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Lea diagrammea auivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 /^ fltf fknunirti INTO TRB AUTHENTICITY OP DOCUMENTS CONCERNING A DISCOVERT IN NORTH AMERICA CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN MADE BY VERRAZZANO. READ BEFORE THE NEW- YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4th, 1864. By BUCKINGHAM SMITH. NEW- YORK : PRINTED BY JOHN F. TROW. H DCCO LXIV. p^- i ^'jW^ ■y- . ■mmmmmfiSmfmumm^- ■ t}?^mm. I ' 1 ^n intuntryi AUXnENTIOITY OK DOCUMEXTS CONCERNING A DISCOVEKY IN NOnTII AMERICA CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN MADE nV VERRAZZANO. nSAD UBPORE THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL BOCIETY, TITESDAY, OCTOBER 4tii, 18(U. Rv RUCK INGHAM SMITH, /Z^T^ NEW- YORK : PRINTED BY JOHN F. TROW. M nt'fC LXIV. •i I! If- s •■ Kniorcd aoonnllng ti> Act of C'ongrosa, In (lie year 1964, by GKOUOK II. Miv-;.E, in the Clvrka Olllco iX^^ rJ^KHtyr TO II E X R Y C. M U R P II Y "*■':/% aV LONCI-ISLANI), T II I a C H I T I U IT K IS U K H P K (■ T K r I. L V D E U I C A T E II / DY IIIH rKIENI), / HL'CKIXGIFAM SMITH. / f I % AN INQUIRY, ETC <» The earliest discovery of the Frencli in America is attributed to Giovanni Verrazzano. Ho is reported to hav(! made more than one voyage to the northern conti- nent. Ap an officer in the privateer service of Francis First, or corsair, as the Sjianiards aver, under tlie no7n de guerre of Juan Florentin, he gained great celebrity. He was the first who appeared on the seas in the neighbor- hood of the Canaries, since the conquest of those islands, to depredate upon Spanish shipjjing, seizing in 1522 upon seven vessel loads of colonists, with their goods and stores, from Cadiz ; but being forced to release them by some armed bargos sent out from tlie harbor of Luz, which en- countered him at the Cape of Gando, he fled northward.f In the year 1523 he captured two vessels coming from the Azores, on their passage from Mexico to Spain, in charge • Keliitiono di Giovnnni da Verrnrzano Fiorcntiuo, della term i>or lui hcopcrtii iKiiiio di Sim Miicsta, Hcritia in Dicppii, iidi 8. Luglio. M.D.XXIIII. (Navi- ct Viiigjfi da (jiovauiii-Ballistn Kamiitiio. HI. vol. Ibl. Vciictia. To- , M.U.LV mo 111 Tilt Carolina to Newlbtindland, a VI.J The vojiijro ot John de Vcrazznno, along the coa.«t of North America, from l.'>24. Translated from the original Italiiin bv JoKcph O. CojrKwell, Ksq., Member of tho N. Y. Historical Society, &c. (Collections of the Now York Historical Society. Second scries. Vol.1. New York. 1841.) Lcttura di Fernando Carli a sno padre. (Archivo Storico Itnliano ossia rao- colta di opero o dociimunti llnoru inediti o divcnuti rarissimi risgiiarJanti la •toria d'ltalia. Appendicc. Toino IX. Firenzc. (' i^iutro Vieusseiix, dirct- tore-cditoro al suo Uabinotto Scientiflco-Litterario. ? .3.) t VieraNoticiasde la Historia General da las Islasd '^anuria. 1773. Tomo II. * xli. He wrote on the authority of early and origin il papers. ^ l,-*J of Alonzo do Avila, which were in i)art freighted with the second gift of Cortez and Ins followers sent to Cliarles Fifth. It was tho richest of everything to be found in New Spain, writes the conquistador Bernal Diaz del Cas- tillo ; it consisted of tho armor and jewels of Moctozmna, Qua"hteni6c, and of the great lords of tht country. These prizes ennhled tho captor to make presents of interest and extraordinary value to the king and nobility of France, and in the same year to return to sea with a well-appointed licet. The introduction to the knowledge of the public, of a discovery in America made by Vernizziuio, was given in the form of a letter purporting to come from his hand, dated at Diej)pe, the 8tli day of July of the year 1524. It was directed to the king of France, who was at that time with an army on the way to Provence, to the people of which department he had written from Amboise, near Tours, on the 22d day of Jtmo, that he was steadily ad- vancing to their relief. A fe^r months later, Louise, the mother of Francis, was invested by him with the regency on his way to Italy : and Philippe de Chabot in the next year was appointed Grand Admiral of France, a position ho continued to fill thenceforth for nearly a quarter of a century. The publication of Verrazzano's letter was made for the first time in 1556, at Venice, in the third volume of Ramusio, a year before the decease of that well- known collector of historical narrative. Francis I. had then been dead nine years, Chabot, the Minister of Marine, fourteen years, and the ambitious Louise still longer. In the reign of this chivalric prince, a period of more than thirty-two years, in which literature and science riourished, the arts of peace as well as of war were encour- aged, and all that appertained to glory was cherished, ihe founding of colonies was attempted, and one was success- fully established in Canada ; yet no annal, or document of any sort of that time, hm ever been adduced in proof of - f M ■ f; I the discovcrj claimed to have been made by this ancient letter. In the same age, from the year 