Nueua Espafla), were first published 't Saragossa, i.(^arago9a), Spam, in 1552. Gomara died about the year 1560. • Tratado, que compOs o nobre & notaue' capitfio Antonio GaluSo. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 201 on the north side of Terra de Labrador' the eleuenth of June, vntil he came to the septentrional latitude of 67^2 degrees and finding the seas still open said that he might, and would have gone to Cataia, if the mutinieof the Maister and Mariners had not ben."' It is further related that in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Henry VII. ,3 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 Hands, by Sebastian Gabato, before named in Anno 1468, these me*"! 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." ♦ The field of the discoveries of Giovanni Caboto, represented on the map made by Juan de la Cosa, in 1 5oo, and on the one of 1 544, in the National library, in Paris, was apparently the Atlantic coast of Cape Breton Island s and of Nova Scotia. The part of the penin- sula designated Prima Vista, (First Seen,) on the map of 1 544, 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 southwest- ' Terra de Lavrador, Portuguese : Land of the Farmer. • A Discovrse of a Discouerie for a new Passage to Cataia. Written by Sir Hvmftey Gilbert, Knight, Imprinted at London by Henry Middleton for Richarde Ihones. 1576. sig. D iii. • The eighteenth year of the reign of King He iry VIL began August ^1, 1502, and ended August 21, 1503. • Chronicle of England. Stow. p. 875. • Cape Breton Island lies between 45° 27' and 47° 41' north latitude. Its greatest length i3 one hundred miles, and its ^'reatest 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. i 202 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ward to the Bay of Fundy, the sea discovered for the EngHsh {mar descubieria por inglese),' is delineated by La Cosa with approximate accuracy. The information given by Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Galvano respecting the voyage of Sebastiano Ca • boto, makes the fact evident that the latter sailed north ■ we^twardly a^ng the coast of Labrador almost to the sixtieth parallel, where he was so far to the west " that he hr.d 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 Cabolo 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 in- quisitive 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 1 544, to which territory was given the name La Tierra de los Bacallaos (Land of Codfish). " On the planisphere of 1 644, the following statement is in- 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 •'•nd 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. ' ' ' These regios are cauled Terra Florida and Regio Baccalearum or Bac- challaos of the which you may reade sumwhal in this booke in the vyage of the woorthy Ortlde 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. Neuerthe 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. ' DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 203 scribed concerning the country discovered by Sebas- tiano Caboto. " The people wear clothes made cf 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 ba^allaos. In this country there are fal- cons as black as ravens, eagles, partridges, linnets, and many other birds of different kinds."* " This much concerning Sebastian© Gabotes dis- couerie 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 worship- full master Willia Worthington, one ^ her Maiesties Pensioners who (because so worthie monumentes shoulde" not be buried in perpetuall dbliuion) is very willing to suffer them to be ouerseene and publ'shed in as good order as may bee, to the encouragement and benefite of our Countriemen." ' The English collector also remarks tnat " the map of Sebastiano Caboto cut by Clement Adams, concerning the discovery of the the West Indies, * * * Qg-j ^q \jq seene in her '"La genie delta andan uestidos de pieles de animales, usan en sus gttirras arcos, y flee has, lancas, ydardos, y unas forras de palo, y hondas. Es tierra muy steril, ay en ella muchos orsos plancos, y cieruos mtiy grades como cauallos, y otrasmudias animales, y semeiantemete ay pescadoinfinito, sollos ; salmoes lengu. ados, muy grandes de uara en largo y otras mttchas d'mcrsidadcs de pcscados, y la mayor mullitud dellos se dizen baccallaos, y asi mismo ay en la dha tierra Hal- cones prietos como cueruos Aguillas, Perdices, Pardillas, y otras muchas aues de diuersas manera.'." — Tabla primera. No. 8. • William Worthington was joined to Sebastiano Caboto in the pension r,iven by Philip and Mary, May 29, 1^5/. Rymer. vol. xvi. p. 466. Divers voyages touching the discouerie of America. 'l ■ml 304 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Maiesties priuie gallerie at Westminster, and in many other anchient merchants houses." * Although :hree 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.' ' Navigations, voypges, and disco7eries. p. 6. *Richard Hakluyt was born at Yatton, England, in 1553. He took a remarkable interest in geography and navigation, and for a time held a pro- fessor's chair of these branches at Oxford. In 1582 his " Divers voyages touch- ing the discouerie of America and Hands adiacent vnto the same," was published in London. He was also the author of " A particular discourse concerningc the greate necessUieand manifolde comodyties that are like to growe to this Realme of England by the Westeme 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 pans, according to the positions of the Regions whereunto they were directed. This work was further enlarged in 1599 and 1600. He was appointed preben- dary of Westminster in 1605. He died Octobr; 23, 1616, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. ':| • I if. ill 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 pros- ecution 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 re- peatedly made to pass the stormy promontory so im- pressed his sailors with his extreme venturesomeness that they endeavored to persuade him to turn back. It is said that this made Da Gamd 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 aos I I Li ; i 206 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. remote coast of India, jii the seventeenth of May, 1498, and entered the harbor of Calicut,' 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 inaugu- rated cotnmerce with India, Portugal immediately fitted out a fleet of merchantmen to carry her commod- ities 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, 1 5oo, 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. For- tunately, 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.' Perceiving the next morning that he had anchored opposite the mouth of a river, he sent Nicolao Coelho to examine it. From this an- chorage 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 'Cilicut is on the west coast of India, in 11° 15' north latitude, and 75° 50' east longitude. Paesi nouamente retrouati. Et Nouo Monde da Alberico Vesputio Flor- entino intitulato. Stampato in Vicentia cu la impressa de MgrO Henrico Vicentino: & diligente cura & industriade Zamaria suo fiol nel mcccccvii. a di iii de Nouember. lib. ii. cap. li-lx. The three voyages of Vasco da Gama. From the Lcndas da India of G.ispar Corvea. Translated from the Portuguese by Henry E. J. Stanley. London, 1879. Hakluyt. Soc. pub. ' yiJe Ruysch's map of 1508. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 207 ■ 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 Portu- gal. Cabral, having dispatched Caspar de Lemos with a small vessel to Lisbon with the report of his dis- covery, 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 subsequendy Brazil was substituted for it.' In the year i5oo the Portuguese sailed in a differ- ent direction to seek a short route to Cathay. The Portuguese historian, Galvano refers to the expedition, saying : " In this same year i5oo it is said that Caspar Cortereal' begged permission of King Emmanuel to discover the New Land (Terra Nova). He departed from the island Terceira with lwo 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 • Paesi Nouamente retrouati. lib. iii. cap. IxUlxxxiiii, Raccolt* di navi- galioni e viaggi. Ramusio, vol. i. fol. 132-139. Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. torn. iii. pp. 94, loi. ' Caspar Cortereal was the son of JoJo Vaz Cortereal, who, it is said, had previously made a voyage to the Land of Bacalhao (Terra do Bacalhao). m m 208 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. i "4 i ■ 1 1 , two ships did as commanded, and they, seeing tliat 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." ' Damiao de G6es, 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. " 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 Caspar Cortereale, a Portuguese, who, in i5oo, went with Iwo 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 pais 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 lull of people and along it many dwellings." ^ The earliest account of Caspar Cortereals voyage of i5oi, from which he never returned, is contained in ' Tratado, que compOs o-nobie & notauel capitio Antonio GaluSo. *" JIttma terra que por sermtiilo fresca e de grandes aruoredos como o sao todas as que jazcm pera aquella banda Ihe pos name t^rra verde." — Chronica do lelicissimo rei Dom Emanuel. Lisboa, 1566. tomo i. fol. 65. * Raccolta di navigation! e viaggi. Rainusio. vol. iii. fol. 346. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 209 a letter written by Pietro Pasqualigo, the Venetian ambassador at the court of Portugal, to his brothers in Italy, dated October 19, i5oi. 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 Caspar 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 termi- nation, on which account they ccncluded 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 (rom an island. They report that this land is thickly peopled, and that the houses are built of very long beams of timber, and cov- ered with the skins of fishes. They have brought hither along with them seven of the inhabitants, includ- ing men, women, and children ; and in the other caravel, which is looked for every hour, they are bring- ing 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. * * * q„ j]^|g account their appearance is wholly barbarous ; yet they are very sensible to shame, gentle in their manners, and k 310 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. IN ,\ 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 manu- facture 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 pro- nounce 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 inducir ne to believe that their country belongs to the ..tinent, since ^'t is evident that if it were an island wher^ any vessel had touched before this time we should have heard of it.' " They have plenty of salmon, herring, cod, and other fish of the same kind. They have an abun- dance 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 ad- ' 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 211 tj (Iltional information, it shall be transmitted to you in like manner." * Caspar Cortereal, who was expected to return to Lisbon in the second caravel, never reached Porturral. Miguel, his brother, sailed from Lisbon in May i5o2, with three ships, to search for Caspar 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 ' ree vessels to be equipped to sail to the new country. Having heard of the voyaj^es made by Amerigo Vespucci to the Land of Pearls (Terra delle Perle), he wrote to Vespucci in Seville, and solic- ited him to enter his service. The illness of the ex- plorer 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, Giuli- ano di Bartolomeo del Ciocondo, 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, rmd there the king had a right to claim his services." Narrating the inci- dents of his third voyage to the New World, Vespucci writes : ' Paesi nouamente retrouati. lib. vi. cap. cxxvi. — Vide Letter of Alberto Cantino. Archives of Modena. Cancelleria ducale. Dispac^i dalla Spagna. Jean et Sebastian Cabot. Harrisse. pp. 262-264. • " Che fu tenuta a male la mia uenuta da qtianti miconosceuano : perche miparii di Castiglia, doue mi era facto honored 6* 1/ re miteneua i' buona pos- sessione." 'I 212 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. • i. I n *v M' " We departed from the port of Lisbon, three ships in company, on the tenth of May, i5oi, and took our course directly for the Grand Canary Islands. * * * From there we sailed to the coast of Ethiopia, and ar- rived at the port called Beseneghe, in the torrid zone. * * * We left this port of Ethiopia and steered to the southwest. * * * j^j sixty-seven days we reached land lying seven hundred leagues southwest of that port. * * * 'pj^g season was very unfavor- able 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 go<" 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. * * * 'pj^jg cape is eight degrees south of the equator.' * 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 i t'j 'j q'sto cauo 8. gradi fuori della linea equinoctiaU uerso hustro." DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 213 ^11 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.' 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. * * * \Yg saw a great number of red- wood (verzino) and cassia trees, and of those which produce myrrh. * * * ^g 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, i5o2J) was so severe that no one in the fleet could endure it. * * * We agreed that the superior captain' 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, an>. at the Azores, the explorers reached the ' " Tanto fumo uerso laustro, cJugia stauamo fuora del tropica di capricorno : a donde el polo dil Meridione salzaua sopra lo Orizonte 32. gradi : et di gia kauamo perduio del tucto lorsa minore, (Sr* la maggiore chi staua molto bassa, » •"i 'VJvSCI- ,,-A> i I a. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 131 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 i5ii, to the bishop of Rome, saying: "There is an island about three hundred and twenty-five leagues from Espan- ola, 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." ' The island of Boiuca appears to be partly outlined on the small map in Peter Martyr's " Legatio Baby- lonica," printed at Seville in i5ii. It is designated On the latter as a part of the island of Beimeni, — " Isla de beimeni parte." ' 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.^ He had sailed from Spain in 1493 to Espafiola in one of the ships of Columbus's second expedition. In i Sog he took part in the subjugation of the Island of Borriquen, afterward called Porto Rico, of which ^e was made ' De Orbo Novo decades, dec. ii. cap. x. * 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 quingentissinio. xi. meso vero Aprili. The chart measures seven and a half by eleven inches. ' Juan Ponce was born at Leon, Spain, about 1460. I M ill ■■■ fT" 222 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. I ! I 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. Germao, Porto Rico, on Thursday, the third of March, i5i2, to search for the island Boiuca, which some called Bimini. "It is certain," says Herrera, the Spanish his- torian, " 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 Espafiola affirming that old people bathing them- selves 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 affecr I 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 their.selves." ' 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, {^ue era Dia de Pascuade Resurreccion, que comunmente dicen de Flores) they saw an island and passed by it. On Monday, the twenty-eighth, they steered in the ' Historia general. Herrera. dec. i. lib. ix. cap. x. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 223 same direction, fifteen leagues, until Wednesday, when the weatiier became foul. They then stood west-north- west 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 [Pasaia Florida).^ 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 twen- tieth, 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." 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 stunninor a sailor with a stroke of a cudgel on the head, when the Span- iards were compelled to fight. They had two of their ' The Indians called this region Caulio. Historia general. Herrera. dec. i. lib. ix. cap. x. * The Gulf Stream, which at this point is quite deep and narrow, has a velocity varying from four to five miles an hour. r m ■J .i ri ■* , 1 1 I V 224 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 bngantine. 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."' On the twenty-third of September, after having coasted in different directions along the Flowery Land, Juan Ponce determ.ined to return to Porto Rico. Be- fore 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." ' " On Sunday, the eighth of May, they doubled the Cape of Florida, giv- ing 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 Abaiia. 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 Sinta 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 spaciouo 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 MartSes), because the high rocks, at a distance, look like men suffering, and the na: le 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 tney ran along the coast to the southward as far as seme small islands which lay out at sea, and still they did not perceive that it was the main-land." • Historia general. Ilerrcra. dec. i. lib. ix. cap. x, xii. .1^ . DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 225 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 i52i,two ships, and sailed to Florida to take possession of it and to s' ■*^le a colony on its attractive shores. But the nati- ■ , A- iantly opposed the occujJation of their counuy arid drove the ambitious invader, with the loss of many men, to his ships. Ju.n Ponce was wounded in the thigh by an arrow. The vessels sailed to Cuba, where the impoverished and disabled Spaniard not long after died.' The exploration of Central America was continued in 1 5 1 1 by Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a native of Xeres de los Caballeros, Spain, who had accompanied Rod- rigo de Bastidas when he sailed on his voyage of dis- covery to the New World, in October, i5oo. In i5io the Indian village on the isthmus of Darien, west of the Gulf of Uraba, was made the seat of the govern- ment of this part of the continent by the Spaniards, and called Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien. Vasco Nunez de Balboa was appointed alcade of the new colony. This ambitious and avaricious adven- turer 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 Nunez and his four- score 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 ' Primera y scgunda parte de la htstoria general de las Indias. Gomara. cap. X. n I: i \ { I I i fli j> ! V 226 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. gold, with as much more obtained at anothe** 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 wran- gling 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, scat- tering the gold all over the porch." Pointing south- ward 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, i5i3, Vasco Nunez, 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 way- worn followers arrived at the foot of the Sierra de Quarequa, intercepting the view of the unseen ocean.' ' Ten ye:^i before this, says Humboldt, "Columbus distinctly learned, wben he ^vas 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 wc ild bear ships to the Chersonesus attrea of Ptolemy and to the mouth of the Ganges.' In, the I DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 227 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 monu- ment 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 c '"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 ex- plored a part of the southern coast of the isthmus, Vasco Nunez and his men reentered the wilderness and arrived at Santa Maria de la Antigua on the nine- teenth of January, i5i4. 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 ref^arded as merely a continuation of the Sinus magnus^fXSyai xoiknoi) 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. Otte's trans, vol. ii. pp. 642, 643. \'^- f^ ■It ■ ! 1 m III ill y II ! 228 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. In the following year Caspar Morales and Francisco PIzarro crossed the isthmus with sixty men, and visited the island which Balboa had called Isla Rica. In i5i6, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, ambitious of obtaining greater fame, and having two hundred men and considerable money at his command, transported the timber, rig- ging, 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 Ada, 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 bit- ter toward the innocent officer that the Spanish gover- nor of Darien ordered Balboa to be executed. In r 5 17, at the age of forty-one years, in the plasa of Ada, the discoverer of the South Sea was publicly beheaded.' To further explore the coast of Brazil, it is said that Juan Diaz de Solis sailed from Lepe, Spain, on the eighth of October, 1 5 1 5. 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 lati- tude. Thence he coasted farther southward and en- tered 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 ' Historia general. Herrera. dec. i. lib. x. cap. i, ii, iv. dec. ii. lib. i. . cap. iv, xi. De Orb's Novo decades. Martire. dec. iii. cap. ii, iii, vi, x. dec. iv. ctp. vi. dec. vii. cap. x. i-4u,. TTT DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 229 Cape St. Augustine, and having loaded with Brazil- wood, sailed to Spain.* 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 1 5 1 7, 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 Imndred and ten soldiers, about the beginning of February, from San Cristobal, on the north sideiof .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,'' 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 ' Historia general. Herrera. dec. ii. lib. i. cap. vii. * Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a native of Medina del Campo, Spain, came to the New World, in 15 14, with Pedro Arias de Avila, who had been appointed governor of Terra Firma. He sailed with Cordoba and Grijalva on their ex- peditions of discovery, and was with Cortes in his Mexican campaign, and par- ticipated 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. m ill, t.i!' I I ill. I if 'III n ■ I J y ■ 11 230 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 attrac- tive. 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 in- habitants 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 7 us on all sides, and began to assail us with so many arrows, lances, and stones, that more than eight of our ^^-_.„. