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Johns Hopkins Univeksity Studies 
 
 IN 
 
 HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE 
 
 HEKBERT B. ADAMS, Editor 
 
 Hiatory is past Politics and Politics present KiBtoiy— Freeman 
 
 EXTRA VOLUME 
 XIII 
 
AMEEIOA 
 
 ITS GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 1492-1892 
 
 Six Lectures delivered to Graduate Students of 
 THE Johns Hopkins University 
 
 WITH A 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 ENTITLED 
 
 WAS THE RIO DEL ESPIRITU SANTO OF THE SPAN- 
 ISH GEOGRAPHERS THE MISSISSIPPI? 
 
 By WALTER B. SCAIFE, Ph. D. (Vienna) 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 The Johns Hopkins Press 
 
 1892 
 
Copyright, 1892, by The Johns Hopkins Press. 
 
 JOHN murphy a CO, PRINTERS, 
 BALTIMORE. 
 
Bancroft Library 
 
 ^ n^ -J cs 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I. — The Development op the Atlantic Coast in the Con- 
 sciousness OF Europe 1 
 
 II. — Development of Pacific Coast Geography 22 
 
 III. — Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions 38 
 
 IV.— Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names: 
 
 America 60 
 
 Brazil 78 
 
 Canada 83 
 
 V. — Development of American National and State Boun- 
 daries 89 
 
 VI. — Geographical Work of the National Government 118 
 
 Supplement 139 
 
LIST OF MAPS. 
 
 1. American portion of Juan de la Coza's map of the world, 1560 ; from 
 
 Jomard. 
 
 2. The Cantino map, from Harrisse. 
 
 3. The Kuysch map, 1508 ; from original in Astor Library. 
 
 4. Spanish official map of 1527 ; from original in Grand-Ducal Library, 
 
 Weimar. 
 
 5. Eibero's map, 1529 ; from original also in Weimar. 
 
 6. Portion of America, Cabot's map of 1544 ; from Jomard. 
 
 7. Portion of Mercator's map of the world, 1569 ; from Jomard. 
 
 8. America according to Ortelius, 1570; from original in Astor Library. 
 
 9. Hennepin's map ; from English Edition, 1699. 
 
 10. Thomas Hood's map, 1592 ; from original MS. in Royal Library, Mu- 
 nich. Described in Codices Manuscripti Bibliothecae Regiae Mona- 
 censis, by Georgius M. Thomas. Munich, 1858, pp. 272-273. 
 
To MY FRIEND AND FORMER INSTRUCTOR, PROFESSOR 
 
 Herbert B. Adams, to whose kindness these lectures 
 owe their origin, this book is affectionately dedi- 
 CATED BY 
 
 The Author. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 The author takes pleasure in acknowledging the debt of grati- 
 tude he owes to Professor T. C. Mendenhall, Director of the U. S. 
 Coast and Geodetic Survey ; to Mr. Henry Gannett, Chief Topog- 
 rapher of the U. S. Geological Survey ; and to Mr. Frederic 
 Bancroft, late Librarian of the Library of the Department of State, 
 for their kind assistance rendered in the prosecution of his work. 
 His thanks are also due to the librarians of the Grand-Ducal 
 Library at Weimar, of the Royal Library at Munich, of the 
 Astor Library, and of the American Geographical Society in 
 New York, for the privilege of having photographed valuable 
 maps in their keeping. 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 
 March, 1892. 
 
AMERICA: ITS GEOGRAPHICAL 
 HISTORY. 
 
 The Development of the Atlantic Coast in the 
 Consciousness of Europe. 
 
 It is proposed in this lecture to give an outline of the man- 
 ner in which a knowledge of the Atlantic coast-line of America 
 grew into the consciousness of the Europeans. For this pur- 
 pose it is not necessary to go back to the time of the Northmen, 
 though there is no reasonable room for doubt that they, centuries 
 before Columbus, discovered and occupied a portion of North 
 America. But their settlements died out, and the knowledge 
 of their discoveries failed to penetrate civilized Europe. Our 
 theme begins in the night from the 11th to the 12th of Octo- 
 ber, 1492. Picture to yourselves Columbus anxiously walking 
 the deck of his diminutive hundred-tou ship, at ten o'clock at 
 night, in the moonlight, and wondering if he would ever see 
 the shores of the golden India, of which he had dreamed and 
 talked for so many years. Suddenly a strange light appears 
 on the horizon. The heart of the watcher beats wildly. Surely 
 that betokens the presence of man ; and not far off, there must 
 be land. How slowly the minutes pass as his anxious eyes peer 
 into the gray moonlight, searching for a glimpse of land. But 
 four long hours go by before the low-lying coast can be dis- 
 cerned. The ship then casts anchor, and its occupants await 
 
 1 
 
2 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 the day. They were off a little island which the natives called 
 Guanahani. Here American geography begins ; and from 
 this little island it expanded, in the course of a couple of 
 centuries, to include two vast continents. 
 
 This island of Guanahani plays a great part in the history of 
 American discovery, as the first point touched by the foot of 
 the fifteenth century explorer ; and accordingly it will be worth 
 our while to consider for a few moments the various theories 
 that have been advanced to establish the claim of one island 
 or another to the proud title of the first discovery on this 
 western shore. 
 
 The difficulties in the way of solving the problem are great. 
 The description of Columbus that has come down to our time 
 is meagre, and the then state of scientific knowledge was such 
 that we cannot now rely absolutely on the data of his log of 
 the voyage. Here he took no observation as to his latitude ; 
 and even if he had done so it might have resulted in showing 
 him as far from arriving at his true position as it did a little 
 later when he tried to get his latitude near the north-western 
 point of the present Hayti, and found it to be in latitude 17, 
 when in fact it is almost 20 degrees north of the equator. In 
 his journal we find in reference to Guanahani the following : 
 " This island is very [better, quite] large and very level and 
 has very green trees, and abundance of water, and a very large 
 lagoon in the middle, without any mountain, and all is covered 
 with verdu[r]e, most pleasing to the eye." "At dawn I ordered 
 the boat of the ship and the boats of the Caravels to be got 
 ready, and went along the island, in a north-northeasterly 
 direction, to see the other side, which was on the other side of 
 the east. — But I was afraid of a reef of rocks which entirely 
 surrounds that island, although there is within it depth enough 
 and ample harbor for all the vessels of Christendom, but the 
 entrance is very narrow. It is true that the interior of that 
 belt contains some rocks [Spanish bajas, or shallows], but the 
 sea is there as still as the water in a well. And in order to see 
 all this I moved this morning, that I might give an account '^ 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast, 3 
 
 " of everything to your Highnesses, and also to see where a 
 fort could be built, and found a piece of land like an island, 
 although it is not one, with six houses on it, which in two days 
 could easily be cut off and converted into an island.^^ . . . 
 " I observed all that harbor, and afterwards I returned to the 
 ship and set sail, and saw so many islands that I could not 
 decide to which one I should go first, and the men I had taken 
 told me by signs that they were innumerable, and named 
 more than one hundred of them.'^^ As the islands of the 
 Bahama group are so numerous, and the magnetical data of 
 the log of the voyage so uncertain, various interpretations of 
 the meagre facts known to us have accordingly been made ; 
 and thus no less than five different islands are respectively 
 asserted to be the original Guanahani. These are Grand 
 Turk, advocated especially by the Spanish historian Navarrete ; 
 2, Marignana, resulting from the researches of the Dutch in- 
 vestigator Varnhagen; 3, Watling's Island, adopted by 
 Muiioz, Becher, Major; 4, Cat Island, which received the 
 recognition of von Humboldt and Washington Irving. The 
 last one, Samana, is advocated with great elaborateness by 
 Captain G. V. Fox of the United States navy, who, at the 
 request of the national government, made an exhaustive study 
 of the whole subject ; not only theoretically but also practi- 
 cally, going over the entire section of the West Indies in 
 question, and examining the topography of the several islands, 
 their relative positions, etc. 
 
 The last word comes from a German source, Mr. Rudolf 
 Cronau, who made a tour of investigation in the autumn of 
 1890, and leaving aside the log of Columbus, looked only to 
 his description of the island itself and his course after leaving 
 it until he reached Cuba. To these points he adds the remark 
 of Las Casas, that " the first land was one of those islands 
 which we call the Lucayos. The said island has the form of a 
 bean." His conclusion is, " that Guanahani is solely and alone 
 
 * Translation in Capt. Fox's Methods and Results. 
 
4 America: Its Geographieal History. 
 
 with Watling's Island identical, and that Columbus landed on 
 the west side of this island/' And with this conclusion the 
 
 , weight of modern authority is in harmony. 
 