1523 to ±534, an illnstrious Florentine, Julius of Medicis, held the papal throne ; and though leagued with France, and an enricher of the library of the Vatican,^amonghi8 many letters (those to the king and Charles Fifth, written in the year 1527 still existing also), he left no allusion to that event. In a species of book tradition coming to our times through Tiraboschi and the Biographie Vniverselle, the memory of a paper by Verrazzano has been perpetuated, to bo found in th'T Strozzi library of Florence. An American, who examined it some live and twenty years Q./ since in the Migliabechia collection, to which it had been transferred, states the character of the writing to be of the sixteenth century, that with it is a letter of Fernando Carli, dated at Lyons, directed to his father at Florence, and also in the volume other miscellaneous matter in the same hand.* Hence it appears that this letter to the king of France is not the original manuscript, that it is written in the Italian language, and bears the signature Janus Verrazzancs. In substance it is nearly the same as the transcript, Rigned Giouanni Verrazzano, for such that published long before by Ramusio is supposed to be, who says in reference to it, that he had not been able to procure anything more on the subject. Some of those differences will prove instructive, unless we shall ado])t the authority of Alcedo in his Bihlioteca Americana, who states that the letter was origiually writ- ten in French, which will account for the marked differ- ences of style and language of the two translations into Italian. No such inference, however, is borne out from anything to be found in the letter of Carli. Upon the strong features in the account, as they appear in both ver- sions, and in view of the circumstances of the time at »g' * North Atiiericiiii Kcviuw, for Oclobur, 1S37 ; .l/^V/t — " The Life iiml Voy- es of Vori-uzznno." t Br i i ! 1-> f .! ■ ■ i , Vr y. which it purports to have beeu written, we may judge, in the light of our later experience, of its probable authen- ticity and truth. The letter of Verrazzano begins by his informing the king that he had not written to him respecting the storm encountered on the northern coast, with the four ships sent out by his order to discover new lands, which had com- pelled him to put into Brittany in distress, with only the Normanda and Dalfina, and having refitted these vessels there, he had taken them, well armed, on a cruise along the coast of Spain ; of all which his Majesty must have heard, he continues, as well as of his later plan of proceeding to accomplish the purpose of the voyage with a single vessel- According to the recital, the Dalfina took her depar- ture on the 17th day of January, of the year 1524, from the islet, deserto scopulo propinquo alia isola, southeast of Madeira, with fifty men, having arms and subsistence for eight months. Sailing to the westward, with a light breeze, at the end of twenty-five days, having run eight himdred leagues, she rode out a hurricane, throUj^h the Divine assistance and the good fortune of her name (dauphincss), as violent as good ship ever weathered. Pursuing a course now a little northwardly of west, about the 7th of March Verrazzano made a land, as he declares, never before seen. It appeared to be very low ; and drawing nigh, to within a quarter of a league of the shore, fires were seen to rise there, whence it was known to be inhabited. He followed the coast, stretching to the south, in search of a port where he might survey the country ; but finding no such place that afforded a secure harbor, at the end of fifty leagues the course of the vessel was turned in the opposite direction. Drawing in with the shore, a boat was sent to land, which the natives came out to meet, and then fled away ; but being reassured, they returned, offering food to the strangers and pointing out a safe place for the boat. There is nothing unusual, ,.■■ 9 save as to their color, in the account given of the natives. In this instance the hair is described as black, not very long, and tied back upon the head in the form of a little tail. The coast is described as of fine sand, rising about fifteen feet into hills with a circumference of fifty paces. A little way back were several arms of the sea, where the water rose through islets, washing the banks on both sides. Just over the sandy shore appeared beautiful plains and forests of immense trees, in some places open, in others dense, having a variety of colored foliage. There were palms, laurels, cypresses, and other trees unknown in Eu- rope, which, for the want of opportunity, were not examin- ed. This was in latitude 34° north of the equator, the land first seen twenty-eight miles above Cape Fear. Here were deer, hareu, and other animals, and o great variety of the feathered tribes ; the air was pure and salubrious, free from extremes of temperature. Lakes and por.ds of running water abounded. The sky was clear ; little rain fell ; and if at any time fogs or mists were driven in by the south wind, they were soon dissipated and the earth made bright again. Continuing along