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 331 men were wounded in the first onset. They then rushed fu.iously forward and attacked us man to man ; some with their lances, othc s 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 cross- bows ; for while some loaded other- 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 plenti- fully supplied in the field with meat, drink, and num- bers 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 Velas- quez] resided. Here the two Indians were brought on shore whom we had taken with us from Punta de w III ■-' '"if Hi 1 ^ If m r li 232 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 afiirm 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 t'.ieir 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 t lem 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, vho were stand- ing around the governor at the time that he was speak- ing to the two Indians, said : ' You see, sir, they call their country Yucatan.' And from this circumstance DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. the country retained the name of Yucatan, although the natives call it by a different name." ' " It was in the year of our Lord i5i8," says Diaz, " after Diego Velasquez had heard the good account we gave of the newly-discovered country called Yuca- tan, 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 accom- panied Cordoba on our late voyage to Yucatan, pur- chased 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 Mel- chorejo 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 , 1 5 1 8, 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 Span- iards 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 ' Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana. Escrita por el Capitan Bernal Diaz del Castillo, vno de sus conquistadores. En Madrid, 1632. cap. i-vi. Vide The memoirs of the conquistador, Bemal 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 In- grim Lockhart. London, 1844. vol. i. chap. i-vi. m I Ml 5 •'1 ^itt i : 1 ' ilUl 234 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. f ]f: i the bay called La Boca de Terminos, where Dia^ relates " we found temples built of stone and lime, full of idols made of wood or clay, with other figures, some repre- senting women, some serpents ; also the horns of various kinds of wild animals. We concluded that an Indian village was near it. * * * ^^ have, however, deceived ourselves, for the district was en- tirely uninhabited." At a promontory, beyond the bay, toward the west, about thirty Indians visited the explorers, bring- ing 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 ei d they spread some mats en 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 man ties 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 st^ne and lime. Both were ascended by flights of steps, and I SSafij DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. m 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, t t open, with the irms and '-"gs chopped off, while every thing near was besmeared with blood. We contem- plated 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 '^tood the great and abominable-looking god TetzcatHpuca, surround- ed 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 v;ith 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 interro- gated 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 com- mander, 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 »i \A ' r^n' i ii 1! i *- m ' ' 1 1 ^ fi i I ' f 1/ l^:ii 236 DISCOVERIFS OF AMERICA. first came," says Diaz, " in sight of Tusta, and two days after, of the more elevated mountains of Tuspa, both of which take th^:ir names from two towns close to these mount: 'ns. 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 t.ie 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 th«ir 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 ihe inhabitants of Guacas- ualco 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 orna- ments of gold, each Indian had with him a copper axe, which was very highly polished, with the handle curi- ously 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. * * * t^q gg^ g^jj f^j. 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. ^ Some * *' The dollar of exchange [J>eso de platd) is worth 8 reals of old plate, ff? DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 237 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 mis- taken 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 transac- tions." ' ^ '^ Immediately after the return of Juan de Grijalva, in i5i8, 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 com- mand of this expedition, Diaz says that " the matter was secretly setded 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 treas- urer, therefore, employed all their cunning to influence the governor. They took every opportunity of plac- ing 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 match- locks, crossbows, powder, and the like. With the same 15 reals 2 maravedis vellon. • • » The value of the peso of plate, or dol- lar of exchange, in English silver coin, is 39id." [about seventy-four cents United States money]. — The universal cambist and commercial instructor. By Patrick Kelly. London, 1811. vol. i, pp. 388, 389. ' Ilistoria verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espalia. Diaz. cap. viii-xvi. — Vide The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap, viii-xvi. |4 ." I V:' i ( f ■ i i ' if Tf 1 /'i f I I 238 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. diligence he took care to provide a large stock of goods to barter, and other necessaries for our expedi- tion." On the eighteenth of February, iSig, the fleet was on its way toward the west. On the island of Cozumel, near the eastern coast of Yucatan, Cortes re- viewed 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 ton- nage. * * * 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 iiave 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 Vv'ord Castilan, Castilan, which the Indians of Cam- peachy had so often repeated when we landed there, under the command of Francisco Hernandez de Cor- doba. 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 thouglt 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 239 the language of Cozumel, to question the chiefs about it. The statements made by them were alike, and plainly indica>;ed 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 Geroniino de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero. Aguilar being informed of the presence of the Spaniards joined them and served Cortes in the important posi- tion of an interpreter.' 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 thatthey were governorsof the provinces of Cotastlan, Tuste^^^c, Gnazpaltepec, Tlata- teteclo, 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, * " He said, though still in broken Spanish, that his name was Geronimo de Aguilar, and was a native of Ecija. About eight years ngo he had been ship- wrecked with fifteen men and two women, on a voyage between Daricn and the island of St. Domingo. * * * The ship struck against a rock, and they had not been rMe 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 Calachionics had taken them prisoners and distrihtitcd them among the people. The most of his unfortunate com- panions 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, 1,'ut 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." ;• If r V ' i\ i i 111' I, f \ i . I "I ii m|| If L i m 340 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. It ( which he did when he turned toward us standing nearest him. Cortes cordially welcomed them, after which he embraced <^hem. 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,' had sent them to ask : who the Spaniards were and what tliey came to seek in his country]. Meanwhile Cortes ordered the altar to be arranged as prettily as possible. Francisco Bartolom^ cind 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 Dona Marina ' entered into conr^ersa- tion with the . Texican officials and the caciques, telling them, that we were Christians, the subjects of the greatest monarch of the world, named Emperor Charles 3 fhat 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 under- standing might be established between him [Cortes] and his [Montezuma's] subjects, they should acquaint him with the place where this monarch resided, that ' The name is spelled by Diaz " Montetjuma." ' 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. * Charles v. ascended the Spanish throne in 1516. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. HI he [Cortes] might pay his respects to him and make the necessary disclosures. TeuthHlle 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 nanit, 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 sti\ffs very prettily made of white cotton and feathers. These they pre- sented to Cortes, besides various other costly gifts which, on account of the number of years that has in- tervened, I cannot now remember, together with pro- visions, as fowl; fruit, and dried fish. Cortes accepted all these with a pleased expression, and presented these gentlemen in return with glass beads resembling bril- liants, and other things that we had brought from Spain. He begged them to request the inhabitants of the dif- ferent districts to begin trading with us, for we pos- sessed various aiticles 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 repre- sented 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 emperc", who * Fva i^ .' ^ ' '^n {', >9 '■\ , i ^i* I-; .- ? ; : ■• I 1 ;'M;' "r; 242 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. s?l m .8 a had sent them to Montezuma in token of friendship and as a j roof of the esteem in which he held him. Cortes furdier 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, Monte- zuma, as he also was a great monarch, would in turn be equally delighted to learn somediing about our great emperor; that he would hasten to lay the pres- ents 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, v\ith the dress he wore ; also the pictures of a'l the other chief officers, the soldiers, our ships, horses. Dona Marina, and Aguilar, 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, Teuth- lille returned, as Diaz further observes, " with more than a hundred Indium porters, all heavily laden, accompanied by a great Mexican cacique, who, in countenance, stature, and deportment, greatly resem- bled 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 "ho 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 therefc " called one the Cortes of this place, and the other the Cortes of that place. We mu=t ho\^\ ; jv,,-, °r, tell what the em- DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. bassadors 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. Corles gave them a very cordial reception, and desired them to sit down at his side. Quintalbor, the cacique, was commissioned to discuss matters joint- ly with Teuthlille. The two, therefore, told Coites that he was most welcome to visit their. country, and after considerable talking on both sides, they produced the presents"' sent him by Montezuma. As is further related by the Spanish historian, Juan de Torquemada, a contemporary of Diaz, " the embassador of Monte- zuma 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 stnffs, 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 ' Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva EspaRa. Diaz. cap. xix-xxxix. — Vid< The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap, xxx-xxxix. !-■ !i ' :, If 1 " ,4,1 1' jVi ''-^^ ' ill ^' }\ ' ii 1 Mi' 244 DISCOVEkiES OF AMERICA. ■' i 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 mar- casite, globuic ••-shaped, of the size of one's fist, and most ingeniously set in gold, the small frame itself being very valuable, and worthy of tiie acceptance of any crowned head ; coverings and curtains to beds, manufactured of variously colored cotton, more glossy and Oi 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 pr- namen*-s of gold ; a second necklace of many large pearls and emeralds, all of the most exquisite work- manship ; 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.' The other plate was of silver, which in a similar manner repre- sented 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 car- riage-wheels. Those who saw these splendid presents said that, without considering the beautiful workman- ship, the value of the gold and silver alone amounted to twenty-five thousand castetlanos de oro ; so that the full value o'all these presents may rightly be estimated at fifty thousand ducats." " '"The Castiiian mark weighs 3557 English troy grains." — The universal cambist. Kelly, vol. i, pp. 391, 292. . Primera parte de los veinte Ivn libros rituales i monarchia Indiana com- v\ DISCOVERIES OF AxMERICA. 245 " When Quintalbor, the great cacique, and Teuth- lille, 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.^ 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 h's 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 puesto por Juan de Torquemada. En Madrid, 1723. lib. iv. cap, xvil. fol. 389. 390. " The ducat of exchange (dtuadc de plata) is worth il reals, maravedi of old plate, or 20 reals 25 J f maravedis vellon. * * * The valuo of the ducat of plate in English silver coin is \s, t\d. [or one dollar and one cent in United States moneyj. " — The universal cambist. Kelly, vol. i. pp. 38S-392. Diaz ^.ves this description of the presents : " The first was a disk about the sizf. ot a carriage-wheel, representing the sun, the entire plate being of the finest gold aad 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 /«oj 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 /Mt;^, 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 clucks in every way resembling the living fowl, very elaborately made. Besides, there were figuies of lions, tigers, dogs, and monkeys. There were also ten chains with lockets, all of gold, and of the most cosily 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 uvquam honoris humana ingenia in hiiiuscemodi artibits sunt adepla, principatum ittre merito isia consequentur. Aurum, gemmasque non admiror quidem, qua indus- tria, quove studio superet opus materiant, stupeo. Mille figuras et fades mille prospexi quae scribera nequeo. Quid oculos hominum sua pukhritudine aequt possit ttlHcere tneo iudiciovidinunquam, — De Orbe Novodecades. dec. L cap. xi. ' Teulcs, according to Diaz, meant gods or celestial beings. I- ' : PI y^ 246 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 sto'ics. He was likewise ready to furnish us with every thing we might require during our stay, Respecting Cortes visiting him, the under- taking should not engage our thoughts, for it was not necessary, and would be attended with great diffi- culties.' " 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 wcaild 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, com- missioned, 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 ti DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 247 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. Oa 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 Quidal- pitoc. This, we subsequently learned, was done by the orders of Montezuma. He had forbidden all inter- course with Cortes, believing that he was obeying the commands of his idol-gods. These were named Tetz- catiipuca and Huitzilopochtli ; the former being the god of hell, and the latter the god of war, to whom MontL'Zunui daily Hacrificed 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 ex- pected 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 ill I/11« 1.1 I. i ' ij il h 248 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. triflingr 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 : ' 1 will take them there, while yoii remain where you arc,* for at that time my legs were not so infirm as they are now, in my old age. When I pre- sented them to Cortes, they manifested the utmost reverence, and continually repeated the word Lopcliicio, 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 Dona Marina understood their language. The k.tter asked them whether there were any 7iae,yavatos 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 w^^uld 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 leapt knew that the Mexi- cans had secretly departed from us three days before this time. Cortes learned many things from them which were of the greatest importance to him, particu- larly the information respecting the enemies and oppo- DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 249 nents 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 '^e would in person shortly visit him." The indonii ...jle commander now advanced north- ward along the coast as far as Chiahuitzla, near the roadstead wher • his ships were anchored. A short distance from this place Cortes began to build the city to which he gave the na ne Villa Ric: de Vera Cruz (the Rich Town of the True Cross). From the port of the new city, Cortes, on the twent sixth of July, Siq, dispatched a ship to Spain, under the command of Alon!}o Puertocarrero and Francisco de Montejo, car- rying letters to the emperor, Charles V., with accounts of the invasion of New Spain. With these communi- cations were sent some of the presents that Cortes had received, besides several cotton and agave -scrolls of Mexican hierogylphics. " Our agents took charge of the letters," Diaz remarks, " and were bound by a promise not to touch at the Havannah under any pre- text whatever, or to enter tht- 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 c Ificer, having ordered his ships to be destroyed, began about the middle of August his march toward the city of Mexico,' 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, pro- visions, and munition. ' 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 rail- road the distance from the present city of Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico is two hundred and sixty-three miles. ! .■!; iii" I I ,^h ii ti -■ '1 I ■ I- .^^. ^ *'• <^ ^.-,0. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 11.25 1*5 us lit ■^ I 2.2 lAP I 2.0 ^ '^1^ ^ ^ /a /a % 5 <^\^ ^f^ -« Hiotographic Sciences Corporation ^ V L1>^ \\ ^)s 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M.tflO (716)672.4303 z ^ « ! i.i irr I I i| i ' 250 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. In the province of Xocotlan the invaders came to an Indian town called by the Spaniards Castilblarco, 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 causev.ays. "A certain place m 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 thou- sand ; 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 Tehuaca- cinco, Cortes had victorious engagements with the Tlascallans. " It also happened," Diaz further remarks, " that the powerful king of Mciico, 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 fco 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 pres- ent of gold trinkets, differently elaborated, worth about one thousand /fesos, 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 251 that we were so near his metropolis, and that he was every way well-disposed toward Cortes and all the ietdes, his brothers. He likewise wished to be told by us what annual tribute in gold, silver, jewels, and cot- ton stuffs he v/as to forward to our great emperor, which tribute would save Uo the trouble of coming tc Mexico, adding that he should indeed be pleased to see us, but that our march would be a hazardous un- dertaking 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 thougiit were officers, and particularly to those who were on horseback." Here Cortes v.^as 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, Lnd some he sacrificed. He was a mon- arch so po\yerrul and wealthy that he accon^plished and obtained all he desired. His palaces were filled with riches and chakhihuis stones,' which he seized wherever he went. In short, all the wealth of the country was in his possv,ssion." ' A stone of a I'ght green color. ; . ./. . . . ., . if : "! f; ^'' '4 ! "■'s r- si "M Ui 252 DISCOVERIES OF i^MERICA. 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 quanti- ties 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 wich 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 ex- hibited large pieces of neguen,^ on which were pic- tured their battles and their art of warfare. When Cortes and we considered that we had gained suffi- cient information concerning these things, the conver- sation 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 hap- pened, notwithstanding their nearness to the Mexi- cans, 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, -- • Papor made from the leaves of the maguey or ogave-plant. I DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 253 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 de- cayed. 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 oppor- tunity." Montezuma again sent embassadors to Cortes bearing presents. They said " that their monarch could not but feel astonished that we " as Diaz re- lates, " 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. Monte- zuma begged us to visit his city, where, at least, we might enjoy the good things it offered, even though these should be tslow 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 friend -ihip 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 IS: •p 254 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. .H 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 mag- nificent 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.' * * * j must add a word or two re- specting 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 sacri- fices and feasts. Cortes ordered these diabolical cajjes 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 'Cortes conjectured th^ 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 255 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 fre- quently 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 inten- tions, 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 re- turned home after going almost to his palace without seeing that monarch or fulfilling their commission to him. * * * Therefore he begored that their mon- arch would not thereafter send any more embassadors with such messages. Cortes further said that he was determined to see and speak to Montezuma per- sonally, 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 mes- It '! I rt ^ 256 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. sage he dispatched his nephew, Cacamatzin, prince of Tezcuco, to us, in great pomp to bid us welcome. * * * j'l-jg conference being ended, we continued our march. We were accompanied by the caciques and their numerous attendants, besides all the inhabi- tants 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 com- posedly 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 exceed- ingly attractive that I could not gratify myself enough DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 257 by walking about in them and contemplating the num- ber 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 astonish- ment. * * * J3y|. ^Q^ there is not a vesticre of all these things remaining, and not a stone of the beauti- ful 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, ac- companied by all the principal caciques already men- tioned. The road on which we marched was ei^ht 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 \l k '■.a !