 Watling's Island, Mr. Cronau informs us, is the only one of 
 the group, that has the form of a bean, excepting New Provi- 
 dence, which does not enter into the question ; further, that it 
 has a large salt-water lake in the interior, such as Columbus 
 described, and that there is nothing in the nature of a mountain 
 on the island, as the ridges that divide the lagoons are but 100 
 to 140 feet high ; also, that vegetation here corresponds so well 
 with the praise of its first discoverer, that the island is to this 
 day known as " the garden of the Bahamas." He is of the 
 opinion that Columbus must have discovered the island, 
 coming from the north, and landed at a point now called 
 Riding Rocks, where there is a settlement of the name of Cock- 
 burn Town. Elsewhere surrounding the island is a reef, with 
 a very narrow entrance, with here and there shallows, but 
 which nevertheless encloses an open space that would be large 
 enough to accommodate large fleets, just as it appears in 
 Columbus' description. Finally, the northeast point of the 
 island corresponds exactly with the idea of a place for a forti- 
 fication, described by the Admiral ; and in fact Cronau found 
 here a cannon, evidently of the last century, which shows that 
 others have seen how well this point was adapted to the de- 
 fense of the island. 
 
 As to the early cartographical representations of the island, 
 it stands on the chart of Juan de la Cosa, the earliest map of 
 America that we possess, very nearly in the same relation to 
 Cuba and Hayti as Watling's Island does on the modern maps. 
 However, the neighboring small islands on this map do not 
 agree in form and situation with modern charts, so that we 
 cannot consider the evidence of Cosa as of much weight. But 
 
 , the celebrated Spanish official maps of 1527 and 1529 respec- 
 tively, which are in the grand-ducal library of Weimar, show 
 the island of Guanahani conspicuously drawn in the form of 
 a cross with a number of small dots around it. The position 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast. 5 
 
 of this island on these maps in relation to Cuba, Hayti, Great 
 Bahama, and other neighboring islands, agrees so well with 
 that of Watling's Island on modern maps, that there is little 
 room for reasonable doubt, that the makers thereof believed 
 Guanahani to be in the position of the island now known as 
 Watling^s. When it is considered that these maps were made 
 in Spain, by the official cartographers, within 35 and 37 years 
 of the original discovery, at a time when they would probably 
 be exposed to the criticism of men who knew the island per- 
 sonally, it seems extremely probable that Guanahani and 
 Watling's Island are one and the same. 
 
 Leaving Guanahani, Columbus next visited several other 
 small islands in the vicinity, and after ten days reached Cuba. 
 It was probably at Nipe Bay that he first sighted this great 
 island, whence he coasted some distance to the northwest, then 
 turned back and pursued a southeasterly course till he reached 
 the eastern extremity of the island, from which point he could 
 see the opposite heights of Hayti, toward which he directed 
 his little fleet. Here was to be made, later, the first attempt 
 in modern times to found a European colony in the Western 
 Hemisphere ; here was to be the commencement of American 
 political geography. Sailing to the east, he sighted the island 
 of Tortuga, but clung to the coast of Hayti as far as the 
 present bay of Samana, where he halted for trade with the 
 Indians ; thence he followed the coast far enough to the east 
 and south to convince himself that the body of land was an 
 island. Columbus returned thence home, to spread abroad 
 the news of his discovery. Arrived at the Spanish court, 
 he gave a detailed description of his voyage, and asked for 
 assistance to prosecute his discoveries further. American 
 geography, then, in the spring of 1493, consisted of Colum- 
 bus's chart and description of some newly found islands in the 
 far off west, which islands were believed to be near India. 
 
 The province of geography is not, however, to follow the 
 fate of individuals in their wanderings ; but rather, in our 
 case, to gather up the results of those western voyages which 
 
6 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 opened up some new territory to the consciousness of Europe, 
 or rendered more accurate the knowledge of that previously 
 discovered ; and also to see how this knowledge became spread 
 abroad throughout Christendom. Travellers are usually fond 
 of relating their adventures, and it is easy for them to procure 
 an audience. Furthermore, for such an important subject as 
 the discovery of a New World, which title soon came into use, 
 there were those only too happy to write down the narratives 
 with which they were entertained. Then too the explorers 
 themselves had often to make report of results to those fur- 
 nishing the means of prosecuting the work. In the case of 
 Spain these reports were preserved in a special bureau estab- 
 lished for the purpose, by an ordinance of January 20th, 1503. 
 It bore the name of " Casa de la Contratacion de las Indias ; " 
 and its records now form one of the most valuable sources of 
 our knowledge of the early explorations. Moreover, there 
 were the cosmographers, whose work now began to assume 
 an importance, previously unknown ; while the then newly 
 invented art of printing added greatly in dispersing through- 
 out Europe a knowledge of the discoveries made by the 
 representatives of the various countries. News-letters and 
 pamphlets took the place of the present daily papers ; and a 
 book that became popular in one language was very likely to 
 be translated into others. The information thus conveyed 
 was often far from correct; and many fables were thereby 
 circulated in regard to the wonders of the New World. 
 
 On his return from the j&rst voyage, Columbus landed first 
 in Portugal, where the news of his discoveries was soon noised 
 abroad. In Spain, he came in contact with Peter Martyr, 
 who wrote letters on the discoveries to various great person- 
 ages in Italy. In September of the same year, 1493, the 
 queen demands of Columbus a chart of his voyage, which is 
 delivered ; and this, or a later one, came into the hands of 
 Ojeda, an enemy of Columbus, who used it in 1499 during 
 the latter's absence in the New World, to direct his course to 
 the west, in the attempt to outdo Columbus in his own field. 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast. 7 
 
 To Genoa, news of the discovery was soon carried by the 
 ambassadors Marchesi and Grimaldi. In March, 1494, the 
 government of Florence received written notices of the dis- 
 covery in the great ocean, of islands where the Spaniards had 
 found naked inhabitants, who gave for a pin gold to the value 
 of several ducats. In the following month of June^ the sub- 
 ject was mentioned in an important public address in Rome. 
 During his third voyage, Columbus forwarded to Spain a 
 map of the coast of South America just discovered ; and there 
 is a report of his having sent a map to the pope the same year ; 
 but whether it was a copy of the last-mentioned or an entirely 
 different map, we are not informed. The Venetian govern- 
 ment, about the same time, ordered its ambassadors to make 
 special efforts to procure information concerning the new 
 discoveries ; and they accordingly approached Columbus and 
 Peter Martyr for the purpose of acquiring maps and accurate 
 descriptions of the lands discovered. 
 
 From Spain and its discoveries in the south, we turn for 
 a moment to England and the exploration of the north. 
 Although a recent writer says : " The credit of being the first 
 to explore our Atlantic coast has not yet been positively 
 awarded by critical historians,^' yet we are disposed to accept 
 for our geographical purposes the generally accredited account 
 of Cabot's discovery of the coast of ]S"orth America in the 
 year 1497. His landfall was probably Cape Breton or there- 
 abouts. During that and subsequent voyages, Sebastian Cabot, 
 who at first accompanied his father and was afterwards com- 
 mander, explored with more or less accuracy the eastern coast 
 of the western continent from 67J degrees north, southward, 
 perhaps as far as Chesapeake Bay. He was the first to pro- 
 pose a northwest passage to Cathay, the name of China then 
 usual in Europe, on the ground that by the adoption of what 
 is now known as great circle sailing, one would take the 
 shortest route thither. Cabot's exploring activity continued 
 many years, in the service of Spain and England, and he is 
 supposed to have died in the latter country about 1557. It 
 
8 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 was chiefly through him that Great Britain derived its claim, 
 by right of discovery, to the Atlantic seaboard of North 
 America. In the meantime, others had visited the eastern 
 coast, of whose voyages we possess no detailed accounts, but of 
 which early maps seem to have preserved to us evidence of 
 the actuality of their knowledge. 
 
 The investigations of M. Harrisse have brought to light 
 the fact that the Portuguese were, at a very early period, 
 certainly before 1 502, on the eastern coast of North America ; 
 for he not only finds evidence thereof in contemporary letters, 
 
 I but also undeniable proof in the Cantino map, which he has 
 edited and published in facsimile. This is a very large map 
 which was carried in that year from Portugal to Ercole d'Este, 
 duke of Ferrara, by a man named Cantino, whose function in 
 Portugal is not known. On this map the southern portion of 
 Greenland is quite well depicted ; and to the southwest thereof 
 is drawn a coast-line which is probably that of Newfoundland, 
 though its position is very far to the east. Apparently unmis- 
 takable is the coast of Florida, and its extensions to the north 
 on the Atlantic sea-board and to the west on the Gulf of 
 Mexico. But opinion on the subject is much divided, some 
 authorities seeing therein only a repetition of Cuba, arising 
 from a misunderstanding of Spanish accounts of the dis- 
 coveries in the western hemisphere. All authorities agree, 
 however, that this is the type if not original of many of the 
 later maps known to us. 
 