the shore to the west, as the vessel advanced the inhabitants kindled many fires. At one place, fresh water having been sent for, a young sailor sv/am from the boat toward the shore with some presents, and half drowned by the surf was rescued by the na- tives. He reported that they were black, with shiny skins, like those which had been seen before. Still following the coast, which stretched to the north, at the end of fifty leagues the voyagers came to a beauti- ful country covered with the largest forests. Going on shore, the natives were found to have fled, even at the dis- tance of two leagues from the sea ; a few only were found concealed, from among whom a little boy was chosen to take to France. In complexion they were fairer than tha 10 ■■■« Nil -y'\ u ■\ i others, and the women, for they saw no men, wore a covering made of a certain plant hanging from the branch- es of trees, which they united with thread of wild hemp. Their food was a kind of pulse that was plentiful and de- lightful in flavor, differing in color and size from that of France. Birds were taken in snares for food, and fish killed with bows of hard wood, having the arrows of reed pointed v.'ith bone. Many boats were seen twenty feet in length, made of a single log, hollowed out by burning, without the use of any instrument. Grapes grew wild, twining about trees, as the vines do in Lonibardy. They were evidently held in estimation, as the thicket was found carefully removed about them, to allow the fruit better to ripen. Roses, lilies and violets were observed, and some flowers that were not known. After having remained three days riding at anchor on the coast, the course was again taken up, running to the northeast along the shore for a hundred leagues, the vessels sailing in the daytime only, and casting anchor at night. In all that country, extending the distance of two hundred leagues, no stone was found of any sort. As the first land recognizable by the description, the entrance to New York harbor, now approaches, it will be a convenient moment to look back over the first half of the narrative, from which the most probable facts have already been recited. The general character of the land and its vegetation, could have been so correctly described only from actual information ; other statements will now be given that have been omitted for their improbability or their error. As to distances, it is proper to remember that little confidence can be j)laced in early accounts ; the log was unknown until about 1577, and after it was dis- covered, was not correctly marked uutil the year 1635. During the interval, vessels depending on it would under- rate their true distance one fifth. In sailing along the shore, after making the land in 34° of latitude, having the 11 port to starboard, as the coast thence trends southwesterly, the vessel could not, in fifty leagues, have gone over a de- gree and a half southward. The Dalfina sailed two thirds of the voyage acros' the ocean from the Desertas, coast of Africa, in latitude 32° 44', due west, until within four degrees of the Bermudas ; and in making the slight deviation afterwards from that line, which brought the landfall in 34°, her course was not so far from those islands, standing between 32° 8' and 32° 34', that she might not have been in sight of them. This may be of doubtful importance, that they were not dis- covered, particularly as the vessel encountered a storm on coming into the trade wind ; still it is to be remarked, that nothing is said vvhich would imply a knowledge of their existence, although they had then been discovered nearly two years, a fact that could hardly escape the at- tention of a pilot having to move in their direction. Of the four courses taken, from the time of arrival, along the land, three of them are wrong. The vessel first sailed south fifty leagues, instead of southwest, and returned ; thence west instead of north-northwest, from Cape Henry, then north fifty leagues instead of northeast, and finally northeast one hundred leagues, sailing, for a better view of the land, as has been said, only by day, and favored by an open sky ; yet in that leisurely exploration, no cajte or inlet was seen, no place named, no berth found, where a vessel could anchor in safety. Equally wide of the truth, in tact, is the description of the coast, as being so bold that within four or five fathoms of the shore there arc twenty-four feet of water at all tides, and the depth con- stantly increasing in a uniform proportion toward the sea. These are not such mistakes as could have been made by a sailor taking no more than an ordinary interest in a new country along which he was passing for the first time ; they are more like such facts as might be invented and thrown in among the observations found in the memoran- 12 in dum book of a landsman. What would have come within his vision is well portrayed : the sand hills, the absence of stone that he could discover, the grand forests having the laurel and the palm, the wild roses and heartsease, the aroma of vegetation, the cane arrows, the beasts, the birds and the means for