■■ ■' I t I' ^i '^ ! .; il il 258 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 no- 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 v.e 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 be- fore us lay the great city of Tenustitlan Mexico in all its grandeur. ' Aijd we, who were beholding this spectacle, who were passing through this dense con- course 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 Tlaimanalco, and the caution they had given us not to expose our lives to the treachery of the Mexi- cans. 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 * 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 chie's, the townships, and of the provinces, we have mostly followed Torquemada, who is considered more cor- rect on this point, for he lived fifty years in New Spain." — The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. Preface, vol, i. p. vi. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 259 ifi of Tezcuco, Iztapalapan, Tlacupa, and Cojohuacan, to get in advance to meet Montezuma, who was slowly approaching, surrounded by other grandees of the king- dom, 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 cot- ton 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 Montezu- ma was approaching, he alighted from his horse and advanced to meet him. Many compliments passed between them. Montezuma welcomed Cortes, who, through Dofia Marina, said, in turn, that he hoped his majesty was in good health. If I still remember rightly, t::j I; \ •;.■ II 26o DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. iJ,i Cortes, who had Dofia Maiina next to him, wished to concede the place of honor to the monarch, who, how- ever, 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 Mon- tezuma. Our commajider 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 Dofia Marina to tell the monarch that he [Cortes] congratulated him- self exceedingly on his good fortune of having seen so powerful a monarch face to face, and to thank him f o • the honor of coming to meet us. Montezuma replied in very appropriate words, and ordered his t.vo nephews, the princes ofTezcuco and Cojohuacan, to conduct us to our quarters. He then returned to the city, accompanied by his two other relatives, the princes of CuiUahuac 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 amonq^ the gods as among our equals. The apart- ments 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 261 rank. Each apartment was swept clean, and the walls were newly plastered and decorated. " When we had entered into tlie 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 deco- rated after the fashion of the country. He then hung about his neck a chased necklace of gold, most curi- ously wrought with figures of crabs. The Mexican grandees were greatly amazed at all these uncommon favors which their monarch bestowed upon our gen- eral. •' Cortes returned the monarch many thanks for so much kindness, and the latter took leave of him with these words : ' Malinche,' 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 re- turned to his palat , which was near." This wai' on the eighth of November, iSig. Later in the day Montezuma again visited Cortes, and held a long con- versation 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 •This name, says Diaz, was given to Cortes "because our interpreter, Dofia Marina, was always near him, particularly when embasr.adois crrived, 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." iA , ■I fi: i 262 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. I eyes had an expression cf 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 ex- traction, whom, however, he visited secretly without any one daring to observe him, except his most confi- dential servants. * * * jj^ ^.j^g. j^^jjg 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 betv^ ^n him and it, made of gold, and adorned with the ^ lerent 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 hin? 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 will DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 263 would offer 'hem a plate of his food, which was consid- ered a mark of great favor. The gray -haired, aged men, that were so highly honored, were, as we subse- quently learned, his nearest relatives, his most trust- wort'' y counsellors, and chief justices. Whenever he ordered any viands to be given them, they ate stand- ing 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 hump- backed dwarfs to act as buffoons and perform antics for hi'j amusement. At other ti.nes 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 (choco- late) to be distributed among the performers. When he had dined the four women took away the cloths and brought him v/ater to wash his hands. During this interval he conversed a little with the four old men, and t^en 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 house- hold. I often counted more than one thousand dishes on the table of the kinds already mentioned. Then followed, according to the Mexican custom, the froth- ing jugs of cacao-liquor, as many as two thousand, after which came different kinds of fruit in great abun- dance. Then the women dined who superintended the baking department, and those who made the cacac- 264 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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. * * * j j^^^j 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 sub- stantial 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 In- dians 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 railed Topia, was Montezum.a'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 Lr.^e 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 v/ielded 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 t1 ; end, a fathom long, set with several sharp flints. 1 le pikes are so very sharp and hard that they will pierce the strongcot shield, and cut like a razor ; so that the Mexicans even shave themselves with these DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 265 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 com- pletely 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 difterent colors, and looked like uniforms. We also saw morions and helmets con- structed of wood and bones, adorned with feathers. There were artificers always at work, who continually augmented this store of arms ; itnd the arsenals were under the care of certain persons, who also superin- tended 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 silver- smiths 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 v/onderful sculptors. Even now there are still living in Mexico three Indian artists, named Marcos de Aguino, Juan de ia 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. 1 ».! % 266 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. " 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 em- ployed in manufacturing the most beautiful stuffs, inter- woven 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 men- tioned. They were cultivated by a large body of gar- deners. 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 267 ^1 , Aguilar, Dona Marina, and one of his pages, named Orteguilla, who, by this time, understood a little of the Mexican language, to Montezuma, to request his per- mission 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 som.e 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 com- mand 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 ex- posed 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 I; i li I! U ■l r . ). I B ■ '" y i i M l\ I - DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 as- signed for its sale. In one place were sold the stuffs manufactured of ncquetiy 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, rab- bits, hares, deer, and dogs ; also a space to the fruit- seiiers, 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, fur- niture-dealers, with assortments of tables, benches, cradles, and all kinds of wooden implements, all sepa- rately arranged. * * * gyj. ^]^y should I so mi- nutely detail every article exposed for sale in this great market ? If I enumerated every thing singly, I should never get to the ei \ 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 ap- pointed, v/ho 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 269 bread made of die mud or scum collected I'rom the sur- face of the lake, and eaten in that form, and which has a taste similar to that of cheese.' 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 gok , 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'' of cacao- nuts, ^ slaves, or for other merchandise. •' On quitting the market, we entered the spacious court-yards surrounding the chief temple. These ap- peared to include more ground than the market-place at Salamanca, and were inclosed by a double wall con- structed of stone and lime. The yards were paved with large white flag-stones, extremely smooth, and where there were nc»ne, 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 hun- dred and fourteen steps to the summit, and as they feared that Cortes would experience the same fatigue ' 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. ' XiquipiUs, according to Torquemada, expressed the number of 8,000 of any thing. • Cacao-beans were used by the Mexicans in lieu of small coin. •If 1 , r n tm m \ ?> ii n i 11 f r 2/0 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. i I 1 h (' < I 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 abomi- nable figures, with a quantity of fresh blood in front of " This infernal temple, from its great height, com- manded 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 Tla- cupa, 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 Tepea- quilla. We also saw the aqueduct, which extended from Chapultepec, and supplied the city with fresh water. We could also distincdy 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, manufac- tured 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 cides the beaudful 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 sufficiendy gazed upon this mag- DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 271 nificent 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 Constanti- nople 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 die right hand represented the god of war, Huitzil- opochtli. This idol had a very broad face with dis- torted 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 faceb, 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-ofifering. The walls of the temple and the whole floor were almost black with human blood, and the stench was highly ofiren?iive. ( ■( ^1 I,: \i 272 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ■ I " 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 tctzcat, the reflecting-glass of the country. This idol, like its brother Huitzilopochtli, was covered with precious stones, and was called Tetzcadipuca. This was the god of hell. * * * A circle of figures wound round its body, resembling diminutive devils with serpents' tailu. 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 tem- ple 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 w*i could have placed six of the largest buildings commonly found in our country. The building had the form of a pyramid, on the sum- DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 273 mit 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 ac- companied 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 move- ments of the conquerors {conquistadores) of New Spain. The beautiful and famous metropolis of Mex- ico, 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 Au- gust, 1 52 1. 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 death- like 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 hun- ger, thirst, and the horrors of war, as the inhabitants of this great city." As the emperor's sh^re of the i A ii' \ i'i '-' I ' ; \ - ■ ^ I- •«". ! : i 274 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 great- est 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." ' ' • ' Ilistoria verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espafla. Diaz. cap. xxxix-clix. — FtaSr The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap, xxxix- 1 ' CHAPTER VIII. i5i8-j524. That part of the coast of the continent, now in- cluded in the territory of the states of Texas, Louisi- ana, 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 i5i8, when the report of our having discovered this country, under Cordoba and Grijalva, and of the twenty thousand pesos which came into the hanu^ 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 accom- panied us on those expeditions, confirmed what Ala- minos had told him, he thought that it was to his ad- 875 P m I I i 1 276 DISCOVERIES O.' AMERICA. * vantage to request his majesty to grant him the per- mission to make lurther 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 Fcnseca, 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 virtae of this appointment he fitted out three vessels, having on board two hundred ana 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.' " It is further related that the explorers set sail in 1 5 19, 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 peop'e 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 ' Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana. Diaz, cap, Ix, dxil, — yide The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap, Ix, clxii. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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." ' V ; Diaz further observes : •' While we v/ere lying at Villa Segura, Cortes was informed by letters that one of the vessels which Garay had fitted out for the pur- pose of forming settlements on the river Panuco had arived 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 gree.tly swelled. This Comargo gave the par- ticulars of the unfortunate termination of Garay 's expe- dition 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. Co- margo alone had been fortunate enough to escape with hij men on board of one of the vessels, and had steered for Vera Cruz, where the explorers ar- rived half famished, for they had not been able to procure any provisions from the enemy. This Co- margo, 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 Co- margo and all his men every possible kindness. If I ' Tratado, que compOs e nobre & notnutl capitiU) Antonio GaluSo. ! if I i 1 ■ M ' I j It "5 L- 278 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. remember rightly, Comargo died soon after, and also several of his men." * 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-Jirme y de las 'terras nuevas), made, in i52i, to define the limits of the jurisdictions of Juan Ponce Leon, Francisco de Garay, and Diego Velasquez. ' 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 ?.nd thiS inscription : " As far as this Juan Ponce dis- covered." 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). South- ward 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 v^^est, 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." According to these memoranda and the statements of Herrera, the Spanish historian, Juan Ponce de Leon * In June, 1523, Franci«co de Garay sailed with a fleet and a large numbei of troops from Jamaica to take possession of the province of Panuco, of which lie had been appointed governor. He failed to accomplish his purpose, and died in the city of Mexico, at the end of December, 1523. Historia venladera de la conquista de la !Nueva Espafia. cap. cxxxiii, clxii. Vide The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap, cxxxiii, clxii. ' Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. torn. iii. pp. 64-69; 147-153. i > •A H % 'A also 'arez de pp. > •A OS H > a •— < /^ c4 I < Si oi w en 73 O U DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 279 explored the eastern coast of Florida from La Cruz, south of the thirty-first parallel, to a point on the south- western 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. ' 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 1620 in the port of La Plata, San Do- mingo, 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 plan- tations. Among the projectors of the expedition was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon. ' 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 ' 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 CaRaveral, forty ; and from Punta Canaveral, 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 esti- mate it to be a hundred league? to Rio de Nievcs, and thence to that of Flores more than twenty, from which river it is seventy leagues to the Bay of the Holy Spirit (Daya del Espiritu Sanclo), 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 mo'" than seventy to Rio de Pescadores. From Rio de Pescadores, in 23° 30', ire 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. * 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), aftervxrd sitting in San Domingo. In March, 1520, Ayllon went with Pamfilo de iNarvaez 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 himnndcr arrest and sent him back to Cuba, where he arrived in August, 1520. IM ■\& 28o DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. • si ^ m ■ r I H 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 Helpn\ and the Rio Jordan (River Jordan).' " 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 flc -ked 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 '^hips, 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 them- selves with the skms 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 inhab- itants 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 gar- ments. But what! The Spaniards violated the laws of hospitality. For by craft and various cunning ' " So designated," says Herrera. " because Jordan was the >aame of one of the captains or masters of the ships." Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias. Gomara. cap. vii. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 38l device ., dfter they had seen al' 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 con- jectured 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 1->air 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 Du- harhe." 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.' * * * Hq ' 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, Yenyoho), 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 somc^ of these places. In July, 1526, he sailed him- ii* 't'^ If h I •J \ 282 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. y 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 re- ported by the Chicoran, that are strange and remark- able, 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. * * * jj^jg |.jj^g. b^ji^g 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 bon'c:s, 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 self from Espafiola, 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 de- ceived 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 |os viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. torn. lii. pp. 69-74'} 153-160. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 383 them, the infants being covered with warm cloths. When they had again regained their vigor the practi- tioners 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 Xa- pida. In it they say pearls and a precious stone re- sembling 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 them- selve 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 casttj 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, :'■■ i! i ' m it ' . ' 284 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. \l 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 exer- cise 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 iiiusc 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." ' 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 hkely the Santee River, in South Carolina. ' Among the most renowned of the various maritime achievements which gave great fame to Spanish enter- prise in seeking for a sea-path to Cathay by sailing toward the west, was that of the circumnavigation of the globe in the years 1 5 19-1522. The remarkable voyage was begun by Fernam de Magalhaens, a Portuguese navigator. The first account of the expe- dition 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 ' De Orbe Novo decades, dec. ii. cap. vii. • " 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. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. a«$ 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,' a Portuguese gentleman, and a commander of the order of St. lago de la Spata, wiio had already more than once traversed the ocean with great reputation, was made captain-general of the expedition.' 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 deter- mined 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 cir- cumstance that the four other vessels under his command were in charge of •:aptains inimical to him solely because he was a Portuguese and they were Spaniards." The fleet sailed from the port of Seville, on Mon- day morning, the tenth of August, ^5^9, The five ships proceeded southwardly along the coast of Africa, passed between Cape Verd and the islands of the 'Pigafetta writes the name " Magaglianes," the Portuguese "Magal- haens," the Spaniards " Magallanes," and the French " Magellan." The Eng- lish follow the French spelling. * 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. ■ I i i 286 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. i,: I' Cape Verd group, and after reaching Sierra Leone, stood for the coast of Brazil. ** After we crossed the equator," says Pigafetta, " we lost si^ht of the north sti r. We then steered south-southwest, making for Te ra del Verzino (Land of Red wood), in latitude twenty-three degrees thirty minutes south latitude.' This country is a continua- tion of that in which Cape St. Augustine is situate, 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 eveVy 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. * * * Ihey go entirely naked, the women as well as the men. Their houses are lonsf cabins, which they call boi. They lie on cotton-nets called hammocks fastene'd 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 con- siderable no jje in these houses. * * * " The people of Brazil, both men and women, paint xheir 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 * Before Brazil was discovered, red wood was brought to Europe from Asia and Africa. Ii iJ DISCOVERIES OF :K.MERICA. 