 The southern part of the continent, however, was destined 
 to be brought earlier than the northern into more accurate 
 knowledge of the Europeans ; so we ask again attention to 
 that portion. There exists indeed a map of the fourteenth 
 
 ^ century, made by an Italian, a certain Zeno, who passed some 
 time in Iceland and the far north, on which is portrayed what 
 is supposed to be a portion of North America, according to 
 the ideas or knowledge of the Icelanders. But as this map 
 was not made known to the public till the middle of the six- 
 teenth century, we may pass it by, and turn to the oldest map 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast. 9 
 
 known to us on which is given a representation of America 
 as it was actually known. This is the map of Juan de la 
 Cosa, one of the companions of Columbus; and bears the 
 date 1500. The original is a large map of the then known 
 world, drawn on an oxhide, with elaborate gilding and color- 
 ing, and is still preserved at Madrid. The western portion 
 gives the results of Spanish explorations up to that date. It 
 represents also the eastern coast of North America to a con- 
 siderable extent, but trending entirely too much to the east. 
 The northern line of South America is also given, and that 
 naturally with greater accuracy than the other, as it was the 
 part known directly by the Spaniards, while they probably 
 knew only by report, of Cabot's discovery in the north. 
 Between the northern and southern portions, the only con- 
 nection is by means of a vignette ; for that portion of the 
 continent was as yet unknown ; and a tradition later spread 
 abroad that a strait existed there, leading to oriental waters. 
 No general name is given to all the new lands discovered, for 
 it was still believed that they were a part of Asia. The prin- 
 cipal north .and south line is marked " Xma Meridio7ial,^' and 
 is intended to represent the line of demarcation which had 
 been agreed upon between Spain and Portugal, in their famous 
 division of the then unexplored world. It passes through the 
 northeastern part of North America, and cuts off a small 
 corner of South America. The equator and tropics are also 
 given ; but so faulty was the knowledge of latitude that Cuba 
 and Hayti, are both placed entirely north of the Tropic of 
 Cancer, although, in fact both are entirely south of it. We 
 are not accustomed to think that by the year 1500 the Span- 
 iards knew much, if anything, of the coast of North America ; 
 yet on this map there are no less than seventeen names there, 
 a fact which shows that Cosa already had some knowledge of 
 the English voyages to the New World. The interior, of 
 which nothing was known, is ornamented with lakes and 
 rivers thrown in ad libitum. The coast of South America is 
 supplied with many names, some of which are still in use. 
 
10 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 (Mr. Winsor, speaking of the original, says there are 45 names 
 here.) Among others we find " C. de la Vela/' a name now 
 borne by a city in the same neighborhood ; " Venezueda," 
 which is none other than the modern Venezuela or little 
 Venice; and was so named in 1499 by Ojeda, because the 
 houses were built on piles in a manner that reminded him of 
 Venice. Here is also " I. de Brasil," a name afterwards trans- 
 ferred to the whole Portuguese possessions on the mainland. 
 The island now known as Hayti and San Domingo bears the 
 name "La Espagnola," conferred upon it by Columbus because 
 its landscape reminded him much of Spain. Nine local names 
 are on it, one of which is Domingo, on the southeastern coast, 
 the name now used to designate the whole eastern half of the 
 island; while the name Hayti, now applied to the western 
 portion of the island, occurs on the map under consideration in 
 the form " Haiti," which means " mountainous country," and 
 designates a small island lying to the north of " La Espagnola." 
 The name Guanahani is here given to a small outlying island, 
 with Samana south of it. The island of Cuba ^ receives its 
 present name on this map, although Columbus had called it 
 luana. 
 
 La Cosa's representation of Cuba has given rise to much 
 discussion, in as much as Columbus, on his second voyage, 
 required from his companions an oath to the effect that they 
 believed it to be a part of the main land. On this map, how- 
 ever, it is distinctly represented as an island. Mr. Stevens 
 contended that the western portion is in green, a color used by 
 La Cosa to designate unknown land. In the fac-simile of 
 Jomard,^ in the Astor Library of New York, the color of the 
 western portion is not at all different from that of the rest of 
 
 1 Mr. Winsor in Nar. and Orit. Hist., II, 182-3, falls into the error of 
 ascribing the first use of this name as designating that island to the " Cos- 
 mographicus liber " of Apianus, published in 1524. 
 
 * Mr. Stevens himself acknowledges that he, " the writer, has never had 
 under his eye the original chart, but judges only from Mr. Jomard's excel- 
 lent colored fac-simile." Notes, p. 34, note. 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast. 11 
 
 the island, and is a yellowish-brown, with no resemblance to 
 the green of the unknown interior of the mainland. More- 
 over, not only is a western coast-line distinctly drawn, but still 
 further to the west are other islands intervening between this 
 coast and the mainland. Now La Cosa had subscribed to the 
 oath, and had even added that he had never heard " of any 
 island 335 leagues long, and hence he believed Cuba to be in 
 Asia^' (Ibid. J p. 12). But the Indians had told Columbus 
 on his first voyage that it was an island ; and there is 
 every possibility of Cosa's having changed his mind be- 
 tween 1494, when he subscribed to that oath, and 1500 
 when he drew the map, particularly as he had in the mean- 
 time made another voyage to the New World. Officially, 
 Cuba was not circumnavigated before the year 1508 ; yet Mr. 
 Winsor has, in his recent work on Columbus, expressed the 
 opinion that its insularity was perhaps previously known, not- 
 withstanding the vigorous protest against that view published 
 by Mr. Stevens and seconded by Mr. Coote. The latter, 
 of the British Museum, in his introduction to Stevens on 
 Schoener, makes merry at the credulity of Mr. Harrisse, Mr. 
 Winsor and others, who interpret the Cantino map and 
 similar ones as evidence of the existence of any knowledge of 
 the mainland of Florida before its discoverj^ by Ponce de 
 Leon; for he himself sees therein only a "bogus Cuba,'^ 
 invented by the Portuguese from a misunderstanding of the 
 facts as reported from Spain ; and, as Spain tried to keep her 
 knowledge to herself, and the Portuguese were free to spread 
 broadcast their maps of Spanish possessions in the New World, 
 the latter became known and largely copied throughout Europe, 
 thus disseminating false ideas which it took a long time to 
 eradicate. Mr. Coote finds strono- confirmatory evidence of 
 his theory in the fact that these maps transfer more or less of 
 the names that Columbus applied to Cuba, to what appears 
 to represent the mainland. However, that does not alter the 
 fact that Cosa himself depicts Cuba distinctly as an island. 
 His mainland is indeed different from that drawn by Cantino 
 
12 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 and other representatives of the Portuguese idea; but he doubt- 
 less intended to represent that mainland as part of Asia. 
 
 We have seen how England soon followed in the wake of 
 the Spaniards to the New World. In the year 1 500 the Portu- 
 guese navigator Cabral reached the coast of South America, 
 driven thither perhaps by adverse winds, or seeking a lost ship 
 of his fleet, or going so far to the west merely to avoid the 
 prevailing winds on the coast of Africa, — for all these differing 
 opinions are held by various writers. As early as 1503 the 
 
 j French also reached the coast of Brazil; in 1504 they com- 
 menced fishing near Newfoundland; and as early as 1506 
 their hardy sailors had gained a knowledge of the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence, which was embodied in a map by one Denys, of 
 Honfleur. Thus the sixteenth century opens with the mari- 
 time nations of Europe full of curiosity as to the New World, 
 and possessed of bold navigators ready and anxious to do all 
 in their power to explore its mysteries. The Atlantic became 
 a great highway ; a*nd almost every year saw new expeditions 
 sent forth in search of wealth and fame. The Spaniards ex- 
 tended their explorations both to the north and south ; the 
 English found it expedient on the whole to confine themselves 
 to the north ; though they did not hesitate to make piratical 
 cruises against Spanish ships returning to the mother country 
 laden with the spoils of the west ; the French essayed explora- 
 tions along almost the entire Atlantic coast of the western 
 continent, meeting with opposition wherever they went, — on 
 the north from the English, on the south from the Spanish. 
 The curiosity of all Christendom had been aroused as to the 
 discoveries made in the New World; but each exploring 
 nation endeavored to keep its knowledge to itself. Accord- 
 ingly we find that the best dispersers of this knowledge were 
 
 I the non-exploring nations, — the Italians, the Germans, and 
 later the Dutch. The first book containing a collection of 
 voyages, of which a copy is known to exist, was made by a 
 Venetian diplomate in Spain, Angelo Trivigiano, who trans- 
 lated several reports of voyages, collected letters, and pub- 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast. 13 
 
 lished them all together in the year 1507. Within a year 
 afterwards two translations of the same were published, a 
 Latin one in Milan and a German one in Nuremberg. 
 