taking them, the noble grape vines ascending, and the long inoss hanging from the oaks, of which the women made their partial garments, using the thread of the wild aloe — these are naturally told without exaggeration or error, as they would address themselves to the senses. But once he saw some creeks, where the boat upon a time went to land. The complexions of the Indians are none of his coloring. The fault, thirty years after the paper pretends to have been written, we may suppose had come within the knowledge of Ramusio, and does not ap- pear to have escaped his attention ; but otherwise he mrvy have seen no reason to discredit the paper, and believed it a memorial worth preserving. Hence it is, perhaps, that the natives, in the account he published, arc not neri, black, nor differing in little from " Ethiopians," but are herretini, brown, not much differing from " Saracens ; " no more are they, in another region, hianchisimo, very white, but rather bronzino, of a coppery hue. So of the grapes that were often eaten and found to be sweet ; as the voyagers disco tiered the country in March, and were back again to France early in July, before the frui*. could have been more than half grown, they are spoken of as raisins. In the early part of March, the time is also spoken of as summer. Had the Dalfina taken her depar- ture from Europe at the time that voyages to the northern parts of America were commenced in those days, whether for fishing, traffic, or on discovery, about the end of April or beginning of March, instead of midwinter, the " sum- mer " would have fallen in one of its proper months, the flowers might have been seen to bloom in their usual sea- son, the fruit eaten ripe, and the trees of colored foliage Vf 13 witnessed in outiimn. Thus the dates generally given in the letter appear to be, in relation to the matters that are named, three months in advance of their natural season. The vessel is now supposed to draw nigh to New York: "After proceeding one huiidred Icaguesi, wo found a very pleasant situation among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth, forced its way to the sea ; from the sea to the estuary of the river, any ship heavily laden might pass, with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet. But as wc were riding at anchor in a good berth, we would not venture up in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth ; therefore we took a boat, and entering the river, we found the country on its banks well peopled, the inhabitants not differing much from the others, being dressed out with the feathers of birds of various colors. They came to- wards us with evident delight, raising loud shouts of admiration, and show- ing us where wo could most securely land with our boat. We passed up this river about half a league, when wc found it formed a most beautiful lake three leagues in circuit, upon which they were rowing thirty or more of their small boats, from one shore to the other, filled with multitudes who came to see us. All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so commodious and delightful, and which we supposed must also contain great riches, as the hills showed many indications of minerals. Weighing anchor wo sailed eighty leagues t& .. .ird the east, as the coast stretched in that direction, and always insight of it; at length we discovered nn island of a triangular form, about ten lep;;ues from the main land, in. size about equal to the Island of Rhodes, having many hills covered with trees, and well peopled, judging from the great number of fires which we saw all around its shores ; we gave it the name of your Miijest;'s illustrious mother." The island just seen is considered to be Block ; and the description which follows is said to be an excellent one of Narraganset Bay and the harbor of Newport.* " We did not land there, ns the wea'.her was unfavorable, but proceeded to another place, fifteen leagues distant from the island, where we found a • Providence Daily Jourual : artiolo jmblishoJ in January 1855. Tlio opinion, however, is not unil'orm. Dr. Uclknap says that by the description tlio har- bor of New York must be intended, nml Dr. Sumuel Miller that it applies with more probability to the harbor of Now York than to any otiior ; but he adds: " The truth is, there are some diffloulties to be surmounted in applying the description to either." (Ducnvnt hrfore tht Kno York HUiorieal Soc, voiri.) '■p SI' 14 /»!) • i u \l" vtM'v t'xoclleiit harbor. Hoforp piitoriiiK il, we siiw alioiil Iwciity siniill lioals full of projilo, who raiiic aliuut our ship, iilteriri); iiiiiiiy (.'lies of iiMtonisli- iiKMit, Ijiit thoy wouhl not njiproacli iioaicr tliaii within lifly paros — • • *. We ofton went live or six hMguos into the interior, anil found the country ii!i ph'asant as is possibh' to conn-ivc, ailaptoil to oultivalion of every liinil, whether of corn, wine or oil; ihoro are open plains twenty-live or thirty leagues in extent, entirely free from trees or other hiiidranee)', and of so great fertility that whatever is sown there will yield an excellent crop. (»ii entering the wooil.