287 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." 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, i520, the fleet reached the port of St. Julian, " in forty- nine degrees thirty minutes," where they anchored for five months.' 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 gheeks. His hair, which was thin, was whitened with some kind of a powder. His coat, c* rather his mantle, was made of furs, well sewed to- gether, taken from an indigenous animal, which after- ward 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, ' In the edition of Ptolemy's geography, printed at Rome in 1508, it is said ; "The Land of tl; 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 Saudce Crucis decrescit usque mi latitudinem 37° aust.\ quamqttam ad Archiploi Uique ad 50° austr., navigarint, ut ferunt ; quant reliquam par' tioittm descriptnin non reperi." cap. xiv. f'i I: •;9 If ;ji i )m t n 288 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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, some- what 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, brt 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 nakedresr They were, in our judgment, far from handsonu, i..v.'verthe- less 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, bii it is longer, and they confine it round the head witi? a cotton-string, in which bandage they place their arrows when they go hunting. * * * It ippears 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 sing- ing around the dying person. * "** * These peo- ple, as I have already said, clothe themselves with the skin of an animal, and also cover their nuts with the same kind of skin. They transport their huts, for they :1J DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 289 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 Patago- mans. * * * " Scarcely had we anchored In this roadstead before the four captains of the other vessels plotted to murder the captain-general. These traitors v/ere Juan of Carthagena, inspector of the fleet, Luis de Mendoza, the treasurer, Antonio Cocca, the paymaster, and Caspar de Casada. The plot was discovered. The first named was flayed alive, and the second stabbed to the heart. Caspar 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 phnted a cross on the summit of a neighbor- ing 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 dis- covered 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.* 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 ' The eastern entrance to the strait lies between the Cap** 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. ' m sr I? 290 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. \. was so deep that we were compelled to anchor close to the shore.' * * * v : " 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 iutrepid, 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.' " 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.3 "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 dur- ing 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 sus- pense we saw the ships coming toward us under full sail and wlui their flags flying. * * * When we learned from those on board that they had seen the 'On the MaioUo map of i ^7, the following inscription is placed near the delineated strait : " Streilo doute pasas Mugaianes Portogese per andare in le isole de Maluchi de le spesarie de Re de Spania" the strait passed by Mai^aianes, a Portuguese, to go to the Molucca Islands for spices for the king of Spain. ' " II eapitano-generale, die sapeva de dover fare la sua navegazione per uuo streto molto ascoso, como vile ne la thesararia del re de Portugal in una carta fati per quello excellentissimo hucmo Martina 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 P>razil, •The fifth vessel, the Santiago, while exploring the coast, when the other ships were at anchor in the harbor of St. Julian, was wrecked. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 291 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 mentioiied, 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 chan- nel terminated in an open sea. The first set sail im- mediately under press of canvas, not choosing to wait for the second, which the pilot wish'^d 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 Magal- haens, for the sole reason that when Magalhaens came to Spain to lay his project before the emperor of go- ing to the Moluccas by a western route, Gomez him- self had already requested, and was ^n 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 Magal- haens 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 cap- tain, Alvaro de Meschita, the cousin-german of the captain-general, and carried him to Spain." ' ' Gomez, after deserting the squadron with the San Antonio, returned to the port of St. Julian, and there took on board Caspar de Casada and the priest whom Magalhaens had put on shore. On Gomez's ••eturn to Spain, the sixth r*" May, 1531, he tol4 " the emperor that Magalhaens was crazy and had lied to •iu t C 1 • I ;; i-i I J il [ m 292 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. When the strait was explored to its termination, the cape where the strait ended was called, says Piga- fetta, " II Cabo Deseado " (The Desired Cape). On Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of November, 1 520, 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 tempestu- ous weather. In this long space of time we did not descry any la.id, except two desert islands. On these we saw nothing but birds and trees, therefore we named them, Isole Sfortunato' (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." If God and the Holy Mother had not granted us a fortunate voyage we should aU have perished from hunger on so vast a sea. I do nof think that any one will hereafter venture on a simila,' voy- age.3 " 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 his majesty, for he did not know where Banda was nor the Moluccas." — Letter of Transylvanus and Castanheda. ' Spanish, Las Islas Desdichados. • " Seconda la misura che facevamo del v>aggio coila catena a poppa, not percorrevamo da 60 in 70 leghe algiomo." * Sir Francis Drake followed Magalhaens a half century later. The former departed from England on the thirteenth of December, 1577, and re> turned there on the third of November, 1580. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 293 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 nebulcB. They are separated from, eacl' other and are somewhat dim. In these nebulcs 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 di- rected 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 cours.e again, we ran west by south until we reached thirteen degrees of north lati- tude. We proposed by this course to reach Cape Catticara which geographers have placed in this lati- tude, but they are mistaken, for this cape lies twelve degrees more toward the north." ' ' Cape Cattigara was, according to Ptolemy, in one hundred and eighty > I * \ It I i( 294 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. From the islands, which Mag; 'haens called " Isole de Ladroni," ' the three ships stood toward the Philippine IsUnds, where, on one called Matan, the captain-gen- eral was killed in an engagement with the natives, on tne twenty-seventh of April, i52i. 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, i52i, the ships came in sight of the long-sought Spice Islands, and on Friday, the eighth of November, i52i,the Victoria and the Trinidad arrived at the island of Ta- dore. "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 as- tonishment that we should be elated, when it is con- sidered 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 at- mosphere. 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 m number: Tarenate, Tadore, Mutir, Machian and Bachian.' When afterward cloves were found on the adjacent islands, the name Moluccas, was applied to all the islands lying between the Philippines and Java. 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'. * Spanish, de los Ladrones. The Ladrone Islands, about twenty in num- ber, lie between 13° and 21° north latitude, and 144° and 146° east longitude, • The Moluccas or Spioe Islands, more than two hundred in number, lie between 3° north and 9" south latitude, and 122° and 133° east longitude. K ii DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 295 1 -i PM After a short sojourn at the Spice Islands, the return voyage was made by the ship La Victoria alone, com- manded by Juan Sebastian del Cano,' who set sail from Tadore on the twenty-first of December, i52i, the ship La Concepcion having been burned at the island Bohol, and La Trinidad having been left at the Moluc- cas 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, 1 522, she having sailed in the entire voyage, according to Piga- fetta'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.' 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 t "i way of the West led them to accuse the Spaniards of en- croaching on their commercial route to the Spice Islands, and of breaking the treaty of Tordesillas. The Spaniards in defence claimed that the Molluccas or the Spice Islands, found by Magellan's companions, were not within the limits of the territory of the Portu- guese as defined by the papal bull. To settle these national differences the notable con- ' 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 circuvidedisti me," " Primo viaggio intorno al globo terracqueo ossia ragguaglio della naviga- zione alle indie orientali per la via d' occidenle fatta dal cavaliere Antonio Pigafetfa patrizio Vicentino sulla squadra del Capit. Magaglianes negli anni 1519-1522 era 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 tiie accounts of Pigafetta and other contemporary writers. By Lord Stanley of Alderley. London, 1874. Hakluyt See. pub. Vide Pinkerton's voyages and travels, vol. i. pp. 288-381. !W^ m 296 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. gress of Badajos was convened in the spring of 1524. Tile Icing of eacli country sent to it special commis- sioners, among which number were Fernando Colum- bus, 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 Torde- sillas 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 occu- pies 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 disputa- tions, 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.' ' ' Primera y segund^ parte de la historia general de las Indi \. Gomara. cap, X. : r CHAPTER IX. ^l ^ 1 504-1 524. 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 i5o4, was frequented by the fishing vessels of France. The exploration of the coast of the New Land, north of the present Adantic 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 dis- covered 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, in- cluding 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 i*] and Normans.' .,_- -,._^.^ ' According to Jacques Cartier's statement, the Cape of Buona Vista was in 48° 30' north latitude. 297 :Hi \'i rM II ■'M I 298 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA 11 " About thirty-three years ago, a ship of Honfleur first went there, of which vessel Jean Denis was cap- tain, and Gamart, of Rouen, pilot. In the year i5o8, a ship of Dieppe, called La Pens^e, owned by Jean Ango, flither 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 h^^n people from that country." ' In company with the Pens6e, another ship, com- manded 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 inter- course with the East Indies. When they ' °ard of the discoveries which the Spaniards had ma America, they found their emulation incited, and tney 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 V^rassen. These two ships sailed from Dieppe at the beginning of the year i5o8, 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 profit- able exchanges for peltries." ' * Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. iii. fol. 359. • " Les Dieppois continuoient leur commerce dans Us Indes OrientaUs, lors- qu*ils apprirent les dkouvertes que les Espagnols avoient faites en Amirique : leur Emulation sen trouva piqude, ■ '3 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 30 1 bassador, Joao da Silveyra, son of Fernao da Silveyra, who delayed his going no longer than was necessary to get ready."' 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 Joao Verazano, who is going on the discovery of Cathay, has not left up to this date for want of opportunity, and because of dif- ferences, 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." ' 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.^ When he returned to France, he wrote an inter- esting letter to Francis I., king of France, dated " on board the ship La Dauphine, in the port of Dieppe, in ' Cronica do mnyto alto e muyto poderoso rey destes regnos de Portugal Dom Joao o III. destv.1 nome. Francisco d'Andrada. Lisboa, 1613. part. i. cap. 13, 14. * Letter of Joio da Silveyra to Dom Joao III. Archivo de Torre de Tombo. Corp. Chron. part. i. ma. 29. doc. 54, ■ The shij;- La Dauphine i > spoken of in tlie Italian text of Verrazzano's letter as " /a nave Dui/ina" Daljina is the feminine form of the Italian word dalfmo, a dolphin. •; peaks of is the copy found in the Magliabecchian library. — Viti^e Life and vcynges of Verrazzano, by G. W. Greene. North American Re- view, vol. xlv. October, 1837. Raniusio 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 L, of the land l)y him discovered in the name of his majesty ; written at Dieppe, July 8, 1524. — /// Ckristiaitissimo Re Dl Francia Francesco Prlir-o, Relntiont di Giotianni da Verrazatw Fioreiitino della terra per ltd seoperta in iiome u'i sua Maesta scriltain DUppa, adi 8. Luglio M.D.XXlUl." — Raccolta di navigationi e viaggi. Ramusio. vol. ill. fol. 350. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 303 fauna, the climate, and the harbors of the more north- ern part of the coast, prove that he had travelled exten- sively 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 ac- quainted with all the known means which were then used to ascertain longitude, latitude, and the measure- ment of distances. His opinion that the Orient ex- tended 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 infor- mation of a more satisfactory character respecting the extent of the territory of the New Land would be ob- tained by other exp1 trers, shows that he was less thoughtful of the brilliancy of his own achievements than he was of the more desirable and important re- sults 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 entided to be regarded the discoverer. Verrazzano wrote :' " 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 'The copy of Verrazzano's letter has this superscription : '' II Capilano Giovnntti da Verrazzano, fiorentino di Nomiandie, al la serenissima corona di Francia, dice " : — Captain Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine, from Nor- mandy, to the most serene crown of France, says. m\ i 304 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. that you would be informed of all : how, by the im- petuous 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 purpo^>e to pursue, with the Dauphine alone, the first voyage, from which having returned, I will give your serene majesty an account of what we dis- covered.' '■.'"v"-. " From the desert-rock ' in the sea, near the island of Madeira of the most serene king of Portugal, we departed with the said Dauphine, on the seventeenth ' Ilakl'iyt'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 panes, of the successe of the foure shippes, which your Maiestie sent forth to discouer new lands by tlie Ocean, thinking your Maiestie had bene already duely enformed thereof. Now by these pres- ents 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 Britalne, 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 profile that wc rccciucd thereby. Afterwards with the Dolphin alone we deter- mined 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 dishabitcd rocke by the isle of Madeira (Alii, 17. Geiiaro, 1524. Dio gratia partlinino dallo scoglio dishabitato), appertaini- 3 to the king of Portugal, with 50 men, with victuals, weapons, and other ship-munition very well pro- uided and furnished for eight months ; and sailing Westward with a faire East- erly winde (per Ponente naiiigando con vento di Leuante assai piaceuole), in 25 dayes we ran 500 leagues, and the 20 of Februarie (alii 20 Fcbrard), we were ouertaken with as sharpe and terrible a tempest as euer any saylers suffered, whereof with the diuine helpe and mcrciluU assistance of Almighty God, and the goodnesse of our shippe. accompanied with the good happe of her fortunate name we were delivered." — FiV^ Voyages. London, 1600. vol. ii. p. 295. ' 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 Dczertas, and are only inhabited by sea-fowl. e im- with in a vhere leard rmed rdof lone, will : dis- jland 1, we enth begins me we iippes, inking ' pres- (I'indes I such )ayred k our by the deter- >n we your arted Dio ugal, pro- East. in 25 were ered, and mate )5. F the The ■ !.ii I 'i\ \ u 5 K CO o In iiw iim mm hi iiiIi;» .':ir..lli.ii. iiiii i.ni Imi ijLiiiii mil iiS III lllil lliliiJiiii mil till mil mill) iiiii iiiif m .c _ o c 'C c iiji mHW ,0 'c V E :: «i ■■- U ^ hJ f^ .£ •c h rC m o DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 305 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.' On the fourteenth of February {il di 14 Fcbbrajo), we en- countered 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 ap- proaching 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 'In Vcnazzano's geographical explanation of the voyage, he assigns 62J miles to a degree and 4 miles to a marine league. According to this data, 15I 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 Vcrrazzano's day ; 31-}^ according to his explanation, equalling a degree. Columbus made 565 miles equal an equinoctial degree and 60 miles equal to 15 leagues. Pigafetta assigned 17^ 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 ot 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 Vcrrazzano's reckoning, equals 2^ land-miles of the United Stales standard. l! • ! *■■»! m : ) : I ' iii( I ^IIM 306 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. the coast continued to run toward the south, we deter- mined to turn and go back to the north, where we found the same want of harbors as we ascended the coast." The New Land [Nuova Terra), discovered by Ver- razzano, was first seen by him on the tenth of March, [old style,) being that part of the coast of tlie con- tinent now inchided in the present territory of I^orth Carolina, north of Cape Fear,' on the thirty-fourth par- allel 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, how- ever, 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 the; 1 wear drapery in like manner made of the feathers of birds. The color ' Cape Fear is in 33° 48' north latitude.' DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 307 of these people is black (nert), not very different from that oi 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.' 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 re- semble 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 lar Jing-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 1 527, places the name Diepa on the coast of Francesca, a little north of Terra Florida." -■.-■l^V::-.--:: ^- v 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 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. • 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 posi- tion given to places by Visconte de Maiollo. A similar scale is enj^raved on another part of the rare map. 1';;; ]} i i .1 Ml 308 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. the former. The whole shore is covered with fine sand about fifteen feet deep, rising in the form of Httle 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 ch£ . ming to be described. I do not believe that these are like the Hcrcynian forest, or the rough solitudes of Scythia, or the northern regions full of vines and trees, but growing with palms,' 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,' I do not think that it is devoid of the same kind of drugs and aromatic iiquors, nor of other resources as gold and the like, which the color of the earth indi- cated.3 The country abounds with many animals as deer, stags, hares, and the like. It is plentifully sup- plied 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°. ' Palmetto trees. * 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 con- tinent of America is forty-five miles. • "Ni pensiamo participando dello oriente per la circumferenza sieno senza qualche drogfitria o liquore aromatico, tt altre divitie oro ed altro del quale colore la turra tutta tende." DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ii 309 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 north- west 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 whok 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." ' After inspecting the sandy, harborless shore of On- ' Historical collections of South Carolina. By B. R. Carroll, vol. i. p. xxi.. I;* u m 310 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA, I; ^ I ! ' I I i I '■I I' i slow Bay, Verrazzano sailed eastwardly ir. 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.' 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 tiie very high surf thrown upon the shore by the sea, as it was an open roadstead.' 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 o 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, intimat'ng 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 ' In Ramusio's text the word is orienfe, 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. * The harbor of Beaufort was too far inland to be seen by Verrazzano. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 3" 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 some- where on the coast near the thirty-sixth parallel, per- haps in the vicinity of Roanoke Island, North Caro- lina, 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 U: ■( I ' w\ ill i m EMi't 312 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. twenty years of age, who had concealed themselves for the same reason. The old woman carried two in- *'ants 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 i^'ho had tied 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 ofifered 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 (piii 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 fre- quently 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 313 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 dif- ferent kinds of trees but not such fragrant ones, since the refjion is farther north and colder." While exploring tl e peninsula of Virginia, the warm-hearted and sympathetic Florentine was pleas- ingly 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 nviturally, 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, i^perche piu volte ilfrutio di qiicllo bcendo, veg- gendo suave e dolce non dal nostra 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.* ' In Ilakluyt's translation of the text of Ramusio's condensed copy of Ver- razzano's letter is the following respecting the vines of Virginia : " We s:;w in this country many vines growing naturally, which, growing up, took holde of the trees as they doe in Lombardic, which if by husbandmen they were dressed in good order, without all doubt they would yceld excellent wines ; for hauing oftentimes scene the fruit thereof dryed ; which was sweete and pleasant, and not differing from ours, we tliinke that they doe esteeme the same, because in euery place where they growe, they lake away the under branches growing round about, that the fruit thereof may ripen the better." — Voyages. H.ikluyt. vol. ii. p. 297. jM f^ ; i ii 314 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. " 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.' 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 Iizdicum), by which, if there were a navigable entrance to it, he might sail to Cathay." 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 'Chesapeake Bay " extends igo miles from its mouth, into the States of Virginia and Maryland ; it is from ; 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 b' 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, i8. ' Vide MaioUo map of 1527 in the cover-pocket. i i :rig I i 1 ! y^ r I ^ 11 o E \\ . Ic a it • 11 a e » ' t c t \ » F c r T £ " s ■\ t t c •-. i / ^ ^ DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 315 on which he represented this sea separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow neck of land, similar in out- line 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 excel- lent mappe which he gave to King Henrie the eight, and is yet in the custodie of Master Locke, doth so lay it out."' '* 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." ' The Sea of Verrazzano {Mare cie Verrazana), represented on the fan-shaped map made by Michael Locke, in i582," was, as Hakluyt affirms, " according to Verazanus plat," which " laieth out the sea makinge a little netke of land in 40 degrees of latitude much like the streyte necke or istmus of Dariena." ^ 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 Dela- ware Bay, there is no testimony to contradict the as'ser- tion that he explored it. Describing his voyage along the coasts of the present states of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey, Verrazzano writes : " After hav- ing remained here three days, riding at anchor ' " Epistle dedicatorie " to Hakluyt's Divers voyages, 1582. ' " Da qucsto mare orimtale si vede il viare occidenlale i sono 6 miglia di terra infra /' uno a /' altro." ' 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. M'-' h \' I :;: W': i ■- I Vtl 3i6 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ji n 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 inda)^•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 1 627 as C. de S. Maria (Cape of St. Mary).' 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 sigrht 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. Eacfer 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, eminen- ces, between which ran a very great river {una gran- dissima riviera) to the ocean, which was deep within to the mouth, and from the sea to the enlargement of * Sandy Hook light-house is in 40° 27' 39" north latitude. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 317 the bay the rise of the tide was eight feet, and through it any heavy ship car* pass.' " 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 with- in 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 [tm bellissimo lago), about three leagues in compass, upon which v/e saw boats, thirty in number, moving from one part to another with innumerable people, who passed from shore to shore to see us.' 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." ' 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 road- stead 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. " 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 Piid 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. ill Hlf !' . i •' t|] ' J, ■lis i,? |i ■1 fi 1 1 1 11 318 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. m\ ; As a geographical designation for the very great river (ima 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 syn- onym, •' Groote," was substituted for the Italian desig- nation. 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 Verraz- zano'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 pro- posals. 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." ^ Hudson, besides knowing the situation of the noble * Belgische ofte Nederlandsche oorlogen ende geschiedenissen beginnende van 't jaer 1595 tot i6ii. — Door Emanuel van Meteren. 161 1. Boek xxx. fol. 327. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 319 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." ' 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 ' ds groote rieviere ' (the Great river)." " As early as the year 1624, the name " Hudson's River" was inscribed on maps to designate the stream discovered by Verraz- zano.^ :'.', -.::.,■/''■ Sailing from the mouth of the Grande River, be- tween the Cape of Saint Mary (C. de S. Maria) and the point of land denominated Anguileme ♦ on Maiollo's map of 1 527, 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 ' Purchas his Pilgrimes. vol. iii. p. 595. *"Z> M [I] )th>-- 1 m\ m 320 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA :;('! called Montauk Point. While seeking, durincf 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.' 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 dc Maiollo on his map of the world of i527, was soon corrupted by map-makers, and on a number of charts of the six- teenth century it^ 'i inscribed " Brisa " and " Briso." The names " Clai .e " 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 : " Weigh- ing 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 peo- pled, 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 Islai> 1, the Italian explorer beheld the coast of the main-land, and an- * The island of Rhodes, lying off the southwest coast of Asia Minor, be- tween 35° 50' and 36° 30' north latitude, has an area of about 452 squaie miles. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 321 chored the Dauphine in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Speaking of the discovery of the commodious bay, designated on MaioUo'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 excel- lent 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 lookf^.d at the structure of the ship, our persons, and dress. Afterward they all cried out loudly together, signifyinoj that they were delighted. By imitating their signs we inspired them with a measure of confi- dence, 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 fol- lowing 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 {soiio 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 HI ; l|: 1! i ij u \. >1 ■ , s« DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. [t and black, on the adornment of which they bestow great care. Their eyes are black and keen ; their demeanor is gentle and att active, very much like that of the ancients. I sa;"' 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 mar- ried people, both men and women, wore many orna- ments 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 323 day wr" entercfd into port with our ship, havinjj 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 pro- vide 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 an- swer, 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, talk- ing with us by signs, and expressing his fanciful no- tions 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 necessi- ■ I '1: )« 1 I (I I 324 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. i 8'i h I) ties, as sailors are wont to do, he came with seven or eiglv of his attendants to inquire about our movements, often asking us if we intended to remain there ionof, and offering us every thing at his command. Some- times 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 ff"ee 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, cy- presses, 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. X^eir 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 simple logs, hollowed out with admirable skill, and sufificient- ly commodious to seat ten or twelve persons. Their oars are short, widi 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 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 325 protect them from wind and rain. There is no doubt that they would build stately edifices if they had work- men 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 circum- stances 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 pre- pared. " The father and the v/hole 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 ef- fects the sprouting of the grain. They have many other ancient customs. They live by hunting and fishing, and they are long lived. If they iail sick * * ^' ' they cure themselves without medicine, with the heat of fire. Death coines to them at last from extreme old a^e. We judged them to be very affec- tionate 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 weep- ing mingled with singing for a long vhile. This is all that we could learn of them. " This region is situated on the parallel of Rome, in 4i| degrees, as I shall narrate hereafter to your serene majesty.' At present I shall describe the situa- tion of this place. At its south end the channel is nar- • Blank space in tlie original copy. •Newport is in 41° 29', and the city of Providence in 41° 49' 22" north latitude. I i t ir: I .'. , . 326 DISCOVERIES OF. AMERICA. m J! ' m ill' Pi row 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 cir- cuit, 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 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 th*^; sea. In the middle of the mouth there is a rock of freestone i^u7io scoglio di viva pietra), formed by nature and suitable for the construc- tion 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 i553,' is so accurate that without any other information it would be ea-.y to cietermine the situation of the place where for fifteen oays, ending the sixth of May [jld sfyk), he and his cew held familiar intercourse vvith the friendly Indians inhabiting the islands and the main-land in the vicinity of the anchorage of the Dauphine. The lati- tude of the bay given by Verrazzano cannot be gainsaid.' ' F/<.'« Gast.n Dili's mp.p. * As described by a late writer : "Narragansett Bay is one of the most beautiful sheets of w:.ler in the United States ; it is unrivalled for its navigable advantages, afording at all times a safe and ready oommunicailon with t!ie ocean; an<" its shores, whioh are indented wiih 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 suferior 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 nujii- bcr, and some of considerable extent, the waters of the bay comprise nn area of about one hundred and thirty square miles." — Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island. 1819. pp. 302, 303, 349, 359. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 327 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, Verraz- zano found the coast to trend toward the north, which he followed until he acrain cast anchor orf 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 [o/iil s(}'/c]t 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 oarbarous that we were unable, by any signs we could make, to hold any communica- |.W i ; i *.' I I, ■ mmm 32S DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Pi m ym ! m , !i 'S fc ! i i I 'I: fi;i i'' i'l:; ifl ^,*!. I tion with them. They clothe themselves with the skins of bears, wolves, ly n: :, 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 low- ered 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-hook= and sharpened steel. No regard was paid to c courtesies. When we had nothing left to exchange with them, the men at our departure made the most brutal signs of disdain and con -cnipt possible. Against their will, we penetrated two or thice 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 reofion we found nothing extraordinary except vast forests, and some metallii^rous hills as we inferred, for we saw that many of the people wore copper ear-rings." Following the trend of the coast of Maine, Verraz- zano found along this part of his course fcr 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 alo^,- th^ co-^st of Maine, Verrazzano reniarks : " Depa.;t';\g irom :his place DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 329 [perhaps in the vicinity of Cape Neddock], we kept along' the coast steering to the northeast, and found the coi.intry 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 mam-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 inter- course with the people, but v/e 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 {ave?ido discoperto leghe 502 cioe leghe yoo piii di miova terra)!' The distance of seven hundred leagues Yerrazzano reckoned in the following way, as explained by him in his geographical exposition of the voyage : " In addi- tion 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 par- allel of north latitude." Measured directly north from the thirty-fourth parallel to the fiftieth, the space in- cludes sixteen degrees, which multiplied by 2>^y\ French leagues, which at that time equaled a degree of latitude, the product of 5oo French leagues is obtained.' Two leagues added to these, for the dis- "See note, page 293. \ , ■, .■ . . •} \ !!' I 330 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. tance sailed directly south of the thirty-fourth parallel, make 5o2 French leagues, or about eleven hundred and four land-miles, the geographical extent of the coast explored by Verrazzano.' The New Land [Nuova Terra), discovered by Verrazzano, was as early as the year 1627 delineated on a map of the v'orld 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.' Concluding his description of the new country, Ver- razzano remarks : " As to the religious faith of all these tribf;.5, no* anderstr.iding 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 wor- shipped neither the heavens, stars, sun, moon, nor the other planets. V^'^e 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 ' The distance given by the Spanish historian, Francisco Lopez de Gomara, in 1552, from the PoinU)f 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 BaccuUaos are set down eight hundred and seventy leagues t Florida, counting as follows : From the Point of Baccal- laos which is in 48° 30 ire seventy leagues of coast to La B'aya del Rio, v.'hich is in more than 45°. Tnenc:e are seventy to another bay called Isleos which is in less than 44". From Baya Isleos to Rio Fonda are seventy leagues, and thenc« to Rio de lit* Gamas, are other seventy, both rivers being ia 43°. From Rio de los Gamas are fifty leagues to Cabo Bajo, and thence to Rio de San An- ton, they reckon more laan a hundred leagues. From Rio de San Anton are eigaiy 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 hundrea leagues, and from it to Rio Jordan seventy, and thcnc- *o Cabo de Santa Elena, which is in 32°, there ar« forty leagues. From Santa Elena to Rio Seco, which is in 31°, are forty leagues." — La ^''''.ia general de las Indias. Gomara. cap. xii. • The name Francesca is used on the Maiollo map of 1527. Hieronymus da Vcrazzano called the region " VitrrazaKa scu Gallia nova" — ^Verrazana or New Gaul. By some French writers it was denominated in the sixteenth cen- tury, " Terrt Francesque." DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 331 prayer in their villages. Our conclusion was that they had no religion, but lived withe .t any. This seems to be the result of ignorance, for they are very easily per- suaded, and imitated us with e: .rnestness and fervor in all that they saw us do as Christians in our acts of de- votion." 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 west- wardly to where we found the first land, 1,200 leagues or 4,800 miles, reckoning according to nautical custom * * * During four miles to a [marine] league.' '"This distance," he remarks, "calculated geometrically upon the ratio that three and one seventh times the diameter of a circle is equal to its circum- ference, gives 92j»V?"3ff degrees. For if we take ri4xx degrees as the chord of an arc of a great circle, vre have by the same ratio 95495! degrees as the chord of an arc on the parallel of 34°, being that on which we first made land, and 30(>jYtV degrees as the circumference of the whole circle, passing through this plans. Allowing then, as actua' observations show, that 62^ terres'rial miles correspond to a celestial degree, we find the whole circumference of 3oo///j degrees, as just given, to be 18,759/^^ miles, which, divided by 360, makes the length of a degree of longitude on the parallel of 34° to be 52^5^*8 miles, and that is the true measure. Therefore, by a right line to tht; 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 92^^^'^!^ degrees, and this many therefore we have sailed to the West, which was not known to the ancients." "4A X 3> - i6o. yx^,% X 7 "^ 2» - gsiKB- 3ooAMr >• «»! - «8,739flAf •«,7S9* ^- 560 - s-b^oVj- 4.S0O ^V 52boVj " ,^ 336 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Il 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 bar- barous 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 [wliich] has recently reached this place, of the arrival of Captain Giovanni da Verrazzano, our Floren- tine, at the port of Dieppe, in Normandy, with his ship, the Dauphlne, 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,' 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 tiie northwest and north, believing that, although Ptolemy, Aristode, and other cosmographers assert that no land is to be found toward such climates, he would never- theless 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 communi- cation. After spending many months in exploring, he asserts that he was compelled to return for want of pro- visions 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. ' The number of tpns is not mentioned. s, -•-^.x DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 337 " At the beginning of the voyage there was an un- favorable 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.' 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 p-reater than Europe, A-frica, and a part of Asia ; therefore a new world {ergo tmindus novus)', and this exclusive of wliat 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 ntore excellent than the com- mon kind, and of his other ships no news has tran- spired for five years. They are supposed to be lost.' " 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 ' According to Carli's statement, Verrazzano at first attempted to sail to the west by going through the North Sea, Here, iis 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, ' 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. 1' 338 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. been in the presence of his most serene majestj'. And at this hour he should be vith 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.' 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 ac- count of his merits, he is regarded as another Amerieo 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 discon- tented. " Nothing else now dccurs to me, as I have ad- vised you by others what is necessary. I commend myself constantly to you, prayin^^- you to impart this to our friends, not forgetting Pier Francisco Daga- ghiano, who, in consequence of being an experienced person, will take miich pleasure in it, and commend me to him. Likewise to Rustichi, who will not be dis- ' King Francis wrote to his parliament, en the second of July, ij24, say- ing: " I am going to Lyons to prevfnt the enemy from entering the kingdom, and I can assure you that Charles de IJourhon is not yet in France." — Historic de Franjois Premier. Gaillard. Paris, 1769. torn. iii. p. 172. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 339 pleased, if he delight, as usual, in learning matters of cosmography. God guard you from all ev'l. " Your son, •' Fernando Carli, . "In Lyons."* The notable success attending Verrazzano's voyage in 1 524, it seems, induced the celebrated navigator to undertake another in i526. 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 Bur- gundy, admiral of France and of Brittany," was to fur- nish him with two galleons then at Havre de Grace, and a ship belonging to Jean Ango of Dieppe,^ of sev- enty 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.* Before setting sail on this voyage, 'Verraz- zano, on Friday, the eleventh of May, i526, gave to his brother, Hieronymus, and Zanobus de Rousselay,* ' Lettera di Feniando Ca'li a suo padre. Archivo storico Italian? ossia raccolta di opere e documenli fiuora inediti o divenuti nrissimi risgiiardanti la storia d' Italia, Appendice. tomo ix. Firenze. Gio. Pieiro Vicusseiix, direttore-editore al suo gabinetto scientifioo letterario. 1853. * Pliilippe Chabot, Sieur de Brion, admiral of France, was given command of the French marine, March 23, 1526. ' , * Ango & Son was a noted firm of ship-builders 'n Dieppe. * Twenty thousand pounds, Tours currency, were to be advanced to meet the exp'inses of the undertaking. The -dmiral of France contributed four thousand pounds, Guillaume Preudhomn ^ , general of Normandy, two thou- sand ; Pierre Despinolles, one thousand ; Jean Ango, t-,vo thousand ; Jacques Boursier, two thoi -.and ; and Vcrrazzano (Jehan de Varesam, as his nnme is written in the agreement), chief pilot, two thousand pounds. Verrazzano, iiav- ing 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 eiemies of France. Foutette col- lection. XXX. 770. fol. 60. Bibliothique nationale. Paris. * Zanobus de Rousselay, a merchant of Rouen, in a legal instrument, dated r 340 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. i ! Vi I 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 Godeft'roy of Rouen, which authorized him to transact certain business for the navigator.' 