 In the 1508 edition of Ptolemy there is a map of the world, 
 thought by Humboldt to be the work of Johann Ruysch. It 
 is in the form of an open fan, representing somewhat more 
 than a quarter circle. The north pole is at the apex, while 
 the outer rim represents about the 38th degree of south lati- 
 tude. The then known coast of North America is attached 
 to the north-east of Asia ; here the name " In. Baccalauras," 
 a designation often given to Newfoundland, is applied to a 
 diminutive island, in a bay enclosed by "C. de Portugesi," 
 which cape forms the extremity of a long peninsula bearing 
 the name '^ Terra nova." Thence the coast-line trends to the 
 west, and connects with " Gog," " Magog," and other places 
 bearing names at that time given to portions of Asia. East 
 of the mainland, there extends from a scroll a broad land on 
 which there are half a dozen names not nOw in use. Of South 
 America only the north and east coasts are given. The region 
 bears the legend : " Terra Sanctae Crucis Sive Mundus 
 Novus." Among other names on the north coast, we find 
 " Terr, de Pareas " and " Golfo de Pareas," names probably 
 conferred by Columbus himself. Mr. Winsor remarks that 
 ^' it is thought that Ruysch used Columbus' draughts." " Rio 
 Grande " is probably meant for the Orinoco. The "Jordan " 
 river finds place just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, a 
 name long borne by the present Rio de la Plata. An inscrip- 
 tion says " Nauti Lusitani " had penetrated to 50° S. without 
 finding the southern extremity of the land. Among the 
 islands we find the names : " Spagnola," " Le XI Mil Vir- 
 gines," " Martinina," " La Dominica," and " Antillia Insula." 
 
 In 1512 there was published in Cracow, the ancient capital 
 of Poland, an edition of the Geography of Ptolemy which 
 contains a map of the world, on which America finds place. 
 The map is drawn in a network of meridians and parallels at 
 intervals of ten degrees, and the tropics also are added. This 
 
14 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 is one of those maps before alluded to, which are opeu to 
 discussion as to whether what appears to be Florida and the 
 mainland of America are not a duplicate Cuba. The name 
 " isabello," which really belonged to Cuba, and is here placed 
 on what seems to be Florida, certainly tends to confirm Mr. 
 Coote's idea. Another feature of these maps is that they 
 represent the supposed Florida as entirely west of the longitude 
 of Cuba, instead of north of its western part, as it in reality 
 is. Of South America, the northern and eastern portions are 
 fairly well represented, while the western portion is closed by 
 two straight lines, which form an obtuse angle projecting 
 inland. Some names are on the continent and are difficult to 
 decipher. Cuba and ''Spagnola" are misplaced and some- 
 what out of proportion. 
 
 There are still preserved, in various parts of the world, 
 three globes and the gores of a fourth from the early part 
 of the sixteenth century, which Messrs. Stevens and Coote 
 believe to be all from the same hand, namely that of Johanu 
 Schoener, " the most distinguished professor of mathematics 
 and geography then in Germany.'' The oldest of these is 
 probably that known as the Hunt-Lenox globe, in the Lenox 
 Library of New York, and possibly made as early as 1 505 or 
 1507. It is of copper, about 4J inches in diameter, and rep- 
 resents America as a number of islands. The next one in 
 point of age is known as the Frankfort globe, because pre- 
 served in that city, and dates probably from about the year 
 1515. The third and most important one is preserved in 
 Nuremberg, and dates from the year 1520. On this is repre- 
 sented far to the north " Terra Corterealis," near which is the 
 inscription "Anno Christi 1501." Here again we find the 
 name Cuba applied to what appears to be the mainland of 
 America, which extends from near the equator to 55 or 60 
 degrees north. It also bears the name " Farias," one of the 
 names connected with South America ever since the days of 
 Columbus, and which is in fact repeated in South America on 
 this globe. Notwithstanding this fact it is difficult to believe 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast. 15 
 
 that the existence of Florida was not known in the year ] 520, 
 especially to a man of Schoener^s knowledge. The fourth 
 globe, or rather set of gores, ascribed to the same hand, is re- 
 ferred to the year 1523, and a copy of it is published with the 
 others, in Coote's edition of Stevens on Schoener. It is very 
 simple, and contains but few names. However, that of Florida 
 is especially worthy of notice, as this is perhaps the oldest 
 drawing on which it appears. 
 
 Though, as we have seen, there were Frenchmen in the 
 New World in the very beginning of the century, the first 
 official expedition which that government sent to America 
 was in 1524. This was placed under the command of 
 Giovanni Yerrazano, a Florentine by birth, who, at an early 
 age, entered the service of King Francis I. of France, and 
 became a most successful corsair against the Spanish. He 
 first touched the western continent at about 34 degrees north 
 latitude, perhaps at Cape Fear. Thence he sailed 50 leagues 
 toward the south, and then directing his vessel northward, he 
 explored the coasts for three months, reaching probably to 
 Newfoundland. The journal of the voyage which remains to 
 us " mentions only one date and names but one locality," — 
 which facts account for our vague knowledge of the results 
 of the expedition. " It is probable," says H. H. Bancroft, 
 ^* that a large part of the United States coast was for the first 
 time explored during this voyage, which also completed the 
 discovery of the whole eastern shore-line of America, except 
 probably a short but indefinite distance in South Carolina and 
 Georgia, between the limits reached by Ponce de Leon in 1513 
 and by Verrazano ; one intermediate point having also been 
 visited by Aillon in 1520." 
 
 In the two succeeding years, Spaniards were on the coast of 
 the present United States; 1525 witnessing the only expedi- 
 tion which they ever sent to the far north, that of Estevan 
 Gomez, who explored the eastern coasts of America from New- 
 foundland to an unknown distance south, at any rate below 
 New York, and possibly to Georgia or Florida. The next 
 
16 . America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 year came Aillon, who first touched at South Carolina, at the 
 mouth of a river which he called the Jordan, and sailed thence 
 some distance northward " at least to Cape Fear, and probably 
 much farther." 
 
 In the grand-ducal library of Weimar there is a large map 
 on parchment, made in the year 1627, by an anonymous cos- 
 mographer of the Spanish king, at Seville. It is seven feet, 
 two inches long, and two feet, ten inches wide, and represents 
 the then known w^orld. It is framed and under glass, and is 
 justly considered one of the great treasures of the library. 
 Just how it came there, is not known ; but Kohl, who has 
 published a facsimile of the American part, supposes that it 
 was carried to Germany by the Emperor Charles V., as an 
 official map of reference, during one of his voyages from Spain. 
 As to the name of the cosmographer who made it, opinions 
 differ; Kohl inclining to the belief that it is the work of 
 Ferdinand Columbus, son of the admiral, while Harrisse 
 ascribes it to Nulla Garcia de Toreno, and Coote, in editing 
 Stevens on Schoener, thinks it the work of Ribero, and a pre- 
 cursor of his map of 1529, which is also in the same room at 
 Weimar. A careful comparison of the two, it seems to us, 
 can scarcely fail to convince the unprejudiced mind that the 
 latter supposition is the most natural. The points of similarity 
 are so great in non-essentials, such as the astrolabe, the quad- 
 rant, the scrolls containing names, etc., the very matters wherein 
 the copier of another man's geographical work would be most 
 likely to desire to show originality ; while there is no slavish 
 copying of names, wherein the latter work is much more full 
 and explicit, indicating that the two years intervening between 
 the making of the maps had been spent in gathering new 
 information, which was applied without any reference to a 
 show of slavish consistency with the former work ; while at 
 the same time, favorite fancies of ornament were apparently 
 retained unconsciously. 
 
 The maps are drawn in plane projection, with compass 
 lines, and also with the equator, tropics, and polar circles. 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast, 17 
 
 Perhaps the most noticeable feature, after the beauty of the 
 work, is the absence of imaginary lands, which are so 
 prominent on most of the maps of that age. The principal 
 meridian is drawn through the Cape Verde Islands, from 
 which was to be measured the distance to the line of 
 demarcation between the possessions of Spain and Portugal ; 
 and that line, marked by the flags of the two countries on 
 either side, is placed according to the Spanish interpretation 
 of the treaty of Tordesillas, by which the two governments 
 had sought to settle their differences in reference to the 
 matter. 
 