^, wc observed that they might all bo traversc rieii in niineraln. We did not Htop lolund, a3 the weather was very favorable for pnisuin;; oiir voyage, and llie eountry presented no variety. Tiie shore stretehed lo the eaiit, and lifly leagues beyond, more to the north, where we found a more elevated coun- try, full of very tliick woods of fir trees, eyprcssos, and the like, indicative of a cold climate. Tlie people were entirely ditfercnt from others we had seen, whom we had found kind and gentle, but these were so rude and bar- barous that we were unable, by any signs we could make, to hold comni'ini- catioii with them. They clothe themselves in the skins of bears, lynxes, seals, and other animals. Their food, as far as wo could judge by several visits to their dwellings, is obtained by hunting and fishini.', and eortain fruits, which are a sort of root of spontaneous growth. They have no (uilsc, and we saw no signs of cullivnlion; the land appears sterile and unlit for growing of fruit or grain of any kind. If we wished at any tiuu> to traffic with them, they came to the sea shore and stood upon the rocks, from which they lowered down by a cord to our boats beneath whatever they had to barter, continually crying out to us not to come nearer, and instantly dc- m.indiiig from us that which was to be given in exchange; they took from us oidy knives, fish-liooks, and sharpened steel. No regard was paid to our courtc.-ies ; when we had nothing left to exchatrgc with them, the men ot our departure made the most brutal signs of disdain and contempt possible. Against their will we penetrated two or three leagues into the interior with twenty-five men ; when wo came to the shore they shot at us with their arrows, raising the most horrible cries and afterwards fleeing to the woods. In their region we found nothing extraordinary except va.st forests and some metalliferous hills, an we infer from seeing that many of the people wore copper car-rings. Departing from thence, we kept along the coast, steering northeast, and found the country more pleasant and open, free from woods; and distant in the interior we saw lofty mountains, but none which extended to the shore. Within fifty leagues we discovered thirty-two islands, all near the main land, small and of pleiusant appearance, but high and so disposed as to afford excellent harbors and channels, as we sec in the Adriatic fiiilf, near Illyria and Dalmatia. We had no intercourse with the people, hut wp judge that they were similar in nature and usages to those wc were last among. After sailing between east and north the dis- tance of one hundred and fifty leagues more, and finding our provisions and naval stores nearly exhausted, wc took in wood and water, and deter- mined to return to France, having di.scovered .102 leagues, that is 7 sout'.i, and tlicii sum U only lilC, and if the breadth of thi? newly discovered country corrcnpunda to its extent of «ca coost, it doubtlcea exceeds Asia in size. In this way wo find that the land forms a much larger portion of our globo than the ancients supposed, who maintained, contrary to mathematical reasoning, that it was less than the water, whereas actual experience proves tho reverse, so that we judge, in respect to extent of surface, tho land covers ns much space as the water; and I hope more clearly and more satisfactorily to point out and explain to your Mojcsty tlie grcii'. extent of lliat new land, or new world, of which I h»Te beer speaking. The continent of Asia and Africa, wo know for cer- tain, is joined to Europe at the north in Norway and Uussia, which disproves the idea of tho ancicnls that all this part had been navigated from the Cim- bric Chersouesus eastward as far as tho ('u!■• :'6. ■•i:-/^x. ■■,-, JSi- * Biddlu: ('Imp. IX. ilcrrcni : l>c-t'. II. lib. V. cti\M^. 111. 22 ' „ M-v^ 'j-"f 'ii.li so- 1537, two years after Cartier had gone on his second voy- age, the very lateness of which dampens every hope of a probable value. '' Ma e degno di riflessionc un ])asso dcUe Leltere di Annibal Caro, a cui niuno di liiiclli che hanno scritto del Verazzani, ha finor posto mente. Scrivendo cgli da Cp-g- tro a' 13 di ottobre del 1537 a tutti i famigliari di Mons. di' Gaddi, e doscrivendo piacevolmente un suo vlaggio, o ragionando or con uno, o con altro de' donicstici di quel prelato, a voi, Verazzano, dice (Lett, famil. t. I. Idf. 13), co7ne a ccrcatore di nuovi mondi, e delh meravujlie di essi, no)i posso ancor dir cosa dcgna ddla vostra carta, pcrche non ovemo passali tcrre, che non sieno state sco- pertc da voi, o da vostrofratello, Questo passo ci mostra preimcramente che Giovanni avea un fratello, il quale ancora avea molto viaggiato e scoperti nuovi paesi. Ma poiche questi, di cui non sapianio il nome proprio, e efFatto sconosciuto agli storici di quel tempo, convier^ dire ch' ei fosse assai men celebre del fratello. E parmi percio veri- simile che il cercatore de' nuovi mondi, con cui parla qui il caro, sia Giovanni. II che se o vero, converrii diie ch' ei nou fosse abbastanza preniiato dal re di Francia, e che dovesse perciiS tomar seno in Italia, ed entrare