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 i562, says that Verrazzano, after his return to France, in 1524, " neuer ceassed to make suite vutil he was sent thither againe, where at last he died." " The voyage of i526 xvas the third made by Ver- razzano to America : the first in i5o8, with Thomas Aubert ; the second, in 1624, in the Dauphine. This 'fact is corroborated by the well-informed English col- lector, Hakluyt, who says that he " had been thrise on that coast." ^ 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 inhabiiiants, 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 wh::h he had of maritime affairs and of navigation, September 30, 1526, gave bonds that " Messire Jehan de Verrassane " was en- tilled " to defend a certain clametir 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. * Foutette collection. xxx. 770. fol. 60. Biblioth^que nationale. Paris. * Hakluyt's Divers voyages, 1582. * '' Epistle dedicalorie " to Divers voyages. i DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 341 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 v;ould not have been contented with only the ex- ploration 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 tem- perate 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 brincjinsf 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, dis- covering 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 obMvion, we have desired to give to the light the little information that has come into our hands." ' Hakluyt, speaking of the map which Ver»"azzano had made and presented to King Henry VIII. of England, which as late as the year i584 was still pre- served by an English cartographer, says : " There is a ' Raccolta di navigatiorii e viaggi. Ramusio. Discorso sopra la nuova Francia. vol. iii. fol. 438. 1 \ \1\ :. 'jf 342 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. mighty large olde mappe in parchemente, made as yt shoulde seeme, by Verarsanus, traced all alongc the coaste, from Florida to Cape Briton, with many Italian names, which laieth cute 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 ofVerarsanus 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 sing^ular importance, yf it shoulde be true, as it is not unlikely." " Although the " mighty large olde mappe in parche- mente " of Verrazzano's drafting is lost, there are sev- eral maps extant which seemingly represent the terri- tory 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 i527. It is five feet seven inches long and one foot eleven inches wide, and bears this inscription : ** Vesconte de Maiollo conposuy hanc cartan M yanua anno dny, 1527, die xx. decenbris." (Visconte de Maiollo composed this chart, in Genoa, in the year of the Lord, i527, 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.' Hieronymus, the brother of the navigator, it seems, • Hakluyt's Particular discourse, 1584, * In the cover-pocket is a co])y of the part of the M^'oUo map representing the continent in the western hemisphere. .:• ^ DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 343 also made a map of the New Land, which, it is conjec- tured, he drafted in i529.' The original is a plani- sphere delineated on parchment, fifty-one by one hun- dred and two inches. This map is in the Borgian museum in Rome. The inscription : " Hieroiiimtis de Verrazafius faciebaf (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 Eno-lish collector, it seems, would have mentioned the fact. The representation of the so-called Western Sea, or " Mare Indicum " (the Chesapeake Bay), with the ex- planatory inscription on Hieronymus da Verazzano's map, indicates that he had srme knowledge of the cartographic features of his brother's chart, and of the geographical memoranda recorded in the Tttle book which the latter speaks of in his letter to Kine Francis I., and which he thought would be serviceable to other navigators.' ' The inscription on the chart contains this information : " Verrazana seu Gallia ttovu quale discopri 5 anni fa Giovanni di Verrazzano fiorentino per ordine et comandamelo 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). ' The value of the map made by Hieronymus da Verrazzano is fully dis- cussed in Notes on Giovanni da Verrazano, and on a planisphere of 1529 illus- trating 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, Fide 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. d t ■t u CHAPTER XI. (Addenda.) 1 526- 1 6 14. 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 expedi- tion of 1626, Ribaut says, gave "small courage to sende thither agayne, and was the cause that this laud- able 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 scene in the art and knowledge of Nauiga- tion, and especially of the North parts, commonly called the new land, led by some hope to find passage that waies to the south seas." ' The two ships commanded by Cartier sailed from the port of St. Malo, on the twentieth of April, 1534. * 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 dlscoverye of Terra Florida (Englished, the Florishing Land) contcyning 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. 344 I. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 345 Reaching Newfoundlancl on the tenth of May, Cartier began to seanh 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 yjar, 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."' Returning from this voyage, Cartier reached St. Malo on the sixth of July, 1536.' The first explorers of the new continent called its inhabitants by different names. Columbus and his Spanish companions, imagining the field of their dis- coveries 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 1 509, were described by a contemporaneous Latin writer as wood or wild men {homines sylvesires)? The French, it appears, called the natives of New France manants or rnanans, and paysc.'zj, peasants, the former name being used in the middle ages as a designation for un- intelligent 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 ' Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. 232. * Brief recit, and succincte narration de la nauigation faicte es ysles de Canada, Hochelaga, and Saguenay & autres, auec particulieres meurs, lan- gaige & cerimonies des habitans d' icelles : fort delectable i veoir. Auec priui- lege. On les uend i Paris au second pillier en la grand salle du Palais, & en la rue neufue Nostre dame k V enseigne de le.scu de Frace, par Ponce Roffet diet Fanchuer & Anthoine le Clerc fr^res. 1545. • " Septem holes syluestres ex ea isula {que terra noua dicit) Rothomagu ad- ducHsunt," — Eusebii Caesariensis episcopi chronicon. Paris. 1512. p. 172. ! :n i :' ( il 346 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. properly speaking were the natives of a place, and the habitans were those who came to it to reside.' The French appellation manants or vianans 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, paisansy peasants.' The Italians also called the natives of North America peasants, paesani? The Mananta living on the island on which the city of New York is built, were very f/iendly tc the French who came to the Crande 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 1626, remarks : •' On the east side, upon the main-lend, dwell the Manhattans, a bad race of savages, who have always been very obstinate and ' " Manant, s. m. Paysan habilant en tin village ott en une metairie h la campagne. Indigena, incola fuslicus. * * * On appelle proprenient vtanans, ceux qui sont originaires dit lieu ; £r» habilans, ceux qui y sontvenus demeurer." — Dictionnaire Trevoux. Nancy, 1740. " Manant {mn-nan), s. m. 1° Terme d' ancienne pratique. Habitant d" tin hourg ott d' tin village, * * * 2° Absolument, dans le langage ordinaire, tnais arc haique, un paysan. * * * 'i," Aujourd' hui, par extension, homme grassier, mal ilev^y — Dictionnaire de la langue Fran9aise, Par E. Littre, de 1' acade- mic Francaise. Paris, 1874. ' " 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 Greenhalj^h 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, • '* 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 alia marina alcuni nauiglia." " Here by good luclt he heard from the natives that some boats had arrived ofiF the coast." — Dello Scoprimento dell' Isole Frislanda, Eslanda, Engronelanda, Estotilanda, & Icaris-, fatto per due fratelli Zeni. — Vide Voyages of the Venetian brothers. Major, p. 24. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 347 unfriencHy toward our countrymen."' He also says that Hudson, in 1609, called the Great River " Man- hattes from the nanv^. of the people who dwelt at ita mouth." " The wrong spelling of the French term manant began with a misconception of its proper pronuncia- tion. The Dutch thinking that the / was sounded, pronounced thi: name man-ant, whence '* man hai," •' 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 Manhatcs are situated at the mouth " of th'e Mauritius River.' De Laet writes the name Man- hattes, Manatthans, Manatthanes, and Manhattans.* De Vries, the Dutch navigator, who could speak French, spells the appellation Menates and Minates.' In the ueposition of Catelyn Trico, a French woman, who emigraiied from Holland, in 1624, to New Nether- land, the term is written Mannantans.* Besides tb- e ' Nieuwe 'Wereldt. Door Johannes de Laet, Tot Leyden. 1625. bock. iii. cap. ix. " Novus Orbis, seu descriptionis Indiae Occidentalis, autore Joanne de Laet. Anluerpiensi, 1633. lib. iii. cap. vii. When the island in 1625 was purchased from the Manants by the aj^'cnts of the Dutch West India Company, the transaction is rpoken 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 Man- hattes from the Wildcn (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. ' IllstorischeVerhaeldoor Nicolaes i Wassenaer. Amsterdam, 1621-1632. dec! vi. fol. 144. • Nieuwe Wereldt. boeck. iii. cap. ix. Novus Orbis. lib. iii, cap. ix. • Korte historial ende journals. Door David Pietersz. de Vries. Hoom, 1655. PP-'M6, 151- • New York Colonial MSB. 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." V '■I ' ■:1 II it 1 ■- > 1 if * Hi t tm P-'H I' 348 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. peculiar changes the name has many other anomalous forms.' When the first French explorers sailed along that massive bulwark of trap-rock, nov/ called The Pali- sades, 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' Anormee Berge, (The Grand Scarp.) The adjective anormee and the noun^der^-e definitely describe the steep and extensive wall of stone which borders the noble river, new bearing the name of a later explorer. Anorme, an obsolete form of the ad- jective enorme, signifies that which i.: grand, vast, majestic' The noun berge, besides meaning an elevated bon' of a river, a scarp of a fortification, a steep side of a moat or of a road, is a designation for certain rocks ele'.ated perpendicularly above the Opposite this word, Cbamplain writes on the marginal space, " L'isk de Man- thane" adding a /and an /; tc the second syllable of the words. — Les voyages de la Nouvelle Jf' ranee occidentalp, dicte Canada, faits par le Sr. de Champlain, Sanctongeois. Paris, 1632. chap. ii. p. 58. ' In dififerent historical works and documents the foll'jwing modes of spelling the word appear : Manatans, Manates, Manate, Manath, Minathans, Manj.the, Manathej, Manatte, Manetto, Menates, Minates, Manhat.es, Man- hatas, Manna-ha'ta, Manhattes, ivianahattes, Manahattr, Mahates, Manahatas, Manahatans, Manahata, Manhatens, Manhathans, Manhatoes, Man'.iatoos, Mr.nhatos, Mr.nhattans, Manhatten, Manhattoes, Manhattons, Ma.ihattos, Manhuttons, Manahactas, Manchatas, Manades, Manadoes, Manados, Menade, Monhatous, Munhaddon, and Manhattan. — ViJe General index to documents relating to the colonial history of the State of New York. • " AnormS, ^e, &' anomial, adj. Ces mots ne sonlplus en usa^e. Borel dit qu'ils signifient qui est contre la rigle commune, (Sr- qu' inomte vieni de ces mots. * * * Anorme, adj. m &* f, Frodigieux, excessif. Immanis, immen- sus." — Dictionnaire Trevoux. ' ' Pir extension de la signification morale h la signification physique, ex- traordinaire par sa gros^eur ou par sa grandeur. Un dnorme bloc de granit. * * * Rem. Quand Anorme signifie excessif en grandtuf ou en grosseur, il st met avant ou aprh sen substanttf," — Dictionnaire de 1" iangue Franjaise. Littre. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 349 water.* In an old French lexicon It is said: "They likewise call in marine phraseology V'.rges or barges those great rocks, rugged and perpendicularly elevated, that is to say, uprightly and plumb, as the barges or barges of Olone : such rocks as are Scylla and Charyb- dis, toward Messina." " A more appropriate name could not have been se- lected to designate geographically this part of New France than that of The Land of the Grand Scarp {La Terre d! Anormee Berge), or, in more familiar phrase- ology. The Land of the Palisades. The words, scarp and palisade, are terms of fortification. The first des- ignates the steep slope below the parapet of a fortifica- tion, 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 inorme for anorme made the te -m more unfamiliar. It would seem also that when the name should have been written La Terre d'Enorme Berge, that it was inscribed, La Terre de Normeberge, * '' Bers^e {bhr-f). s. f. i°. Bnrdrdcvi, escarps, d'une rivih-e, a'un fosi-', d' un chemin. 2°. Terine de marine. Ceiiains rochers iUvh h pic sur r tau * * * " Eiyin. Espapt. et ital. barga. Diez re vcut pas qu' il scit d' srigine germaniqtie, et il en rapproche ie kymri bargodi, surplomi'er . bargod, bord. Cependant le bas-lalin berga, garde, defense (qui vicnt de V allcmand bergen, difendre, proUger), n aui-ait-il pas pit donner, par tine sirie de sens, defense, forlijicalion, meule , et finalement bord escarps ?" — Dictionnaire de la langue Fran9aise. Littre. " " On appelle aussi en timte de Mir, berges, ou barges, les grands rochers, Apres 6f rtfi'evez h pic ; c'est-h-dire, droitement Ss' h plomb, comme les birges oh barges tV Olotte : telles sont Sylla b' Carybde vers Messine." — Dictionnaire Trevoux, '% \ ^^o DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ■) r The change of the qualifying term to a word of two syllables, as norom, norum, nurum, and norim, ren- dered the name more ambiguous. In like manner the noun berge was corrupted, being spelled bergue, bega, berg, a.nd bagra. In this way the territorial designation became La Terre de Njrumbega, La Terre de Norcm- begue, T^a Terre de Noromberge, and La Terre de Norem- bergue, and its meaning and derivation incomprehensi- ble to the descendants of its originators. Gerard Mercator, on a terrestrial globe, [globus terrae), made in 1 541, represents the Grande River as if its channel were filled with anormee bergcs, which he designates with the misspelled name " Anorumbega." ' On a map of the world, made about the year 1548, for King Henry il. of France, the appellation " Anoro- bagra " designates the river of the Grand Scarp. ' In the sixteenth century proper names less peculiar in construction than the appellation L' Anormee 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 differ- ently in rhe de^^ds of the family. Lower mentions that the name of Mainwaring, has the remarkable num- ber of one hundred and thirty-one variations in differ- ' Gerard Mercator was born at Rupelmonde, in Ease Flanders, on the fifth of 'March, \t,l2. Mercator is the Latinized form of liis 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 carlo- graphic 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 " Illuslriss Duo Nicolao P'-rrenoto, Domino (t Cranu- ella " ; 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 ot the world. He died in December, 1504. * The original map is now in the possession of the count of Crawford and Balcarres, Scotland. w DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 351 ent 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 micrht be used to support an assertion that the natives of the country of New France originated the name " Norum- bega." It is in Ramusio's Italian translation of the French s-ea-captain's description of Francesca, in which it is said: " This region is called by the peasants Nor- umbega." Ken6 Goulaine de Laudonniere, a well- informed French naval officer, who had command of a French fort in Florida, in i564, contradicts the asser- tion 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." Andre Thevet, the French geographer, who sailed along its coast in i556, declares that his countrymen called the Grande River " Norombegue," 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 4 a 352 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. ^:i regent, and this region is called !)y many the land of the French (la Fraticese), and likewise by the Portu- guese, and its termination toward Florida is in 78° west longitude and 30° north latitude.' •' 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) Nofumbcga, and between it and Brazil there is a large gulf, extending west as far as the ninety-second merid- lan. ' ' In 1540 Jacques Cartier again sailed to New France and ascended the St. Lawrence River. Jean FranQois de la Roque, Sieur de Roberval, was placed in command of this expedition, and, by letters-patent, dated January i5, 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.' In the manuscript of the cosmography of Raulin Secalart, written about the year 1 5 45, preserved in the * The jdictof Francis I., appointing his mothor, Louise of Savoy, regent, is dated October, 17, 1524, but before this lime she had virtually assumed in part the direction of the government. ' The large gulf is that which is now called thi Gulf of Mexico. "A discourse of a great French sea-captain of tlie town of Dieppe concerning the voyages made to the New World of the West Indies called New France, from the fortieth to the forly-seventh parallel under the arctic pole, and con- cerning the country of Brazil, Guinea, Isle of St. Lawrence and that of Suma- tra as far as the French caravels and ships have sailed." — Discorso d' vn gran capitano di mare Francese del Lvogno di Dieppji. Raccolta di navigationi et viag;ji. Ramusio. vol. iii. fol. 353. • Les voyages auaniureaux dv capitaine Ian Alfonce, Sain':tongeois. Auec Priuilege du Roy. A Poitiers, au Pelican par Ian de Mamef. Jean Alphonse died about the year 1548. DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 353 National library, in Paris, is a short description of the coast and people of La Terre d' Anorm^e Berge.* 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 thf! 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 shel- tered 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, ed(Jies, and currents, is somewhat difficult and danger- ous. The identity of the river called by the French writer " Norombegue," now the Hudson, is satisfactor- ily 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 Pough- keepsie, which is about ninety-three miles north of Sand Hook.' The assertion could not be verified " The two first leaves of the manuscript are lost and with them the tide of the work. Inasmuch as the subject of the work is defined in wliat 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 Ilonne- fleur, 1545," the liile of the work maybe reconstructed and written : Cosmogra- phie 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. * History of Long Island by Benjamin F. Thompson. 1843. p. 26. * The tide flows up the Hudson as far as the city of Troy, about one hundred and seventy-four miles from the ocean. : J - >i '1 J - ' i V 1 354 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. fy HI 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 " Norombegue," 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." '• I say that the Cape of St. John, called Cape Bre- ton, 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 Norombegue. The said cape is in forty-one degrees of the height of the arctic pole. The said coast [z. e. of Connecticut] is all sandy, * * * « flat, ' An un Jeclphered word in the manuscript. " Je dilz que ie cap de Saint Jchan, diet Cap h Breton, et le cap de la Fran- ciscane, sont nord-est et sud-otiest et prcnncnt tin quart de est h ouest, et y a en la route cent quarante lieues et icy faict ung cap appeli le cap de Norombigue. Le diet cap est far 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 el rochiers. " Les gens de cesle coste et de Cap i Breton sont maulvaises gens, puissans, grandzfleschicrs, et sont gens qui vivent de poissons et de chair, et ont auLun motz et par lent quasi le mesme langaige de ceux de Canada etsont grand peuple. Et ceuxde Cap h Breton vont donner la guerre h ceulx de la Tene vcufvc quand ils peschent et pour nulle chose ne saulvcroyeut la vie h ung homnie quand ilz le prennent, si n'est jcune enfant ou jeune fille et sont si crucls que si prennent ung homme portant barbe, ilz luy couppcnt les mcmbres et les portent h Icurs femnies et enjjfans, affin d' estre vengez en ccla. Et y a entre eux for.e pelleter- ies de touslis bcstcs. " Audcla du cap de Koromhigue descend la rivilre dudict Norontbigue, environ vingt et cinq lieues du cap. La dicte riviire est large de plus de quarante lieues ae latitude en son ettrde et cesle largeur au dedans hicn trente ou quarante lieues et ett toute pleine d' isles qui entrcnt bien dix ou douze lieues en la mer et est fort dangereuse de rochers et bapturcs. La dicte riviire est par quarante et deux degrez de la haulteur du polle arlique. " Audedans de la dicte riviire quinze lieues y a une ville qui s' appelle No- rombigue ety a en elle de bonnes gens ety a force pelleteries de ioutes beslcs, Les gens de la inlle sont vestuz de pelleteries, portans manteoulx de martres. fe me ebubte qu* la dicte riviire va entreren la riviire de Ho^helaga, car elle estsalUe m ~**«aP7 nr.'^X^ ^j I if ^ rl H u a a u o J3 O £; o a o U ^ en u .2 w H o V I f i-^^ 1 i s ( L i DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 3S$ without any mountain. And along this coast there are many isles of sand and the coast very dangerous on account of banks and rocks. " Ti:e 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 anything 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 NorombSgue, the river of the said Noromb^gue 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 s washings. 