 This line passes through '^ Tierra de los Bretones,'^ lying 
 between 45 and 50 degrees of north latitude ; it crosses the 
 northern coast-line of South America at the equator, somewhat 
 west of the mouth of a large river bearing the name *^ Mara- 
 hom,'' meant for Maranon, an old namefor the Amazon ; and 
 it continues through the continent to the mouth of the 
 " R. Jordan,^' now the La Plata, in 35 degrees south. This 
 Portuguese })art of South America receives its present name of 
 " El Brasil." The map gives an almost unbroken coast-line 
 from 62 degrees north to 54 degrees south, abandoning the 
 old idea of a strait somewhere between these two points ; and 
 instead, represents the Strait of Magellan, the existence of 
 which had now been known in Spain for five years. The 
 northern extremity of the map is occupied by a territory 
 designated as " Tiera del Labrador," a name which is probably 
 the only remnant of Portuguese exploration in North America. 
 The coast is drawn in an east and west line, lying between 
 55° and 60° of latitude, containing no other names, and sep- 
 arated by a narrow strait from the coast lying to the west. 
 The latter is called " Los Bacallaos,'' and is provided with 
 14 names, none of which, to my knowledge, are now in use. 
 To the south-west of this region is the " Tierra de los Bretones," 
 already mentioned, on which there are two local names. Here 
 a large river, flowing from the north empties its waters 
 into a prominent bay ; this may be the Penobscot, but it is 
 2 
 
18 America: Its Geogy^aphical History. 
 
 practically impossible to determine positively which river is 
 thereby meant. Between this and " La Florida/' there are 
 11 local names, to which are added 4 on the west side of the 
 latter. Then follow 16 names which are of no special interest 
 to us; but the 17th is the designation of a river flowing 
 into a prominent bay, which is generally taken to mean the 
 Mississippi, and here receives the name *^R. del spiritu sancto." 
 Keeping on to the southwest, we find the 15th name, "R. 
 Panuco," one of the earliest names on the continent of North 
 America which is still in use. Then follow 21 more names 
 to the little islands represented between the mainland and 
 " Ivcatan," which is also shown as an island. The country 
 southwest of the Gulf of Mexico receives the name adopted 
 by Cortes, when he had conquered it a few years previous, 
 namely '^ Nova Spana." It is also worthy of remark that the 
 name " Mexico " is found inland, and is doubtless intended 
 for the city of Mexico, which was however at that time 
 generally called Temixtitlan. The latter is said to be a 
 Spanish corruption of the more usual aboriginal Tenochtitlan, 
 and Mexico was one of its wards or districts. Another deri- 
 vation is from Mexitli the Aztec war-god (Isaac Taylor, 
 TForc?s and Places), Central America has 20 names on the 
 north coast. South America's coast-line is thickly dotted with 
 local names, of which we have already mentioned several. 
 As to the West Indies we would expect to find quite an accu- 
 rate knowledge displayed, and in this we are not disappointed. 
 Leaving aside the more prominent islands, which are already 
 on earlier maps drawn with tolerable accuracy, we note here 
 "La bermuda;" also "barbudos," which is probably the 
 Barbuda of to-day. No imaginary antarctic continent is here 
 depicted, as was at that time, and even much later, so custom- 
 ary on maps ; but there is represented only the short coast-line 
 of the strait through which Magellan had passed, south of 
 which is the name he gave to those lands, "tierra del fuegos." 
 To the strait he gave the name " Victoria," after one of his 
 
The Development of the Atlantie Coast. 19 
 
 ships ; but this map shows that officially his own name had 
 been already conferred on his greatest discovery.^ 
 
 Diego Ribero's map of 1529 is of almost exactly the same 
 size as that of 1527, and the comparison of the two affords a 
 good object lesson in historical geography. Especially strik- 
 ing is this in the case of Peru, the coast of which had been 
 explored by Pizarro in 1525-27, but news of which must have 
 reached Spain too late to be incorporated in the map of 1527. 
 The later map is also richly provided with historical remarks, 
 manifesting a desire on the part of the cartographer to embody 
 in his work all the information possible. In outline the At- 
 lantic coast on both maps is almost identical ; but much more 
 knowledge of detail is embodied in the later one. This is 
 marked on the eastern coast of the present United States, 
 where the results of the voyages of Ayllon and Gomez find 
 place on the later map. While there are but fourteen names 
 between Florida and Bacallaos on the map of 1527, that of 
 1529 contains more than thirty in the same space, besides 
 several historical remarks. On the latter are also embodied 
 the results of the ill-fated voyage of Sebastian Cabot in 1526, 
 by which the waters of the I'iver Plata and its chief tributaries 
 were first made known to Europeans. Mexico is well drawn, 
 and gives the results of Cortes' conquest, including the Villa 
 Rica de la Vera Cruz, which he founded, and which, after 
 two removes, may be considered the beginning of the modern 
 city of Vera Cruz. "Ivcatan" is better shaped than before, 
 but still continues to be represented as an island. Cuba is 
 represented as extending through twelve degrees of longitude 
 and four of latitude, a nearer approach to its real extent than 
 was usual in those days. On this map, we see for the first 
 time, I believe, the name " Haiti " applied to Espagnola ; 
 and " S. Domingo '' is its principal settlement. In fact there 
 are on this map quite a number of names with familiar aspect. 
 
 ^ Mr. Hale in Winsor's Nar. and Crit. Hist. (II, 604), says that the name 
 of Eleven Thousand Virgins was given to the strait by Magellan. 
 
20 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Here are Cape San Antonio and Cape Cruz in Cuba ; Peru 
 for the first time ; also " Guatimala," and the rivers Parana, 
 Uruay, evidently the present Uruguay, and Paraguay ; here 
 is also " Tiera de Papagones,^' the land of the Patagonians or 
 big-footed giants, about the existence of whom there has been 
 so much controversy. The name " Tierra de los Fuegos " 
 reminds us of the fires that Magellan saw there w^hen entering 
 the strait, whose discovery and the consequent first circum- 
 navigation of the earth have made his name famous ; and the 
 little settlements of Darien, Panama, and Cartagena call 
 attention to the fact that the maps of the new world were 
 some day to wear a political aspect. The rivers Panuco and 
 San Francisco, the islands of Cozumel and Trinidad, the capes 
 Catoche and St. Augustine, are so familiar to us that, on this 
 map, we begin to feel at home. 
 
 Such maps as these two treasures of the Weimar library go 
 very far toward raising our respect for the cosmographers of 
 the sixteenth century. The American part of them has been 
 published in fac-siraile, together with a long dissertation, by 
 Dr. Kohl, which can be found in a number of our libraries. 
 Rough sketches of these and other maps, such as have been 
 published in great numbers during recent years, give one no 
 adequate idea of the originals. These sketches are indeed 
 useful to the seeker after historical knowledge ; and we are 
 greatly indebted to the historians whose works are so richly 
 illustrated with them ; if, however, our national government 
 had a just idea of the dignity and usefulness of history, it 
 would make generous provision for the publication of fac- 
 similes of all the leading maps bearing on our history ; and 
 could thereby make a fitting tribute to the celebration of the 
 four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America. 
 
 Already at the end of the third decade of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury we find the Spanish government, at least, in possession 
 of knowledge in quite an accurate degree, of the north and 
 east coasts of South America, of the Gulf of Mexico, and the 
 West India Islands, together with a less accurate acquaintance 
 
The Development of the Atlantic Coast, 21 
 
 with the Atlantic coast of the United States and further north. 
 But the Spanish government kept this knowledge so far as 
 possible within its own realms ; and other nations did much 
 to bring a knowledge of those regions into the consciousness 
 of Europe at large. In noticing later maps, we shall leave 
 aside then what they contain as to the parts already accurately 
 represented, and confine our attention to the furtherance of 
 knowledge of those coasts, which, up to the period where we 
 now leave off, were not at all or only inaccurately known in 
 Europe. 
 
II. 
 
 Development of Pacific-Coast Geography. 
 
 A general idea of the discovery of the Pacific seems to be, 
 that Balboa and his companions took a promenade one day to 
 the top of a hill in the vicinity of their settlement, whence they 
 descried with wonder the broad expanse of that mighty ocean ; 
 then with boyish glee, ran down the slope, dashed into the 
 water, and with a flourish, took possession of it in the name of 
 their sovereign. How different from the reality ! Selecting 
 carefully 190 of the hardiest men in the little settlement of 
 Antigua, in the northwest corner of South America, Yasco 
 Nufiez de Balboa sailed four days toward the northwest, and 
 landed near the village of a friendly chief. He had with him 
 also, 1000 Indians as warriors and carriers, and a pack of 
 bloodhounds which were to aid in the work of subduing the 
 natives. The point at which he now found himself was not 
 the site of Aspinwall, whence one at present departs for the 
 short and easy ride through the magnificent tropical forest, 
 that delights the eye without impeding the progress of the 
 traveller. Balboa was at some distance to the southeast of 
 this, just opposite the bay of San Miguel. Before him lay an 
 unbroken forest, rendered almost impenetrable by tangled 
 undergrowth, and beset with tribes of warlike and hostile 
 natives. It cost him one battle, and many days of hard 
 marching, to reach the summit of the mountain range whence, 
 his Indian guides told him, could be seen the broad expanse 
 of another ocean. The most elevated point was a bare rock, 
 below which a halt was ordered, and " Vasco Nufiez advanced 
 22 
 