nella fami- glia del Gaddi ; e che il racconto del Ramusio o sia falso, o ccrtamente un tal fatto si debba dilferire di molti anni." — Storia della Littcratura Italiana del Cav. Abate Girolamo Tiraboschi. Tomo VII., Parte; I., Capo VI. Here are two discoverers by the name of Verrazzano, and one of them is assumed to be Giovanni. A slight examin- ation of the life and writings of Caro will show that at this period he was a teacher at Rome, in the family of M. Gaddi, an opulent Florentine. The following sentences succeed the one given by Tira- boschi, before quoted : " It has been told you already that in these parts we found many more animals with two feet than fiur, and many more snakes than men. We arrived 23 the first night at the grand villa of Monte Rxiosi. of which I have only to tell you, that they made ua a present of the heast sent to you, and which was caught at night follow- ing our caravan." * It will not be difficult now to account for the direction, and offer an explanation of the meaning of the passages cited : that the author, being at the time cf writing absent from homo, journeying about the country, in sportively addressing his pujjils from Castro, makes reference to their studies and exercises in geography and map-making. The name of Vcrrazzano was not confined to a family any more than to an individual. From the reasoning thus brought to bear on the point of dates, should the authorities bo deemed credible, it must appear that if this voyage of Verrazzano was ever performed, it must have been after the Cth n[ May, 1521, the day of the return of Gomez, and before the 6th of Sep- tember, 1522, ihe day of the return of Do Elcano from the circumnavigation of the globe. In the early part of 1523, Juan Florentin took the treasure ships of Cortez ; in 1524 he was himself captured, with his fleet, some of the same probably which liis successes of the year before hatl procured for him. We liave already seen, in the be- giniiing of his letter, that he leaves us to infer the loss of two of his four vessels while on a voyage of discovery to the north, doubtless about the close of 1523 ; of which enterprise, however, considerable as it was, tliere exists no trace f in the records of a great nation in the centre of * tiiicry : Was the ''boast'' enclosed in tlie lettur! t OUDKU OK KVKNTS. Miijrullaiu's, on tliu 'Jittli Aufjust, (toincz, on the (itli May, Do Kleano, on the lUU Sept., Vnrra/./jnio ehiiscil in Vcrrazzano, in the early jiart of Vorra/.zano, with tour vessels, in Vernizzano, on tlie ITlli .Ian., Verrazzano, on tlie 8tli July, Verrazzano nllej;eil to liavi/been in 1.' (■oinez sails t'roiM Cunina Dee., ir (.ii'niez returns in detolier,' l"il9, sails from Saiiliiear sonthwestwiiril. 1"p21, returns from the Straits of .Mii),'elliin. IS'JU, returns by the I'ape of Uoo(l lloiio. l.ilJ'J from the Canaries toward Azores. 1523, takes the Mcxiean treasure at Azores. \t>i'\, sails northward on diseovery. ir)'J4, sails westward from Desertas. 1,VJ4, returns to Dieppe, in I'rance. -- - 'i i handed at the Canaries. \, for western enast of Anieriea. U.a.. i:.'.',^. |.> T I'ledo, III >pilin. 24 Europe, time and war being supposed to have carried away every memorial.* It is not the least observable circumstance in the history of this voyage, that it should not have been fol- lowed up, or remembered, during the reign in which the discovery is alleged to have been made, and in the long administration of the Marine by Chalot, from 1525 to 1540. In the Bibliotheqtic Imperiale, two volumes folio of his letters in manuscript, written in the year 1525, are preserved ; and fifteen charts there on parchment, from his cabinet, contain instructive lessons in the early geog- raphy of the sixteenth century. That minister it was who favored the ideas of Jacques Cartier, and presented his memorial to the king, proposing to make discoveries in the Terres-Neuvcs. This led to the voyages of the years 1534, 1535, and 1540, with the settlement of Canada ; yet in no account of any part of that great design of state, nor even in the part of Roberval, undertaken as late as 1542, does the name of Verrazzano occur, nor is any refer- ence whatsoever made to his supposed discovery. If there were any fame of the sort, why should France choose to settlo her population so far to the north, preferring the cold region her fishermen were conceded to have found, to the milder climate, fertile vales, and inviting bays and watercourses of New England and New York, which had been discovered by royal authority during the prince's reign ? The opinion in Spain, to which the Council of State and Indias arrived, upon information sent them from the Em- peror, is full as to their knowledge touching the supposed design of France to occupy the country in the year 1541, and the extent of French discovery up to that time : they say that there is no unoccupied country on the north sea, that has anything covet '3.ble, to which the French could * Ilistoire do la Nouvello France, par lo P. I>c Cliarlevoix : Tome Premier, Livre I. 25 go ; and should they take possession of any land there, it would be