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 Norombegue, and there is in it a good plus de quarante liettcs en dedans selon la diet des gens de la ville. Les gens par lent beaucoup de motz qui approuchent du latin et adorentle soleil et sont belles gens et grandz hommes. La terre de Norombigue est haulte et bonne. " Enavant et audefadela diete riviire cent cinquante lieucs y a une isle qui s' appelle la Vetmonde qui est paries trente et trots degrez de la hatilteur du polle artique, Et du couste devers louest de la dicte ville, y a forces rochiersqtii s' avan- cent dans la mer hien quinze lieues. et du coste vers le nort y a une anse en laquelle y a une petite isle laquelle est fort suhjecte a tempester et n' y pent habiter " — Cosmographie de Jehan Allefonsce et Raulin Secarlart. SS0 fol. 184-189. I 4 3S6 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. i I' 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. Law- rence], for it is salt for more than forty leagues up, according to the statement of the people of the town. The people use many w-ords which resemble the Latin, and they worship the sun, and are a handsome people, and large framed. The land of Noromb^gue 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.' 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." While Jean Alphonse was exploring the coast of La Terre d' Anorm^e Berge (which at this time geo- graphically 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 cartog- rapher, about the year i553.' " I have been at a bay as far as forty-twc degrees, between Norumbega ' 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 Geosge 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. * The map is contained in the third volume of Ramusio's Raccolta di navi- galioni e viaggi. I I II Hiiii c ■c > 'S 2 CI ■ = rt O : c X .«! n o « t7 '"■ 3 "rt B s ^ O u S C 3 "o • ;» ;= "Hi «^ x: ii < ^ ^ s O ^ c ^ rt " a. c rt " rt a V 8 < y F 1 ti b i ill if'! g o tl ai tl c< * T m lei VC) II grs we bei ma ins Ki: DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 357 anci Florida, and I have not searched the end thereof, and I know not whether it [the river] pass through. * * * J doubt not but [the river] Norumbega en- tereth into the river of Canada, and unto the sea of Saguenay." ' This opinion, that the Hudson was an outlet of the St. Lawrence, was held by the Dutch as late as the year 1626, for De Laet observes : " Judging from ap- pearances this river extends to the great river of St. Lawrence, or Canada, since ou*" skippers assure us that the natives come to the fort [on the site of Al- bany] from that river. " " Ren6 Goulaine de Laudonni^re, a French officer, commanding Fort Caroline, on the river May, in 1564, gives, ill his notable history of Florida, a short account of Verrazanno's discoveries in 1524.' 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 {nOmi ce pais terre Francesque), * * * The east part of it is named by the moderns Terre de Norumberge, which ends at the Gulf of Ca- mas, which separates it from the island of Canada."* Not long after the discovery of Francesca by Ver- razzano, French barques were making voyages to its ' Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. iii, pp. 239, 240. * Nieuwe Wereldt. boek iii. cap. ix. * In the dedication of Laudonni^re's notable history to Sir Walter Ra- leigh, dated March i, 1586, the delayed publication of the work is thus ad- verted to : " It having been suppressed and forgotten for nearly twenty years, I h&ve, with the diligence of Mr. Hakluyt, a gentleman well-versed in geo- graphical 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 i. before the world." M. Basanier, the publisher, says he followed the text of the manuscript literatim, without any emendation or changes. * " 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 358 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. \i 1(1 i ilil i coast, some to obtain cod-fish and others furs. As re- lated by Jean Alphonse, the people of the village of L' Anorm^e 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 in- tersection 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 which he landed and explored the whole cocst extending from the tropic of Cancer, namely, froni the twenty-eighth to the fiflielh degree, and still more toward the north, " He planted at this place the ensigns and aims 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 modems the land of Norumberge, which ends at the Gult of Gamas, which separates it from the island of Canada. " " Ce//e qui est vers le pole Arctique ou Septenfrion, est nommee la noutielle France, pout autant qte /' en mil cinq ces vingt quatre, Jean Verrazano Flor- entin fui cnuoyi par le Roy Francois premier, ^ par Madame la Regente sa mere aux terres neuues, ausquelles ilprit terre b' descouurit ' • Hie la coste qui est depuis le Tropique de Cancer, h scauoirdepuis le vingt-kuictieimc degri iusques au cinquantiesme : fi^ encore plus deuers le North. Ilplanta en ce pais les en- seignes, &" armoiries du Roy de Frdce : de sorte que les Espagnols mesmes qui y furent depuis ant nomS ce pais terre Francesque. * * * La partie Orientate d' icelle est nommee par les modemes terre de Norumberge, laquelle abortit au Golphe de Gamas, qui la separe d' a.tec r Isle de Canada." — L' historic nocable de la Florida sit^'ee es Indes Occidentales. Par le Capitaine Laudonniire. Mise en lumicre par M. Basanier. Paris, 15S6. pp. i, 2. ! > I i m M sU^fe r:^ if. I! M taJ-'li I' J ft ]''. t #mW 1 Hi; i'/^)i •*t; h .i^--' .»<^. ^ sr ^ixrt' V) M ('•\1 iij#\\ ^ 'If: [ ^ » '. lit -J'*-^ — ^=sr \^«^^^^ S?n^1 I Copy of a pari of a map of the cily of New York made by James Lyne in 1728. DISCOVERIES OF* AMERICA. 359 site of the fortified trading house v/hich they erected and called Le Fort d' Anorm^e Berge (The Fort of the Grand Scarp).' The ly-ench geographer, Andr^ Thevet, who sailed along the coast of La Terre d' Anormee Berge, in 1 556, besides corroborating some of the precedinpr statements respecting the discovery of New France, and mentioning the fact that the Grande River was called by his countrymen the river of " Norombegue," and by the Indians " Aggoncy," says'*: " 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 Norombesfue, and the Indians Ao-- goncy, and which is marked on some marine charts Grande river.^ Several other beautiful rivers enter * ' The Dutch, when they took possession of Mananfs Island, in the seveu- tcenth ceniury, called the lake het Versch water (the Fresh water), Ti.e island on which the French built the fort was, in 1728, selected as the sitt. of a pow- der-house, which was erected there to isolate it from common intruders. John Fitch, in the summei 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. II, 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. ' Andre Thevet was born at Angoul^me, France, about the second year of the sixtiienlh century. He visited Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Palestine, and on his return to France, in 1554, published an account of his ♦ravels. In July, 1555, he accomy^anied 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, t556. 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 : " Cos- mographie du Levant," Lyons, 1554 ; " Les singulairites de la France antarc- tique, autrement nommee Amerique, et de plusieurs autres terres et iles decou- vertes de notre temps," Paris, 1556 ; " Discours de la bataille de Dreux," Paris, 1563 ; " Cosmographie universelle, illustree de diverses figures des choses les plus remarquables vues pari' auteur," Paris, 1571; and " Les vrais portraits et vies des hommes illustres, grec^, latins, ct paiens, recueille.s de leurs tableaux, livres, medailles, antiques et modemes," Paris, 1584. • Aggoncy or Aggonzi signified the head. Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. i 360 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 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 Norom- begiie." ' The site of the fort of L'Anorm^e Berge is indicated by Gerard Mercator on his o^lebrated 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.' It seems that the French ^ur merchants undertook to build, about the year 1 540, a chdteati or castle, at tlie ' *^Ayant laissi !a Florida h main gaulche, atiec grand nombre d' Isles, Islettes, Goulphes, &" ."roman/oires, se presfnte I'vne des belles riuieres qui soil en toute la terre, ndmee de nous Norombegue, &= des Barbares Aggoncy, dr» marquee en quclques Caries marines riuiere grande. II entre plusieurs autres belles riuieres da.is cesle cy, &" sur laquelle iades les Fran^'ois feirent bastir vn petit fort, quelque dix ou douze lieues it icelle, lequel estoit enuiron^ d' eau douke, qui se va desgorger das icelle : &f fut nominee ceste place le fort de Norombegue." — La cosmographie vniverselle. D' Andre Thevet. A Paris, 1575. torn. ii. chap, iii. fol. iCKi"', b. ' Tlie copy of Mercator's map preserved in the National library, in Paris, which is entitled " Nova et aucta otbis ierrae descriptio at usum navigantium emendeti accommodata" measures seventy-eight and a half inches by fifty inches. On this map is represented the earth in piano, 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 len^rth which they have on the globe, relatively to the equator : — " Quibts consideratis, gradus lalitudinum versus utrumque polum paulatim auximus pro incremento parallelorum supra ralionem quam habint ad acquinoctialem." Abraham Ortelius, the emi-ent cartographer, speaks of this map of Mercator's as "his never-enough-praised universal chart, — Sua nunquam satis laudata universalis tabula." I ^ ' ■ Sa€ 'I A part Sdguenai '' Jkj^^^ nonam Jndiam nomine j terra ^uam conquifiuit\ A part of Gerard Mercator's map of the world, made in Duisburg in 1569; copied from " Les orientales, publics en fac-simile," par iNj copied from " Les monuments de la geographie ou recueil d'anciennes cartes europeennes et en fac-simile," par M. Jomard, Paris. mm H w nl' 11: I' DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 361 height of the navigation of the Grande River. As it appears, they selected a site for the building on the lonof, 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 casde 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 evidendy refers to the abortive undertaking, when describing the situation of the Indian village at the mouth of the Grande R'ver, 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 there- after, but it Is now known as Van Rensselaer's Island. The fact that die French had ascended the Grande River to the height of its navigation to trade with the Indians long before Henry Hudson explored it, is cor- roborated 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 Terra d' Anorm^e Berge, is the figurative char^ presented to their high mightinesses, the Lords States General of the United Netherlands, on the eleventh 01 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.' 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 inti- ' A copy of this chart in the general library of the Statue of New York, at Albany, is entitled: " The Original Carte Figurative, of which the above is an accurate facsimile, was found on the 26th of June, 1841, in the Locket-kas, of the States General, in the Royal archives at the Hague." if 3^2 DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. mates were written by one of the Dutch companions of Henry Hudson, who accompanied the KngUsh navigfator, on the voyage of 1609.' One of these ex- planatory 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 pLiii 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 shcno, the French come with sloops as high up as their country to trade with them." ' 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 con- spicuous 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 memo- randa they also inscribed on the map of New Nether- land. 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. * " This map," says John Romeyn Brodhead, the historian, " is un- doubtedly one of the mobt 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 con- tains, 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, * " Ma so vele men heeft connen verstaen uyt i seggen ende beduyen van de Maquaas so comen de Francoysen met sloupen tot bovem aen haer land met haerluy handelen." DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 3^3 The interior building was thirty-six feet long and twenty-six wide.' Although the Dutch explorers never left any defi- nite information that they were personally the build- ers 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 his- torians to infer that they had constructed it, even be- fore they had been privileged by the government of the Netherlands, to occupy the country. As late as the year 1680, the Dutch residents of Albpny were unenlightened respecting the nationality of the builders of the fort, some supposing tliat 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 Cactle 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 in- land to build f ^rts when there are no monuments of them to be seen on the sea-coasts, where, hovv^ever, they have been according to the tradition of the Indians." • ' "J^ort van Nassoureen is binnen de wallen 58 voeten wydt in 7 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. " 7 htijs is 36 voeten lanch en a6 wytin t fort." The house in the fort is 36 feet long and 26 wide. ' 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 MSB. in the Dutch for the L^ng Island Historical Society by Henry C. Murphy. Memoirs of Long Island Hist. Soc. 1867. vol. i. p. 318. INDEX. i«' AV.aco, Great an<'. Little, 107, 184. Aljaioa, town, 224. Aborinines, I, l3, 19. {Sa Indians.) Abraham, 5. Abreu, Capistrano dc, 213, 220. Abyla, mountain, 4. Abyssinia, 58. Ada, 228. Adam, loinb of, 57. Adam of Bremen, 40, 41. Adaminai, island, 154. Adams, Clement, 203. ^/I'lihiopia, 60. 212. Africa. 4. 5. 59. ^°> 61, 63, 64, 69, 70, 73. 77. 85. 219. Afranius, L., 60. Agave, 249, 25a. Agesingue, 85. A^'ijoncy, 351. 359. S'io. 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^, 3^2. 363- Albuquerque, Affonso d', 285. Alderley, Lord Stanley of, 295. Alexander VL, Pope, 142, 145. Alexandria. 59, 194. Alfonce, Jan, (See Alphonse.) Alfr.igranus, 75, 76. Alifonsce, Jehan, {^See Alphonse.) Aloe, 124, 136. Alonso X., Or. Alphonse, Jean, 352, 353-356. 358. Altars, 235. Alvarador, Pedro de, 236. Amalfi, 63. Ama^is, 2. Amatl, 264. 268. Amber, 264, 268. America, name, 218, 219. Amerigc, name, 2i8, 219. Amoreiii, Carlo, 'JgS. Ampheres. 8. AmpoUettas, 60. Anaximander, 71. Ancon bajo, 279. Andaman, 57. Amlrada, Francisco d', 300, 301. Andros, island, 107. Angelo, Michael, 265, Angels, 5. Anghiera, 181. Ango, Jean, 298, 339. Ango & Son, 339. Angouleme, 319. Animals, domesticated, 109, I16, 123, 147, 231. 268. 283. Animals, wild, 8, 166, 202, 215, 268, 308, 324- Anicatiye, 281. Aniues, les, 346. Anormee Berge, L', 348, 349. 35°, 351 ; le fort d 359, 3t'0- Ancxa, 281. Antediluvians, I, 6. Antilla, island, 79, 84. Antipaler, Civlius, 60. Antipodes, 88. 89. Antiquaries, Royal Soc. of Northern, 23, 33. 34. Apianus, Petrus, 219. Appalachee Bay, 279. Appalachicola Bay, 270. Aqueducts, i, 10, 12, 252, 270. Arabian Gulf, 60. Arabian Sea, 59. Arambe, 281, 284. Arctic Ocean, 217. Aristotle, 71, 332, 336-. Arna-Magncean cutlection, 34. Arnold, Governor Benedict, 43. Arona, i8r. Arrana, Diego, 133, I49« Arroba, 123. Arrows. (See Indians.) Arsenals, 264. 365 \ 366 INDEX. M Asher, G. M., 300. Asia, 4, 57. 142, 153, 192, 215, 219; wife of Prometheus, 219. Asius, 219. Astrolabe, 66-6S, 79, 125, 128 Allienxus, 198. Athens, 17. Atlantic empire, 5, 8, 17 ; island, 4-ri, 80; ocean, early navij^aiioii of. 4< 59 ! name, 7 ; impassable, 17, i3, 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. Azaes, 8. Azores, 67, 74, 78, 79, 140, 145, 157, 158, 213. Bacallaos or baccallaos, land of, 197, 2CX), 202, 330. Bachian, island, 294. Bacon, Roger, 62. Badajos, congress of, 296. Badakhshan, 57. Bahamas, the, 107. Bahia de todos os Santos, 214. Bskelos, name, 19S, 203. Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, 225-228. Banda, 292. Bardsen, Ivar, treatise of, 23, Barges or berges, 248, 349. Barrett, William, 188. Barros, Joam de, 68. Bartolome, Francisco, 240. Basanier, M., 357, 358. Bastidas, Rodngro de, 174, 225. Baths, 12, 266. Baya Isleos, 330. Beamish, North Ludlow, 25. Bear, the Cireat and Little, 213. Bears, 199, 202. Beaufort, N. C, 310. Behaim, Martin, 67, 80, 290, Behring's Strait, 303, 30S. Behring, Vitus, 308. Beimeni, island of, 221, 224, 278. Belem, 177. Belle Isle, Strait of, 297, 345. Bells, 176. Beneventanus, Marcus, 215. Benewilz, Peter, 219. Berg, Joshua van, 74. Bergenroth, G. A,,, 187. Bermudas, 356. Bermudez, Juan, 356. Bernaldez, Andres, I20. Bernardino, Cardinal, 154. Berruguette, Aionso, 265. Bescneghe, 212. Betnlem, 177. Bethune, Vice-admiral, 64, Bible, L,a, 61. Biddle, Richard, 195. Bimini, fountain of, 122, 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. IJoemia, Martin of, 290. Bohemia, Martin of, 67. Bohio or Bosio, 114, 130, 133. lioiuca, 22 1. Borrecjuen, 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, 266, 300, 352", 359 ; island of, 195 ; port of, 175, 179. Brazil-wood, 216, 229, 286. Breidafjttrd, 25. Bretons, 297. Brevoort, James Carson, 343. Bridges, 164, 25S, 270. Brisa or Briso, island, 320. Bristol, 73, 188, 189, 192, 194, 195, 196. 197, 199, Britons, 297. Brittany, 301, 304. Brodhcad, John Romeyn, 362. Brown, Rawdon, 190. Brunelleschi, Alderotto, 338. Buil, P'riar Bernardo, 152, 196. Burma, 57. Bygd, 24. Cabo Bajo, 330. Cabo Casiiias, 175. Calio de Arenas, 330. Cabo de Hoa Lspiran5a, 69. Cabo de Campana, 126, Cabo de Cinquin, 127. Cabo de Corrientes, 224. Cabode Cuba, 125. Cabo de las Conchas, 171. Cabo de iaa Iliguaras, 278. INDEX. 367 Cabo del Elefante, X27. Cabo del Esirella, 127. Cabo del Isles, 115. Cauo del Monte, 127. Cabo del Pico, 126. Cabode Palmas, 1 18, Cabode ban Nicolas, 152. Cabo de Santa Elena, 275, 280, 284, 330- Cabo Deseado, 292, 293, Cabo Fuerte, 152. Cabo [lermoso, 114. Cabo Lindo, 127. Cabo Santa Cruz, 154. Cabo Santa Maria de la Consolacion, 174- Cabolo, Giovanni, his proposals to Henry Vll. of Englatid ; sails from Bristol, i38 ; his voyage, 188, 189 Prim.* Tierra Vista, 190 ; island of Sant Joan, 190; maps, 185, 191. 192 ; Soncino's account of his dis- coveries, 192-194; his globe, 193; Cabot's second voyage, 194. 195 '. described, 195, 196 : field of his dis- coveries. J85, 201, 210, 30ti. Caboto, Ludovi':us (Lewis), l38. Caboto, Sanclus, 188. Caboto, Sebastiano, his voyages, 196- 199 ; extent of his explorations, 200, 202 ; his maps and discoveries, 20.3, 204 ; congress of Badajos, 296. Cabo Tormenioso, 60, 205. Cabot {Ste Cabolo.) Cabrai, I'edro Alvarez, 206, 207. Cacamatzin, prince of, 256. 260, Cacao, 267 ; liquor, 263 ; nuts, 176, 269. Cadamosto, Luigi da, 66, 300. Cadiz, 7, 60. {See Codes.) Cxsar, calendar of Julius, 107. Caioiigas, 346. Calachionies, 239. Calicut, 206, 336. Calpe, mountain, 4. Cam, Diogo, 67. Cambahic, 57. Camos, Martin, 238. Campeachy, 230, 238 Canada, 345. 354. 355 is' ml of, 357. 358. Canals, 9, 10. 13, 14. 252. Canary i.-.lands, 72, 74, 79. 95. 9''. 104, 134. ^58. 160. Cai^averal, 279. Cannibals. {Sft Indians.) Canoes. {See Jndians.) Cano, Sebastian del, 295. Canso, Snait of, 201. Cantino, Alberto, 211. Capac, 289. river of, 3!17 ; Cap de la Franciscane, 354. Cape Bojador, 64, 66, X45. Cape lirelon, 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 Nao, 63, 64. C. de S. Maria, 316, 319. Cape Fear, 306, Cape Henry, 314. Cape Lookout, 310. Cape Nedduck, 329, Cape North, 201. Cape of England, 185, 201. Cape of Florida, 224. Cape of Good Hope, 69, 85, 205, 323- Cape of Nonmibegue, 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, 2S9. Cape of the Virgins, 289, 292. Cape Prince of Wales, 308. Cape Rus, 297. Cape Ray, 201. Cape St. Augustine, 212, 229, 2b6. 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, 17S. Caribbees, T48. Caribbean Islands, 174. Caribi, 160. Caris, island of, 135. Caiixagusignanin, 281. Carli Fernando, 302, 335. Ciuli Francisco, 338. Carolinas, archipelago, 85. Carpets, 260. : • ': Carreira, Visconde da, 64. Carroll. B. R., 309. Carthagena, Juan de, 289. Carthaginian merchants, 79 earlier, Jacques, 42, 344, 345. 352" Cartier, John, 195. Carvajal, Alonzo Sanchez de, 152. Casada, Caspar de, 289. 292. Casas, Bartolome d>. las, 107, iiS, 126. Caspian Sea, 75. 334- ! 368 INDEX. ,1 n Cassavr., 242. Cassia, 213, 2l6. Caslellanos de Oro, 250. Castilblanco, 250. Castilla del Oro, 183. Castle Island, 361, 362, 363. Cathay, 51, 58, 72. 74, 82, 84, I18, 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. Cazabi, 164. Cazadilla, Diego Ortiz de, 86. Celer, Q. Metellus, Go. Cemies, 154, 155. Cempoalla, 249. Ceuta, 63. Ceylon, 57. Chabot Philippe, 339. Chalchihuis stones, 251, 259, 265. Champlain, iiamuel de, 68, 347, 348. Champoion, 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, Chesajieake 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, Fedro de, 66. Cipango, 84, 204, III, 114, 115, 116, 193- Circumnaviqalion of the earth, 295. Claude, wife of Fr.mcis I, 320. Claude or Claudia, island, 320. Cleasl;y, Rieliard, 33. Cleito, 7, II. Clement IV., Pope, 52. Climates, 166, 299, 336. Cloves. 294, 345. Cocayo, 28 1. Cocca, Anionia, 289. Cochin China, 57. Codfi.->li, 198, 202, 203. Coelho Goncalo, 215. Coeiho Nicolas, 206. Cogswell, Joseph G., 307. Cohoes, y Y., 351. Cojohuacan, 258, 274, prince of, 260. Colba, 114. Colibre, 135. Coligni, Admiral Gaspard de, 340. Coloma, Juan de, 93. Colombo, Cristoforo. (See Christo- pher Columbus.) Colombo, Dominico, 70. Colombo, Fernando. {See Ferdinand Columbus.) Colon, Cristobal. (5^^ Christopher Columbus. ) Colon, Diego. {See Diego Columbus.) Colon, Luis, 71 Columbus, *3ar'. c le, 86, 87, 172. Columbus ij - ^, her, birthplace, 70 ; parents, 70 ; sea-faring, 72, 73 ! geographical knowledge, 74- 80 ; correspondence with Toscan- elli, 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 considera- tion postponed by Ferdinand and Isabella, 90 ; intends to go to France, 90 ; befriended by Friar Juan Perez, 90, 91 ; another con- ference, 91 ; unfavorable decision, 91 ; Luis de Santangel's help, 92 ; Columbus commissioned, 93-95 ; intends to make a sea-chart, 96 ; sails from Palos, 96: l;^eps his reckoning short, 98' . -i.-i-ves the variations of the m. . '■' "iedle, 98, 99 ; conduct of ■' . , 100- 102; discovers isiur. ''■ ana- hana, 107 ; his landing, ■ , the people, 108-110 ; calls ti.c .dand San Salvador, iii ; discovers the islands of .Snnta Maria de la Con- cepcion, Fernandina, Isabela, and Cuba, 113-116; believes he has reached Asia, 120 ; sends embassa- dors to the Grand Khai ?f Cathay, 120; productions of Cuba, 121; natives, 122, 123; returns from the north, 124 ; his high latitudes, 126 ; explores the coast of Espaflola 127, I?!* ; its natives ])roductions, and soil, 128-130; LniiUls Villa de la Navidad, 132, 133 ; sails for Spain, 135 ; the voyage, 137 ; anchors in the Tagiis, 140 ; visits the king o* Portugal, 141 ; arrives at Palos, 141; celebration uf his dis- coveries, 142-144. INDEX. 