Development of Pacific-Coast Geography. 23 
 
 alone. His should be the first European eye to behold what \ 
 there was to behold, and that without peradventure. With 
 throbbing heart he mounted the topmost eminence which 
 crowned these sea-dividing hills. Then, as in the lifting of a 
 veil, a scene of primeval splendor burst on his enraptured gaze, 
 such as might fill with joy an archangel sent to explore a new 
 creation. There it lay, that boundless unknown sea, spread 
 out before him, far as the eye could reach, in calm majestic 
 beauty, glittering like liquid crystal in the morning sun. . . . 
 Dropping on his knees, he poured forth praises and thanks- 
 giving to the author of that glorious creation for the honor 
 of its discovery. The soldiers then pressed forward, gazed 
 enchanted likewise, and likewise assumed the attitude of prayer : 
 for however ungodly were their lives, these cavaliers were 
 always fond of praying.^' Years before this, Columbus had 
 been told of the existence of a large body of water on the other 
 side of the mountains seen from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico ; 
 he was, however, convinced that this whole region was but a 
 part of Asia, and that accordingly such a body of water could 
 be only the Bay of Bengal. Balboa brought back to Antigua 
 gold to the value of over 40,000 pesos, or dollars of the time, 
 together with an immense store of pearls, not to speak of cot- 
 ton cloth, native weapons, and 800 Indian slaves. Further- 
 more he had subdued all the nations through whose territories 
 he had passed, gained the most of them to friendship, and all 
 this without the loss of a man. The loadstone had been found 
 which could draw the Spaniards to all the perils of discovery 
 and conquest; so this region, and the still richer fields to which 
 it opened the way, were marked for future conquest. 
 
 From this time forth the excursions of the Spaniards to the 
 Pacific coast were numerous ; but with the characteristic 
 secrecy of the time, they did not publish the results thereof 
 to the world at large. Some idea of it, however, gradually 
 made its way throughout Europe, and we soon find it assuming 
 shape on the cartographical representations. The Frankfort 
 globe of 1515, the Nuremberg one of 1520, and the Apianus 
 
24 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 map of the same date, all bear testimony to the fact. The 
 real knowledge of the Pacific ocean and its American coast 
 was very scant, and the cartographers did not possess even all 
 that the navigators and the Spanish government did. Ac- 
 cordingly the maps of that early time give us but the crudest 
 idea of this part of the New World. 
 
 We shall find, nevertheless, that for some time to come 
 many Europeans believed that North America was a part of 
 the great eastern stretch of Asia ; but from the third decade 
 of the sixteenth century it was established that at least South 
 America was separate therefrom, or at least only connected 
 with it perhaps by a long strait. In the year 1520, Magellan 
 passed through the strait that now bears his name, and called 
 the great body of water into which he thence issued " Mare 
 Pacificum." However, this discovery was not positively known 
 in Spain till two years afterward, when his ship returned to 
 Spain via the Cape of Good Hope ; though it had been thought 
 probable, from the report of some who had accompanied 
 Magellan into the strait, and had then abandoned him in 
 order to hurry back with the news of an enterprise but half 
 accomplished. But the Pacific coast of America was to be 
 explored mainly from the centre to the north and south, 
 not from either end toward the centre. The extension of 
 geographical knowledge must precede the cartographical rep- 
 resentation of that knowledge ; unless indeed we busy ourselves 
 with the fancies of men who were more anxious to attract the 
 public than to aid in the spread of scientific learning. Mr. 
 H. H. Bancroft has an interesting chapter on this very theme, 
 but it lies outside our purpose to deal with it. There had 
 already been exploring parties sent out from the isthmus in 
 the years 1514, 1515 and 1519, before Cortes conquered 
 Mexico ; but from the time that he was in possession of that 
 country, there was manifest a determination to know the 
 Pacific coast of the land more accurately, and preparations on 
 a large scale were made to explore that coast, especially toward 
 the north. Before the year 1522, Cortes had discovered three 
 
Development of Pacific-Coast Geography. 25 
 
 points on the coast from Tehiiantepec to Zacatula ; and this 
 same year there was an expedition sent out from the isthmus, 
 of which one portion under Gonzalez Davila, went by land to 
 Nicaragua, while the other, coasting northward, may have 
 gone as far as Tehuantepec, if the recorded distances are to be 
 believed. Ten years later, Hurtado de Mendoza reached the ) 
 coast of Sinaloa, opposite the southern extremity of Lower 
 California; and was followed the succeeding year (1533) by 
 Jiminez, who touched the southern point of the peninsula of ) 
 California, and supposed the whole to be an island. In 1539 
 Ulloa reached the head waters of the Gulf of California, \ 
 examining more or less closely both the east and west sides, 
 thus proving the peninsular form of Lower California ; he 
 touched its southernmost point, and sailed up its western coast 
 to the vicinity of Cedros Island, in twenty-nine degrees north. 
 The earliest accurate representation of any part of the Pacific 
 coast that we have, is that on the anonymous Spanish map of 
 1527, on which there is given the result of the discoveries at \\ 
 least as late as those of 1522 ; for at the most northerly point 
 is mentioned Sienna de gil Goncalez Dauila, evidently named 
 from the chief of the exploring party of that year, of which we 
 have already spoken. The southern discoveries appear to have 
 been unknown to the author of the map, as there is nothing 
 given south of the Gulf of San Miguel. The town of Panama, 
 w^iich had been founded in 1519, also finds place. This name 
 was probably abbreviated from that of Tubanamd, who, says 
 H. H. Bancroft, "was reputed the richest as well as the 
 strongest chieftain of these mountains, and was the terror of 
 the neighboring nations." In all there are 35 names on the 
 part of the Pacific coast here drawn, and there are also two 
 names inland, of which it is difficult to say whether they are 
 intended to designate places inland or on the coast. This same 
 year, Robert Thorne, residing at Seville, Spain, sent to England 
 his map of the world, on which the southern coast of Central 
 America is drawn, but he seems to have possessed no accurate 
 knowledge of its details. 
 
26 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 On the following map, that of Eibero, of 1529, the Pacific 
 coast-line extends southward to about the tenth degree of south 
 latitude, where we find the name, "chinchax/^ The whole 
 region is called ^Perv;' thus showing the acquaintance of the 
 author with the expedition of Pascual de Andogoya, who in 
 1522 sailed from Panama to a point six or seven days' journey 
 south of the Gulf of San Miguel, to the province under the 
 command of a chief named Bird. It was principally on 
 account of the information gained on this expedition that 
 Pizarro was later led to undertake the conquest of the rich 
 countries on the west coast of South America ; although as 
 early as the first exploration of Balboa, news of the existence 
 of great wealth south of the isthmus had been obtained ; 
 and Pizarro, it is worthy of remark, was one of Balboa's com- 
 panions on that occasion. The marvellous accounts of the 
 riches of Peru, which were substantiated by the great quanti- 
 ties of gold and pearls sent thence to the mother country, 
 excited widespread curiosity ; and adventurers in vast num- 
 bers thronged there. Fortunately for history, there came 
 also some with a literary turn, who have left us valuable 
 descriptions of what they there saw and learned. Pizarro 
 had secured from the Spanish crow^n the right of conquest 
 over a stretch of two hundred leagues along the coast; and 
 the right of conquest of the country further south was ceded 
 to another adventurer, by name Almagro. These, two, at first 
 friends and partners in the project, later became the most bit- 
 ter enemies; which fact, however, was probably to the advan- 
 tage of a rapid progress in the knowledge of the more southerly 
 parts ; for it compelled Almagro to seek his prize in the less 
 attractive and poorer south. So within a very few years after 
 the first discovery, the coast became known with a certain 
 degree of accuracy, as far south as the site of Valparaiso; 
 while the interior was fast being opened up to the conquerors. 
 In 1540 Alonzo de Camargo passed through the Straits of 
 Magellan, touched the coast of Chili at latitude 38 degrees 30 
 minutes south, and sailed on to Arequipa in Peru ; thus, so 
 
Development of FacifiG- Coast Geography, 27 
 
 far as known, completing for the first time the knowledge of 
 the outline of the South American coast. The knowledge thus 
 gained by Camargo was by no means perfect, if we are to judge 
 it by the maps of Ortelius and others, that represent the coast 
 of Chili projecting quite as far to the west as does Peru. This 
 however, should occasion no surprise on our part, when we 
 consider that these navigators were not employed in making 
 an accurate survey of the coast, but in the universal hunt for 
 gold. Moreover they had not the instruments to make 
 accurate observations, if they had cared to do so. When we 
 call to mind that this was in the days of Copernicus, to whom 
 was due "the overthrow of the Ptolemaic system and the total 
 renovation of the science of astronomy ; " and when we think 
 of the crudity of instruments and methods of even the foremost 
 astronomers of this time, should we wonder that simple, 
 practical pilots did not produce better results ? The wonder 
 is rather that many of them did so well under such adverse 
 circumstances. On the Nancy globe of about 1550, the 
 Pacific coast-line of South America is in general quite accu- 
 rately drawn ; and here we may leave the subject. Though 
 a number of the later maps still retain the old inaccuracies, 
 a fairly exact knowledge of the western coast of South 
 America had already been gained, not only by Spanish 
 explorers and their fellow countrymen, but also beyond that 
 country, to such an extent that we may be justified in asserting, 
 that from the middle of the sixteenth century, a fair knowledge 
 of the Pacific coast of South America had penetrated into the 
 mind of educated Europe. 
 