to relinquish it through privation. Their judg- ment received the sanction of the Archbishop of Sevilla, with the additional remark, that, in his opinion, all the coast to Florida, except it be the fishery, was entirely value- less, whence the French must return wasted, with few persons and little of the substance they might take out with them. Their aim was said to be for the country claimed to have been long since discovered by the Bretons ; that the coast south of it, was the country discovered by Estevan Gomez and by Lucas Vazquez do Ayllon. On the margin of one of these consultations is written, referring to the same region : " On old charts, some say : Lands of the Bretones, others. Land of Portugal ; on one, that it was discovered by French." * The earliest document to this time found, accrediting the discovery of Verrazzano has been brought forward by the Librarian of the New York Historical Society. It is on a copper globe made by Euphrosynus Vlpius, at Venice, in 1542. Over a wide extent of this country is spread the inscription : Verrazana sive nova Gallia a Verrazano Flo- rentino comperta anno sal. m. d. Within a scroll on the instrument are the words : " Marcello Cervino S. R. E. Presbitero Cardinali. D. D. Rome." This record has certainly high authority in the former possessor's name, a man of science, taste, and equal ener- gy, at one time primate of Rome, and who was raised from a Cardinal to the Pontificate in 1554. Yet it is to be ob- served that though Cervino, the archbishop of Florence, was •Coluocioii do viirios doouincntoR I'nrn In liistoriii Jo lii I'luriilu y liiTnis iiilyHeciitcs. Londrec, 1H67. 20 apostolic nuncio to Fmnce in 1539, and afterward legate to Charles V. in Germany, whom ho accompanied into Spain, ho appears not to have been able, with so wide opportunity and the influence of his positions, to determine for this im})ortant inscription the year of the discovery deemed to have been made by his follow citizen and contemporary. In the preface to what is written by Landonier, giving a history of the colonizing of Florida by the French, from the year 1561 to 1565, he speaks of the region to the north being called New France, from the time of the dis- covery of it by Verrazzano for Francis I.; but at that date the letter had already been published eight or nine years, and he adds nothing to what may be read either (here or in the introduction written by Ramusio. After a deliberate examination of these matters, it will probably be difficult to find a reason for believing that the letter in question was written by Verrazzano, or to expect to find any contemporaneous authority to show that this voyage was ever made, or even attempted. The nar- ration is wanting in that practical character that would be expected to mark the report of a pilot on discoveries, who, it appears, neither examined the country for the riches it might possess, nor the shore for the strait it might offer ; and, in view of our later knowledge, it is in the main false. The facts go far to show, that the paper was written at a time so far back, that the entrances of the coast and " lay of the land" were imperfectly or not at all known, and that it was dated too far forward, to bo in proper relation with the progress of maritime discovery. To the emulation among the cities of Italy, may per- haps be ascribed the probably fictitious accounts of voy- ages attributed to Amerigo Vespuccio ; and to the same feeling we may be again indebted for this pretended letter of another Florentine. A copy of the letter of Carli, which accomi)anies that of Verrazzano in the Migliabechia collection, is here 27 translated, and for the first time published in Eng- lish : Letter of Fernando Carli to his Father* In tlio name of Gotl. 4th day of August, 1524. Honored Father : Remembering that when I was in tho Barbary fleet at Oarbiuh, the ncw8 which were daily given you from tlio illustrions Signor Uon Hugo do Moncada, captain-general of tho CiBsarcan Majesty in tlioso barl)aroufl parts, while ho was pur- suing and figiiling the Moors of that island, it appears pleased our many correspondents and friends, and that you were congratidated by them on the victory achieved ; so, there are news again, recently received liere, of tlio arrival of Captain Giovanni Verrazzano, our Florentine, at the port of Dieppe, in Kormandy, with his ship, the DelKna, in which, at the end of January hist, he went from the Canary Islands in search of new countries for this most serene crown of Franco, displaying great and very noblo courage by engaging as he did in an unknown navigation, with a single sail, a caravel of scarcely — f tons, having only lifty men, with the purpose, to the best of his ability, of discovering Cathay by taking the way into climates difl'erent from those in which the Portngncso are accus- tomed to make discoveries toward • Historic Italian Archive ; or, Col- lection of works and documents until now not published, or which have be- come vciy rare, concerning the history of Italy. Appendix. VohnuelX. Flo- rence. Gio. I'ietroVicusseux, director- editor of hisGabineto Scientitlco-Litte- rario. IS.IH. f Tho amanuensis hag left out the number of tons burthen of the ship. Lettera lu Fernando Carli a sua padre.