369 Columbus's second voyage, 146 ; dis- covers the islands of Dominica, Marigalaiue, Saiua Maria de Guad- alupe, 146, 147 ; his sea-chart, 143 ; arrives at Villa de la Navidad, 143 ; builds the town of Isabeia 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. CoIumUus's third voyage, 168 ; dis- covers the island of Trinidad, 169; sees the continent, 169 ; 1 ierra de Gracia, 170 ; enters the Gulf of Paria, 171 ; map of the country, 171 ; reaches Espaflola, 172 ; sent in chains to Srvain, 172. Columlius's fo'irlh voyage, 174; dis- ■zz-^rs the 'sland of Mantinino, 175; reaches L^spaflola, 175 ; sails to the Guanaia islands, 175 ; captures a canoe latlen with Indian commodi- tie-i, 175 ; explores the coast of Veragua, 177-187, 226, 227 ; sails to Jamaica, i3o; returns to Spain, 182 ; dies at Valladolid, 1S2 ; his map, 182, 183, 300. Coliini)us, Diego, 87, 90, 152, 168. Columbus, P'erdinanil, 70, 71, 168. Comargo, 277, 278. Coml)ahee River, 284. Comcgre, 225. Compass. {See J\/ariner's compass^ Conchillos, Lopez de, 276. Connecticut, 253, 354 ; river, 354, Contarina, Gasparo, 199. Copper, 8, 10, iir, 176, 178, 199, 23^'. 237, 269. 322, 328. Coqiiihacoa, Gulf of, 164. Cordoba, Francisco Hernando de, 229. 233, 238, 278. Corn, 283. Coronel, I'edro Fernandez, 152. Correa, Pedro, 77. Cortereal, (Ja^par, 207-21 1. Cortereal, fo.lo Vnz, 207 Cortereal Miguel, 207, 20S, 21 1. Cortes, Hernando. Diego Velasquez appoints him captain-general, 237 ; s.uls to the island of Cnzumel, 238 ; receives embassailor-; from Monte- zuma, 239 ; the presents, 243-2 }5 ; ex|)l()res the coast of Mexico, 247 ; builds Villa Rica de Vera Ciuz, 249 ; begins his march toward the ciiy of .VIexico, 249; engagements with the Tlascallans, 250; enters Tlascalla, 351 ; marches to Cho- lula, 253 ; escorted into the city of Mexico by Montezuma, 259-261 ; visits the market-place and the tem- ple of Huilzilopochili, 267-272 ; beseiges the city, 273 ; sends pre- sents to the emperor, 274. Corvea, Gaspar, 206. Corvo, island, 100, 158. Cosa, Juan de la, 173, 183, 184, :85, 201. Cosco, Leander de, 142. Cotasllan, 239, 266. Cotta, Joannes, 215. Cotton, 109, no, III, 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. Croesus, 2. Crooked Island, 107. CrcEses, 230. Cruz, Juan de la, 265. Cuba, 114, 115, 116, ri8, 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. Daiha, 282. ^ , ;. . Damascus, 59. Dankers, Jasper, 363. Darien, isthmus, 174, 177, 225, 2:6, 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., 3J3. Digree, measures of, 76, 83, 98. Delaware Bay, 315. Demons, 217, 288. Demorgorjijon, 198. Denis, Jean, 298. Denmark, 334. Desmr.rquets, Jean Anfoine, 299. Despinolles, Pierre, 339. Dipprepes, 8. f Dias, Hartholomeu, 69, 205. Diaz, Bernal, 21, 229; Father Juan, 240. Diepa or Dieppe, 297, 298, 307, 334, 351. 352- 3/0 INDEX. •r Dighton rock, 42. Disraeli, 350. Dods, Marcus, 89. Dogs, 123, 268. Dominica, island of, 146. Dofia Marina, 240, 242, 259, 260, 261, 267. Drake, Sir Francis, 292. Drogio, i land of, 47, 40. 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; circum- navigation of, 295. East Cape, 308. East Indies, 145. East River, 317. Eden, Richard, igg. Egypt, priests of, 2, 3, 2i ; invaded, 5, 8 ; gods rule in, 6, 15 ; stars seen i in, 72, j Egyptians, chroniclers, 2, 4, 15 ; chronology of, 17 ; shins of, 18 ; hermetic books of, 20. Eider-ducks, 35. Kkallumiut, 30. Elasippus, 3. El Crespello, 265. Elephants, 8, 9. El Gran Cairo, 229. El Marien, 249. Elohim, 6. Emeralds, 244. Emm£...ael, king of Portugal, 207, 2ri. England, 73, 74, 186, 188. Eric, the Red, 23, 24 ; the wanderer, 25. Escovedo, Rodrigo de, 108, 133, 149. Espaftola, 104, 12S, 130, 133, 135, 148, 154, 159, 172, 175, 179, 182, 184. Espiritu Santo, Rio del, 278 ; Baya del, 279. Estoiilana, 46, 49, 50. Estrithson, Sveyn, king of Denmark, 40. Ethiopia, 60, 213. Eudaemon, 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, 14?, 143. 144. 159. 160, 168, 172, 1S7, 195, 216. Fernandina, 113. Fish, ig8, 202, 2og, 241. Fitch, John, 359. Flateyensis, codex, 25. Flato, 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, 35=. 357, 358. Flowers, g, 1:5, 116, 251, 266, 30g, 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, isg. Fowls, 268, 283. Fox, G. v., 98, 107, 108. Francis I., king of Piance, 300, 301, 319. 320, 338, 344. 351. 352, 357. 358. Franccsca, 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. I'uenlerabia, 135, 183, 227. Fuerteventura, island of, 97, Fundv, Ray of, 201. Furdustrandir, 35, 41. Gadeira, 7, Gadeirica, 7. Galleys, 21. Galicia, 135, 14T. Gallia Nova, 343. Galvano, Antonio, 64, 144, aoo. Gnma, Vasco da, 205, 206. Gamart of Rouen, 298. Gamlason, Thorhall, 34. Gamas, Gulf of, 357, 358. INDEX. 371 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, 20i. 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. Goes, Oamiao de, 208. Golfo de las Flechas, 134, . 35. Golfo de las Perlas, 171. Golfo Duke, 214 Gold, III, 115, 116, 117, 132, 13'j, 149, 151, 167, 178, 179, 216, 226, 229, 234, 236, 243, 251, 265, 269, 274. ' Gomara, Francisco Lopez de, 199, 200. G jmera, island of, 97, 99. Gomez, Estevan, 291, 296. Gonjalves, Andre, 213. Graah, Captain W. A. 30, 31. Gracia, Tierra ue, 170. Greenland, from Iceland, 22 ; discov- ered, 24 ; eastern distr'ot in, 25 ; sea of, 26, 216, 217; from New- foundland, 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 Calhay, 52, 54, 55, 56, 58, 82. 94, 115, 117, :i8, 120, 124, 153. 189. Grand Scarp, the, 348. Grand Turk Island, 78. Grapes, 42, 151, 513. Gratiosa, island, 107. Great Exuma Island, 107. Greco, wind, i6t. Greece, invasion of, 5, Greelts, early civilization of the, 4. Greene, G. W., 302. Greenhalgh. VVentwort'i, 346. Gregory XIII., calendar of Pope, 107. Grijaiva, 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. Gunnbjorn, the Norwegian, 23 ; sker- ries, 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, Jonn, son of 25. Half Moon, 362. Hamacas, 147, 156. Hammocks, 147, 56, 163, 286. Hangchau, 83. i I anno, 60. Harlem River, 353. Harrisse, Henry, 160, 184. Hatchets, 176. Hauslab, M. le general de, 220. Havannah, the, 249, Hawks, 22, Hayti, 128, 167. llekja, 35. Hell-Gate, 353. Helluland, 28, 34, 41, 4?. Henderson, Ebenezer, 23. Henry, prince of Portugal, f 3, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 79. Henry II. of France, 350. Henry VIL, king of England, 86, 186, 187, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197, 199, 2(X), 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. Ilerjulfsnes, 24, 25, Herodotus, 2, 59. Heroes, 6. Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de, 215. Hetland, 22. Hieroglyphics, l, 177, 249. \ I 372 INDEX. a h im Hitha, 283. Hochelaga, 345 ; river of, 354, 356. Hojeda, Aloiizo de, 150, 173, 183. Holy Sepulchre, 133. lloiulunis. l!ay of, 175, 314. Honfleur, 298. Hop, 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, Fr'jdrich Heinrich Alex- ander von, 44, 56, 57, 183, Hvarf, 24. Hvidserk, 24, 25. Hylacomylus, 21S. Iberian peninsula, 84. Ibernia, 192, 194. Icaria, 49. Iceland, 22, 23, 24, 25, 45, I93, I99, (SiY Island.) Ignami, 164. Incense, 235. India, 57, 61, 69, 70, 74, 75, 77, 181, 206. Indian Ocean, 314. Indians {See also Afattattts, Paesani, Paysans, Wild Men, [Vilden), an- cestors, 252, 253 ; axes, 236, 237, 324 ; ball-playeis, 284 ; bows and arrows, 134, 136, 162, 202, 2tO, 230, 252, 265, 2S7, 2S8, 299, 312, 324. 355 ; burial, 156, 163 ; ca- ciques, 129, 240, 253, 259, 267 ; cannibals, 135, 148, 164, 216 ; ca- noes, no, 119, 135, 164, 165, 175, 253, 299, 312, 313, 324 ; carpenters, 266 ; carpets, 260; cities, 251, 254, 256, 258, 270; clothing, 123, 170, 176, 178, 2or, 202, 2og, 216, 230, 234, 235, 243, 280. 284, 286, 287, 283, 298, 306, 312, 317, 321, 322, 328, 356; clubs, 162, 202; color, 123, 129, 130, 161, 169, 209, 281, 282, 234, 287, 299. 307, 311, 312, 32r ; concubines, 262, 266 ; courts, 268 ; cuirasses, 230, 252, 263 ; darts, 202; dwellings, I16, 117, 130, 163, 164, 170. 209, 225, 286, 288, 314, 324, 325 ; edifices, 230, 256, 257, 258, 260, 261, 272; enchanters, 178, 217 ; eyes, tio, 307, 322 ; fabrics, 170, 176, 178, 234, 241, 243, 244, 250, 254. 256, 265, 266, 267 ; faces, no, 287, 307, 311, 321 ; far ■, 245 ; farmer-generals, 239 ; feather-work, 216, 230, 241, 245, 259; tishing-hooks, 116, 17S ; fish- ing-ncts, 116, 178, 189; flags, 230 food, 129, 162, 164, 176, 201, 232 234, 241, 262. 364, 268, 288, 299, 312, 325, 328; friendliness, 108, 29S, 306, 310, 311, 316, 317, 321, 322, 352, 355 ; furniture, 244, 260, 2f)8 ; giants, 252, 253, 282, 287 ; goldsmiths, 265; hair, 109, no, 136, 161, 170, 2S1, 282, 283, 286, 287, 288, 299, 307, 321, 322 ; ham- mocks, 147, 156, 163, 2fc6 ; helmets, 243, 265; hieroglyphics, i, 177, 249; idols. 118, 154, 155, 229, 230, 232. 234, 235, 247, 270, 271. 272 ; implements, 176, 189, 236, 237, 324; javelins, 109, no, 134; kid- naped, 279, 280, 281; kings, 216, 323 ; knives, 268 ; lances, 16:, :.02, 230, 23T, 252, 264 ; language, 120, 162, 201, 210, 299, 355, 356 ; lapi- daries, 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 ; mu>ical instruments, 230, 272 ; name, 345 ; oars, no, 324; occupation, 12, 13, 14, 15, 178, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268; ornaments, n, 119, n'j, 170, 225,229, 234, ?3J, 241, '43. 244. 248, 250, 267, 2"4, 287, 321, 322, 328; palaces, 22 j, 256, 2t6; paper- makers, 252, 2(4; painters, 242, 265 ; painted fa::es, 109, 130, 210, 230, 286, 287, 288. 299, 323 ; paint- ings, 230, 2£2 ; phkboioniy prac- tised, 164, 288 ; pikes, 252, 264 ; pipes, 264 ; plantations. 230, 257 ; police-system, 267 ; priests, 235, 269, 283 ; public work>. g, 10, 252, 256, 257, 258, 270; religion, no, ng. 123, 154, 155, 156, 216, 229, 286, 288, 299, 230, 33t, 356 ; sac- rificcs, 16. 235, 239, 247, 254. 2/u- 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, no, 136, 167, 210, 225, 267, 269 ; slings, 202, 230, 252 ; snares, 189, 324 ; songs, 284, 325; spinners, 109, no; stature, log, no. 129, i6i, 209, 307. 3". 321, 356; stone-cutters, 266; superstitions, 156; swords, 176, 230, 231. 252, 2A4 ; tanners. 268; temples, 11, 12, 229, 230, 234, I i| INDEX. 373 235, 254, 260, 270, 271 ; theatres, 266; thread, 267, 284, 311; to- bacco, 121, 264, 268 ; traditions, 252, 284, 363 ; traffic, 13, 109, no, in, 129, 174, 298, 328 ; utensils, 162, 262 ; villages. 13, 112, 117, 122, 130 ; wares, 263, 267, 268,269 ; warlike, 355 ; warriors, I2, 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 Kortuwa, 144. Insubria, 283, Inzignanin, 284. Ilhas Dezertas, 304. Ireland, 192, 194, 196 ; island of, 356. {See Ibemia.) 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, 5%. Iti, island of, 167. luca, 164. lucatan, 215. {See Yucatan.) Iztapalapan, 256, 270. Jackals, 268. acobus, 61. Jacquet, 56. Jamaica, 133, 152, 154, 180, 182. Japan, 57, 84, in. 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 ; Thoriinn, 34, 36. 37. 38, 39. 40. Kelly, Patrick, 237. Kennebec River, 354. Kettell, Samuel, in, 126. Khotan, 57. Kingsborough, collection of Lord, 2X. Kialarnes, 35. Klaprolh, 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 Ribida, 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, 6s. Latitude, 66-68 Laudonni^re, Rene 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, Frangois, 15. Leo X. Pope, 181. Leon, Juan Ponce de, 221, 223-225, 378. INDFX. 374 Lester. C. Edwards. 159- Leucippe, I7- Levante. wind. iM. Lepe. Diego de. 174- Libeccio. wind, ibl. Libya, 4. 5. 59^ ^o ^^^ 2^9- g^ Line of ^l«'=^'"f •?:"'« ^i\f 206. Line of demarkaticn, I45. ^"i Lings, 203. Lions. 20». 5. Liquors. I7t. 176. 178. Lisbon, 83. 84- Littr^. E., 246. Liverpool, 84. Llwvd. Humphry, 43« Se Michael. 79. 3l5. tockhart. John Ingr.m. 233- London 186. 194. J97. V '"S^M^nd N^Y.. 316. 317. 319. 320, V°"S\ilnd\VesV Indies. 107. 356- Sl:lafdSo:nd.3X7.353.355. tSofsavoy. 3»o. 35X. 352. 357 358- Louisiana. 275- Luisa, island of. 32°- Luxan, Juande. I5»- Lynna, Nicholas de 217. Lynx. 322, 324. 32^- Machian, island. 294. Madagascar, 58- Madeira, island. 78, 304^ Madoc, Guyneth, 43. 44. Maestrale, w'"^' \^^- 2^7- ., , Treat and Little, 107- Magua, island Great an Maguey, plant, 252 . roo , Maenussen, Arne, 34- Saine. 327. 328. 329- Mainwaring, 350- .3 MaioUo. y.s-"te de 307. 34 Maize, 176. 176. 230, 234- Major, Richard Henry, 49. Malincha, 261. Malpiero, Gasparo 53- Malvas, port of, 208. Mames, 121, I23- Mamre, 6. MandeviUe, Sir John, 58. 76. rnfnts^V'&n^a^s. 345. 346. 347. Manants Island, 359- Manhattan, 362. KS'.o":'34t wand of, 347-. river Mantiniuo. island, 175- Kues!or Maquaas, 347. 362. K:reJi\¥SyA-nio^^^^ Mar del Sur, 176. 227, "8. Marde Sargasso, 99. ^oo. Mar Dulce. 228. Marede Verrazana. 3t5- g 33. Mare Oceanum, 41. 9^. 102. Margarita. Do.. ledroiSX. Margarita, island, }1\ Marlarita of Austria. 1 59- Marigalante, island. I47j Mariner's compass 61 63^ 9 102,157.158. 161, 293. "y Marlndicum, 3I4. 343- &i. Giorgio Baptis a. 71 Marinusof lyre, 74. 75.70. Sark, a weight, I74. 244- Markland. 28, 34. 40, 41. 42. Marmora, 180. Marnef, Jan de, 352. Mar pacifico, 289. 292. 293- Martens, 306. 350- Martha's Vineyard, 227. Martin, Joseph, 3I4- . Martinez. Ferdinand. 80, 81. Martin V, Pope, 145. IQ7 22Ii Anghiera.) Mastic, 124. J 30. Mataia. 180. Matan, island. 294. ^ j^^s- Maurice, prince of Orange a sau. 363- , Mauritius Rwer. 347- May River. 357. Mecca. 193. Medea. 76- , , c^. Medina, Pedro de 69 Mediterranean Sea, 5. o"- Melchorejo 232 233. J38. Melaccha. island of 214. Mendoza, Luis de. 289. Mercator, Gerard 76. 3dO. 3 Mercatov's pr«]ection. 3^0. MeredilhapRhees, 44- INDEX. 375 Merrimack River, 354. Mcschita, Alvaro dc, 291. Mestor, 8. Meteran, Emanuel van, 318. Mexico, 21, 175, 234, 235, 249, 250, 252, 256-274, Gulf of, 352. MidjOkul, 24. Miles, sea and land, 76, q8. 305, 331. Millet, 283. Miruelo, Diego, 282. Mississippi, state, 275 ; river, 278, 279. Mnesis, 8. Mohawk River, 360. Moluccas, islands, 59, 64, 294, ^96. Mona, island, 154. Moncado, 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, 260-2-/3 Montreal, 345. Moors, 79, 94, 145. Morales, Caspar, 228, Moses, 6. Mount Hope Bay, 30, 34, 37. Muller, 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 ; situa- tion, 3 {5. 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. Nomhre de Dios, 176, 342. Normans, 297. Norombegue, cape of, 354, 355 ; town o^ 355. 356 ; river of, 355, 356, 357, 359. 360. North America, 185. North Carolina, 302, 306, 311. Northmen, galleys of, 21, 24; de- ported, 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 Espafia, 21, 175. Nuova Terra, 306-330. Nuremberg, 67, 68. Olafs, 55. Clone, ^49. Oneyde 146. Ononda(^ , 346. Onoyants, les, 346. Onslow Bay, 309. Orichalcum, 8, 10, 11, igg. Orinoco River, 160, 168, 170, 17J. Orteguilla, 267. Ortel'us, Abraham, 79, 360. Ortubia, Juan Perez de, 224. Ostro, the wind, 161. Otte, 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 Corham, 43. Palos, 87, 95, 96. ; ; ^J Palma, island, 97. i ; 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. INDEX. rascua Florida 223 _ j.^^„ecsco. ^M^ ; Krenzo. 189 ; P'^^-^"' '°^- Pasqui, 281. Patagonians, 2b9. ^^(^^ 226, Pearls. II7. »7°' ^"083 Peasants. 345. 35-«- v Peking. 84- (^ .58. Peltry, 298, 355. 35". Ja Penobscot River, 354- ^ -jg ^e, 7° prrestrello. ^^'f "%f ° fW Rod Perez. Friar Juan, 9°. 9^ - rigo, 133- Perpignan, 135' Petuneurs, les. 34 • Philippe, df.^ ° ,^'^1°^' ^ Philippine Islands. 294^ ^ISfSr^Ali^ ^^- ^^' ''• '"'' rS of Hercules. 4. 7. x5. X7. x8. 21, 59. <^' 2^^- , 1C7. 158. 179- ? nkerlon's coUecUons jx^ ^^^^ Yltz'.'96. xt8. X34. 2I4. =78. pSa?:>-cisco 2.8. Place. Jean de la, 219. Plato. 3. 80- Pleihron. 9- Pliny. 60. 65. Plutarch. 3. Porcorosa, 180. Point Juditli. 326- Pota, island. "4. . ^ 293- Pole, antarctic, 293 , Marco, Polo. Maffeo, 52' 53. 54. 55 3. r3';&o%.^52:53.'54.'55. Ponente, wind, 161. Pontonchan. 239. »4»- Porcelain, 363- Poree. Fremyn, 340. Wu'Reke, 326. 327. Porto Bello. 180. Porto Rico, X28, 221 Porto Santo, island, 77. 7 Porto Seguro. 206. Portugal, 84. X96. Poseidon, 5. 7. XL *s- Potatoes, 283. Poughkeepsie, 353- Powel, David. 4:. 44. Providence, 325. 320- KSyr73; 74. 75. 77. x82. X9X. PuVbVuuy Gonzales d. 187. Puertocarrcro. Alonso. 249- Puerto de la Concepc on X28 Puerto del Prmc.pe, 125. 330. Puerto de Ma'e^. X25 ^^^ ?S5:l:>al^ataUna,t26. Puerto Grande, 152- Puerto Maria, 127. Puerto Santo. i2t). Kff Are^-1. X69 X70. PuntadeArracifes.224 PuntadeCotoche 221^232. runta de la Aguda, 170- PuntadelaGalera.169. runladelaPlaya.x69- Punta Santa, 130. X3x- Quetzalcoatl. temple of 254^^ Quinsay. 75. 83, »4. xi5, ^.intalbor 242 243. 245. ^^^ Quitlalpitoc, 239. *'*^' ^ ^ Quohathe, 284. Ra, the god, ao. Race-conrse, 12. uafn Charles C, 34- Ramusio, Giovanni « Raritan Bay, 3X7- Ravens, 22, 23- Razors, 264. Real, money, 244. 245. Red race, i. Red Sea. 60. ^^ Redwood, .93. 213. '' Refugio, 321- g Regiomontanus. 67. 80. Retrete. port, l»o. Reychenes. 24- R.baut. Jean. 340. 344- Ribero. D.ego, 296. Rio Coavzacoalcos 230. Rio de Banderas, 235- Rio de Belen, 227. Rio de Flores, 279- Rio de Janeiro, 228. Rio de la Cruz, 224. R^de la Plata, 228. 287. INDEX. 377 Rio de las Gamas, 330. Rio de las Palmas, 279. Kio del Espiritu Santo, 378, 279. Rio del Sol, 124. Rio de Luna, 117. Rio de Mares, 117, 118, 124, i8a. Rio de Montaignes, 319. Rio de Hf.ves, 279. Rio de Pescadores, 279. Rio de San Anton, 330. Rio Fondo, 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 Fran9ois 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. Die, 218. St. George's island, 356. St. Germain, port of, 222. St. lago 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 Karlicfne, 34. Sagres, 63, Saguenay, 345 ; sea of, 357. Salamanca, 87. Salmana, island, 108. Salmon, 29, 30. Sanchez. Rafael, 125, 142. Sand-glass, 69. Sand-haf!n, 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 liarrameda, 168, 182. San Miguel, bay of, 227, San Pablo River, 276. San Pedro River, 276. San Salvador, Cuba, 117 ; island, 107, III. Santa Elena, cape of, 279, 289, 28^^ Santa F^, 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. Santangel, 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, 34S, 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, /\fi. Scylla, 349. Sea-weed. 99, 100, 134. Sebastian, harbor of, 99. Secalart, Raulin, 352, 353. Sanchis, 3. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, 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 ; Phoenician, 18 ; Northmen, 24 ; speed of, 68 ; of In- dia, 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, Fern&o de, 301. Sinae, 74. Sines, 227. Sirocco, 161. Skagefjdrd, 25. Skalholt, 25. Skraelings, 38, 39, 40. INDEX. 378 Skraelings* laml, 4'- Skulls, 250. Slaves, Indian, 107. Sluyter I'eier. 363. Smith. Captain John, 3i8- Sneeland, 221. Snefelsnes, 24- , , ^- Snorra..on, Thorbrana 39. Snoro. Tborbrandson, 34- Socoira, 58. Soles, 203. Solinus. C. J"^'"«: "„9- 387. SoUs, Juan biaz dc, 214. «7. Solon, 2, 3. o- , Somerset island. 350- Somers, Sir George, 356- Somer's Island, 350- Soulh America. if«>. ><*• '• conquered, 79- Spices, 59' ^■^' ,, „„! 2Qt, 296. sjice Islands, 59. 64. 294. 295. v Stadium, 6. ^ Stanley Hen.7 J^ J-i^; Sound, 317. Staten Island, 3i&. 3i7 . Stephanius S.gunl 41 Steppes. Mongolian, 57- Stevens, Henry, 184. Stock-fish. t93- Stow, John. ,»97- sS'of"e Eleven Thousand Virgins. 289. Straumey, 35- Straumfjttrd, 30. 4°. Style, old and new. 107- Suache, 28. Suevi, 61. |S»n.'Bis"p B-yni"* «■ 34. Tabasco. 240. 245. 24 • Tadore, island, 294- Sout', sacred books of. 20. Tale, 232. Tanias, I93- . ^ Tanzaca. 281. 284. Tarenate, island, 294. Tassel, Robert, 34°. Tacancal, 281. Tehuacacinco. 250. Tendilla, count of, Wl- Teneriffe. 97- Tepeaquilla. 270- Terceira, 74. 207- „^ ,0- Terra lan(l, 127. TosLaiitlli, I'aolo, 80. Tranioiitana, wind, 161. Trees, 12, 108, 114, 115, 116, 124, 163, 166, 189, 20(;, 212, 223, 266, 308, 309, 324. 326, 327, 352. Triana, Kodrigo de, 107. Trico, Catelyn, 347. Trinidad, island of, 168, i6g, 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, jOio, 300 ; Verar- sanus, 342 ; Verassen, Jean, 298 , Verazano, Joao, 301 ; Verazanus, John, 315; Verrassane, Jehan de, 340 ; Verrazano, Jean, 357, 358. First voyage to America, 298, 299 ; second voyage, 30x3 ; his ship, 301, 304; letter to Francis I., 301-303 ; discovers land, 305, 306 ; map, 314, 315 ; on penin- sula of Virginia, 314 ; Sea of Verrazzano, 315 ; enters New York Day, 316; discovers the Hudson, 317 ; gives a mime to ir.ock Island, 320 ; anchors in NarraKansett Hay, 321-326; sails along ilie coast of Maine, 327- 329 ; extent of land di^tovcred, 329, 35'. 357; geographical ex- planation, 331 ; news of his re- turn, 335 ; unfavorable opinions concerning the voyage, 337 ; his former voyages, 338 ; aj^nement for a third voyage to America, 339 ; his death, 340, 341 ; map and globe, 341. 342. Verrazzano, Ilieionynuis da, 315, 339; map, 315, 330, 343. Verrazzano, Tier da, 300. Verzino, 213, 216. Vespasian, 232, Vespucci Amerigo, his first voyage, i6o ; 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 ; ex- plorations along the coast of South America, 174 ; returns to Spain, 174. Vespucci's third voyage, 212 ; explores the east coast of Brazil, 213 ; re- turns to Lisbon, 214. Vespucci's fourth voyage, 214 ; sails southward along the coast of Brazil, 214 ; Bay of All Saints, 214 ; returns to Portugal, a'. ;ount of his four voy- ages, 217, 2i8 ; his name given to the continent, 2i8, 219 ; false im- putations, 220. Vicente, Martin, 77. . Vieusseux, Geo. Pietro, 339. Vigfusson, Gudbiand, 33. Vikings ,21. Villa, Pedro de, 138. Villa de la Nrvidad, 133, 136, 148, 149, 150. Villalan, Doiior, 91. Villa Rica da 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. Walckenaer, Baron de, 183, 38o INDEX. WaldseemUller, Martin, 2r8. Walker, E., 99. Wassenaer, Nicolacs i, 347. Walling Island, 107. Wells, 266. Western Sea, 3:';, 343. West Indies, 145, 203. Westminster, 201, 203. Wheat, in Vinland, 35, 37 ; in Green- land, 35 ; in Iceland, 35. Wheaton, Henry, 23. Whitehall, 200. Wilden, 347. Wild-men, 345, 3J7. Wine, 171, I?**. Wine-berries, 29, 35, 42. Wine-land, 30. Wine-wood, Mi, 37, 42. Worthington, William, 203, Xamuiiabe, 283. Xamunambe, 281. Xapida, 283. Xapira, 281. Xathi, 283. Xicales, 262. Xiquipiles, 269. Xocntlan, 250. Xoxi, 281. Yabveh, sees the wickedness of man, 19. Yamaye, island of, 133. Yebra River, 177. Yenyohol, 281. Yonge, C. D., 198. Yuanta, 148. Yuca, 232. Yucatan, 148. 175, 214, 215, 229, 230, 232, 233, 239. Yule, Henry, 55, 57. Yurbaco, 183. Zacton, or Zayton, 82, 120. Zamiscaron, 28. Zanzibar, 58. Zapata, 276. Zeno, Antonio, 45, 46, 50 ; Carl'^. 45, 50 ; Nicolo, 44, 45, 46. Zeni brothers' voyage, 44, 49, 50. Zeus, assembles the gods, 19. Zichmni, 45, 49. Zipangi, 84. {See Cipango.) Zodiac, 244. Zubu, island, 294. THE END.