 We now come to a consideration of the geographical devel- 
 opment of the knowledge of the coast of California and the 
 north-western part of North America. Rumors of great 
 quantities of gold to be found in this direction also, caused 
 the Spaniards, for a series of years, to make voyages hither 
 from their newly conquered country of Mexico; but as 
 Nature here kept her secret most cunningly from them, they 
 gradually relinquished the search, did comparatively little to 
 
28 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 foster the settlements already begun there, yielded their claims 
 in part, first to the English, then to the United States ; and 
 were finally compelled by war to relinquish all to their now 
 more powerful neighbor. Then, as if by magic, the door of 
 Nature's treasure-house was opened, and all the world gazed 
 in wonder at the uncounted wealth poured out therefrom. 
 Still further to the north, a country of fine harbors and mag- 
 nificent scenery was gradually brought to a knowledge of the 
 Europeans ; but for a long period this region also was con- 
 sidered of but little value. Time, however, has shown that 
 sea and earth there are abundantly stored with riches, and it 
 requires only hardihood and energy to bring them to light. 
 
 Let us now follow somewhat in detail the growth of this 
 knowledge. The western coast of North America is in many 
 respects a striking contrast to the eastern. The mountains 
 are nearer the ocean and the coast-line is much less broken by 
 bays, inlets, and the mouths of large rivers. On this account 
 the early navigators were compelled to proceed warily, as the 
 good harbors were but feWj and these far distant from each 
 other. Moreover, the experience of a majority of the early 
 mariners on this part of the Pacific Ocean was such, that 
 they would never have conferred upon it the name given by 
 Magellan to its southern portion ; and it was only by slow 
 degrees that the entire body of water between America and 
 Asia came to be known by the name Pacific. The history of 
 the exploration of the western coast of the United States and 
 British America is a story of peril by storm and fog, in worm- 
 eaten ships, without proper supplies of food and water, and 
 in general of untold misery and death caused by privation 
 and exposure. 
 
 How much is due to Spanish exploration of the coast of 
 California can be summarized in brief. The first three decades 
 of the sixteenth century had passed without their getting much 
 if any to the north of the present southern boundary of the 
 United States. The most important expedition which they 
 sent out in this direction during the century was that of 1542, 
 
Development of Pacific- Codst Geography. 29 
 
 under Cabrillo, which in spite of fogs, storms and adverse 
 winds, slowly made its way along the coast toward the north, 
 giving names and making observations, till they thought they 
 had reached the latitude of the 44th parallel. Mr. H. H. Ban- 
 croft, who has made a careful analysis of the records of the 
 voyage, is of the opinion that Cabrillo himself reached no 
 higher than 42 degrees. But he died, and the explorations 
 were continued under his successor in command, Ferrelo; 
 and he may possibly have proceeded as far north as the 43d 
 parallel. Neither of them landed however north of Point 
 Conception, in latitude 34° 26'. During the whole of the 
 remainder of the sixteenth century the Spaniards did not 
 improve on the knowledge of these parts gained by this 
 expedition. 
 
 Though the Spanish government was doubtless promptly in 
 receipt of information as to the results of this voyage, that 
 knowledge failed for a long time to penetrate to the makers of 
 maps. The Nancy globe, already mentioned, has not a hint 
 of the existence of an ocean west of the present United States, 
 but represents Mexico as a southeasterly projection of Asia. 
 To the west of Mexico, here spelled Messico, is placed " Asia 
 Magna,'' and north of it, " Asia Orientalis ; '' while the Gulf 
 of Mexico is hardly recognizable under the appellation " Mare 
 Cathay um," the name then generally given to the Chinese 
 Sea. This supposed connection between the mainland of Asia 
 and the New World must never be lost sight of in studying 
 the geography of the period ; for it is the key to much that 
 would otherwise be absolutely nonsensical on the part of cos- 
 mographers of the time. 
 
 There was also another element of fancy that played an 
 important part in the geography of this period. The desire 
 to find a northern passage to the riches of India and Japan 
 had been expressed as early as the period of the Cabots. After 
 the discovery of the southern strait by Magellan, there was a I 
 fixed determination, especially on the part of England and 
 France, to find a corresponding passage in the north. What 
 
30 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 men earnestly long for, they frequently come to believe true 
 and practicable; which characteristic of human nature resulted 
 in this case in the appearance of actual descriptions, nay even 
 pictures, of a northerly strait connecting the xltlantic and 
 Pacific, which no one had ever seen or passed through. Spanish 
 discoveries produced the separation, on the maps, of the 
 southern part of North America from the mainland of Asia. 
 But it was the belief in the imaginary Straits of Anian that 
 
 f first brought upon the maps a representation of North America 
 as a great continent absolutely separate from the Orient. 
 Many maps of the period serve to illustrate what has just 
 been said. The earliest representation of this known to me 
 
 •< is the Schoener globe of 1523, where a broad open strait in the 
 far north connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Perhaps 
 
 1 the best known of them all was that of Ortelius, published in 
 1570 in his great work entitled "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.'' 
 On his map of the world, an unbroken coast-line extends from 
 the Straits of Magellan in 52 degrees south to " Anian,'^ 
 which is placed between 60 and 65 degrees north latitude. 
 
 I As this was one of the maps in the first of modern atlases, 
 and its author enjoyed the reputation of being, after Mercator, 
 the greatest geographer of the age, we may well understand 
 how the work became popular, and went through five revised 
 editions during the author's life time, and became the common 
 foundation for many geographies compiled by later writers. 
 
 In 1579, Francis Drake, on his famous voyage round the 
 world, landed on the western coast of North America, proba- 
 bly at about 43 degrees north latitude. Thence he coasted 
 toward the south until he found a convenient harbor where he 
 could beach his ship. Here he remained a month ; and while 
 the ship was being repaired, some little inland exploring was 
 also done. The point where he first landed and the harbor 
 where he passed a month are both subjects of sharp contro- 
 versy. The errors in astronomical reckoning, common at 
 that period, have been already touched upon. Nor is it easy 
 to fix, by the meagre description left us, the locality visited. 
 
Development of Pacific- Coast Geography. 31 
 
 Accuracy of observation and statement is rarely found, except 
 where men are trained to it, and a description of only the 
 general characteristics of a harbor might answer for any one 
 of several ports. That Drake's halting place was the present 
 Bay of San Francisco seems to us highly improbable, for two 
 reasons: 1, that a month's sojourn in such a magnificent 
 harbor, on a coast where even passably good harbors are rare, 
 would have called forth such exclamations of unusual surprise 
 and pleasure on the part of the chronicler of the expedition 
 as we do not find ; and 2, that it is not more probable that 
 Drake found the Golden Gate than other navigators who had 
 passed and repassed along that coast, without ever suspecting 
 the existence thereof. Just outside the entrance to the Bay 
 of San Francisco are several islets that, to a navigator 
 feeling his way along ap unknown coast, would rather lead 
 him to steer for the open sea than attract him to search behind 
 them for a magnificent harbor which lies not only behind 
 those islands, but in truth so encircled by the long arms of 
 the mainland that, from the sea, there appears to be not even 
 promise of a safe shelter. And the fact remains, that the bay 
 remained unknown, at least to the Spaniards, until discovered 
 in 1769 by accident, from the land side. Drake called the 
 region along whose coast he had sailed, New Albion ; and 
 this name long continued to appear on maps of this part of 
 America ; while England afterwards laid claim to the whole 
 of this part of the continent on the strength of Drake's dis- 
 coveries. 
 