* Al nome di Dio. adii Agosto, 16'24. Onorani'o padre: Considcrando chc quando fui in la armata di Barbaria alle Gicrbc vi furono grate Ic nuovc advisatevi gior- nalmcntc per lo illustre sig. Don Ugo di Moncada, capitano gencralc della Ccsarca Maestii, in ((uello barbarc parti, scguilJ' certandof con li Mori dfr dctta isola ; per la quale mo.stra- si haver fatto piaccre a molti nostri padroni ed aniici, c con quelli della conscguita vittoria congratulatovi ; pertanto, (tscudo nuovaniento qui nuova della giunta del capitano Gio- vanni da Verrazzano nostro fiorentino alio porto di Diepjta in Normandia con .sua nave Dclfina, con la quale si parti dalle insule Canarie fino di Gen- naio passato, per andarc in busca di torre nuovc per qucsta screnissima corona di Francia, in die mostro co- raggio troppo nobilc c grando a met- tcrsi a tanto incognito viaggio con una sola nave che appena u una cara- vella di tonelli,^ — solo con 50 uomini con intenzionc di, giusta sua possa, di-scoprire il Cataio, tcnendo cam- mino per altri climati di queUi u.sano li Portughesi in lo discoprire di * Ari'hivo Storico Itiiliano oi^sio ruc- coltn (li opore o docuniciiti tinora ine- diti o divcnuti rarissiini risguurdimti 111 Stcirin d' Itiilia. Appcndice. Touio IX. Firenzc. (Jio. I'ictro Viciisjicux, direttore-oditore ul ruo Gubinctto Soi- enlilk'O-Lettcrurio. 1833. + Comhiittoiulo (Autta dM edizione X L' uiiiunuonso ha laseiato il nun\e- ro ilullo tounellate di ciii era oiipacc In liiivc ^Nota oome sopni). 28 Cilicut ; bill going townrtl tlic north- west and the nortli, holding on his way so ns to find some country or otlier, althongh Ptolemy, Aristotle, and other eosniogrnpliors Inid down, that no land was to bo found in the diroi'liun of such climates ; and thus by God has he been permitted to do, ns he sets forth lucidly in a letter to this sacred Majesty, a copy of which is enclosed. After many months spent ill navigation, he was obliged, as he states, for want of provisions, to return from that hetnisphcre to this, having been seven months on the voyage, indicating a very great and rapid passage made in the per- formance of an admirable and extra- ordinary feat, to the mind of those who understand the navigation of the globe. T!ic commencement of that voyage was marked with dis- aster, and many thought 'hat there never would be news of him, or of the ship ; that it must be lost on the farther side of Norway, by reason of the huge ice in that northern ocean ; but, as that Moor said, the great God, to give us every day more evidences of his infinite power, and to show us how admirable is this earthly ma- chine, has discovered to him an ex- tent of land, as you will observe, so vast, that according to the good re- gions and degrees of latitude by alti- tude, it appears and shows itself to be larger than Europe, Africa, and a part of Asia : ergo miindus novut : and this is without what the Span- iards have these many years found in the west ; for it is hardly a year since Fernando Magellanes, having discovered an immense country, re- turned in one ship of five with which ho went out, bringing back cloves that arc much better than common ; and of his other ships in five years no news has been hoard. Thev are verso la parte di Calicut, ma an- dando verso coro e settcntrionc nmnino t.enendo, che ancora * Tolo- meo cd Aristotilo ed altri cosmografi descrivano verso tali climati non tro- varsi terra, di trovarvenc a ogni modo; c cosi gli ha Dio conccsso, come distintamcnic describe per una sua lettera a qucsta S. M. ; della ({ualc in questa ne o una copia. E per mancargli Ic vettovaglie, dopo niolti mesi giunto navigando, assegna cascrgli stato forza tornarc da quel- lo in questo emisperio, e in settc mesi suto in viaggio mostrare grandissimo ed occclerato cammino, aver futto cosa miranda e maasima a clii intendo la niarinora del mondo. Della quale al cominciaincnto di dctto suo viag- gio si fecc male inditio.f c moiti pen- sorno chc non pii^ nii dc lui n6 del vasccllo si avcsse nuova, ma chc si dovcssc perdere da quella banda del- la Norvegia per il grande diaccio chc i> per quello oceauo settcntrionale; ma come disso quel More, lo Die grande, per darci ogni giorno pii notizie di sua infinita possanza e moslrarci di quanto sia admirabile questa mundialc machina, gli ha dis- coperto una latitudine di terra, come intcnderete, di tanta giandezza clic, secondo le buone ragioni cgradi,per latitudine (ct) altczza, assegna emos- tra pill grande che I'Europa, Africa c parte di Asia : ergo mundu$ novui : e questo senza lo che | hanno disco- perto in piu anni gli Span! per I'occi- dcnte, che apprna 6 un anno tomu Fcrrando M;.^^aghiana, quale disco- perse grande paese con una nave me- no delle cinque ^ a discoprire. Donde * Ancorchc. t L' cdiz. romana lia indino, m\\ crc- dinmo per crrore di stanipa. X tjiicllo die (iVw/a eume supra). $ Forsf venue qui onifsso He o sim- ile; e BL'inbra Hccenarsi al iiatifnigio di una di quelle rinr(iie nnvi. 29 supposed to b