 Ten years after Drake's voyage a well known map of the 
 world was published by Hakluyt, the greatest collector of his ^ 
 day of information as to everything relating to voyages of 
 discovery. On this map we see America represented as 
 entirely distinct from Asia, although their separation was not 
 proven till the &mous voyage of Behring, nearly 140 years 
 later. But the imaginary Strait of Anian is there, that much 
 dreamed-of passage in the north from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific. On the mainland, at about 60 degrees north, there 
 
32 Ame7ica: Its Geographical History. 
 
 appears the name " Anian regnum/^ Kingdom of Anian, which 
 is bounded by the aforesaid imaginary strait. This body of 
 water tends first toward the northeast till it reaches between 
 70 and 80 degrees of north latitude, and then runs due east 
 till it connects with the Atlantic Ocean. But the whole region 
 north of 40 degrees, as depicted, is manifestly imaginary, and 
 from its appearance, convinces the beholder that the compiler 
 knew nothing of that which he was attempting to represent. 
 At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Spanish 
 government sent out another, and practically a last expedi- 
 tion to make discoveries on the western coast of the present 
 United States. It was under the command of Vizcaino, and 
 so far as we know, went but little if any further north than 
 Cabrillo and Ferrelo had done more than half a century ante- 
 cedent. However, a map was made showing the results of the 
 voyage, which map displays a more exact acquaintance with 
 the coast than any previous one had done; and this map was 
 not improved upon for a century and a half following. Already 
 we find a number of local names that have since remained per- 
 manent. There are Cape Mendocino, and Cape San Lucas ; 
 also the names Monterey and San Diego, here applied also to 
 capes, and to-day the names of cities in their respective vicini- 
 ties. The island of Santa Barbara also had been already given 
 the name that it still bears. But such expeditions were expen- 
 sive both in life and treasure ; and as they did not bring in 
 the desired return of gold, the Spanish government could not 
 be induced to continue them. The Indians had learned by 
 this time to play upon the imagination of the Spaniards ; and 
 wherever the latter came, asking for information as to where 
 gold was to be found, they heard a story of marvelous riches 
 still further to the north. But as the place of immense riches 
 ever receded like the will-o^-the-wisp, from the path of the 
 Spaniards, they became weary in the pursuit:, and gradually 
 relinquished it. From now on, their chief thought as to the 
 north was, lest another nation should find a northwest passage 
 to the Pacific. 
 
Development of Padfic-Cbast Geography. 33 
 
 There was a long cessation of explorations in this vicinity 
 during the seventeenth century ; but nevertheless geographical 
 works continued to be published, as did also descriptions of 
 travels, illustrated with maps; and for all of these works 
 maps were made, their authors but too often supplying from 
 their imagination what they lacked in actual knowledge. 
 During this period was spread abroad the fable that Cali- 
 fornia was an island. As early as 1539, the Spaniards had 
 already, as we have seen, explored the Gulf of California to 
 its head waters, and had satisfied themselves of the peninsular 
 character of the body of land lying to the west. The original 
 source of the error in representing it as an island, is not dis- 
 closed to us; but so far as known the first such representation 
 of it is that on the map which Purchas published in his cele- 
 brated book called the Pilgrims, in the year 1625. The island 
 extends from Cape S. Lucas in 23 degrees north to Cape Blanco 
 in 42 degrees north. The general trend of the Pacific coast 
 between these points is well drawn ; but inland there runs an 
 imaginary strait almost due north from the Gulf of California 
 to about the 42d parallel, and there it empties into a bay formed 
 like the Bay of Biscay, in a great right angle. The error thus 
 given to the world long continued to deceive the public as to 
 the true geography of the region.^ Although the results of 
 Drake's voyage must then have been well known in England, 
 there is nothing on this map which would lead us to suspect 
 that its maker had any knowledge of the great bay which is 
 to-day the pride of Californians. 
 
 ^ An inscription in the S. W. corner of the map reads as follows : " Cali- 
 fornia sometyines supposed to be a part of y^ westerne continent, but scince 
 by a Spanish charte taken by y« Hollanders it is found to be a goodly Islande ; 
 the length of the west shoare beeing about 500 leagues from Cape Mendo- 
 cino to the South Cape thereof called Cape St. Lucas; as appeareth both 
 by that Spanish chart and by the relation of Francis Gaule whereas in the 
 ordinarie Charts it is sett downe to be 1700 leagues." Worthy of remark 
 is the fact that another map in the same volume gives quite a satisfactory, ^ 
 representation of the Gulf and Peninsula of California. 
 
 3 
 
34 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Early Spanish and English navigators had failed to explore 
 the western coast of America further north than the 43d or 
 44th parallel of latitude. There remained yet a vast unknown 
 northwest, about which speculation was rife ; but which hardly 
 promised to pay for the trouble of its exploration. As far as 
 any knowledge to the contrary went, North America was 
 still a mere projection or elongation of Asia ; though it was 
 devoutly hoped and suspected that the contrary was true. 
 The absolute knowledge of the fact was to be revealed by a 
 man of a nationality which up to that time had not taken part 
 in exploring the New World, and who was in the service of a 
 nation that was looked upon by its neighbors as little better 
 than barbarous. Among the many new ventures undertaken 
 in the reign of Peter the Great of Russia, one of the prominent 
 ones was that of the exploration and settlement of Siberia. 
 During his life various parties had been organized and sent 
 out for this purpose ; and the same policy was continued after 
 his death. In order to carry out his great improvements in 
 Russian life, manufactures, etc., Peter the Great had found it 
 necessary to import into his realm many foreigners, in great 
 part Germans. Among these latter came one named Vitus 
 
 ' Bering, or Behring, a man of almost forbidding aspect, but ener- 
 getic and capable, at least in his earlier undertakings. Being 
 both foreign and repellent in manner, he succeeded in making 
 himself cordially hated by his Russian subordinates. Yet it is 
 to this man that we owe the first demonstration of the fact that 
 Russia and America are indeed separate continents. Having 
 crossed the great wastes of Siberia, he built a ship on the 
 
 I eastern coast; and in the summer of 1728 he passed East 
 Cape, the most easterly point of Asia, whence the land turns 
 abruptly toward the west. Although from this point the 
 coast of America is but 36 miles distant, nothing of the west- 
 ern continent was seen on this voyage, by Behring and his men. 
 However, at this we should not be surprised, as the region is 
 one where fogs prevail for a considerable portion of the year. 
 Two years later, we are told, '^Krupiscef and Gwozdef, 
 
Development of FaciJiG- Coast Geography. 35 
 
 following Behring, actually came in sight of the American 
 continent, along which they coasted southward for two days " 
 (H. H. Bancroft). However, nothing definite seems to be 
 known as to the exact region thus visited. After their first 
 essay, Behring and his men spent several years in preparations 
 and quarrelling, and in 1741 they started out again on the ^ 
 waters of the northern Pacific, determined this time to find 
 America, They had two ships, the second one being in com- 
 mand of a Russian named Chirikof On the voyage Behring 
 seems to have displayed such a spirit of weak vacillation that 
 one is tempted to think him in his dotage. The two vessels 
 became separated, and that under Chirikof was the first to "^ 
 sight land, probably near the present Sitka. Somewhat later 
 Behring came in sight of Mount St. Elias, from which point 
 he sailed first west and then soutliwest, and discovered the 
 Shumagin Islands, south of the western extremity of the 
 Alaskan peninsula, to which islands he gave their present 
 name. Steering thence for Siberia, he was wrecked on a little 
 island that still bears his name. There he succumbed to the 
 hardships and privations that had filled so large a portion of 
 his life. Some of his companions, however, managed to eke 
 out an existence through the winter. Among other booty, 
 they succeeded in killing some seals, whose furs they took 
 back with them to Siberia, when finally rescued. Thus the 
 seal may be said to have been discovered; and to that dis- 
 covery is due the fact, that henceforth this region has attracted 
 an ever increasing number of daring sailors to its shores. As 
 a result of these discoveries, the Academy of Sciences of St. 
 Petersburg, published in 1758 a map of Alaska, with the l 
 names in the French language. It shows various points from 
 Behring strait south, to what it designates as the ^' Port of 
 Francis Drake, falsely called the Port of St. Francis.'' The 
 portions of the coast-line still unknown are marked by dotted 
 lines, which connect in a conventional manner the heavy lines 
 of the known coast. The routes of Behring and Chirikof are 
 also laid down. 
 
36 America: Its Geographioal History, 
 
 During the same year that saw the completion of the dis- 
 covery of the northeast coast of Asia by Behring, there was 
 
 I born, of humble parentage, in England, James Cook, who was 
 destined to become one of the greatest navigators of the age. 
 Into his early career we have no time to enter. His last work 
 was to seek from the Pacific side the long wished-for north- 
 ern passage to the Atlantic. Leaving the Sandwich Islands, 
 which he had discovered, he sailed toward America in the 
 
 ( summer of 1778, and first sighted the mainland near the 
 43d parallel. Thence he followed the coast toward the 
 north, approaching it at various points. He entered Nootka 
 Sound, and adopted for it the aboriginal name, which still 
 appears on our maps. Far to the north he entered, with high 
 hope of succeeding in his mission, a promising inlet. However, 
 his progress was soon blocked by land, and he returned to the 
 open ocean. The inlet retains to-day the name of its hardy 
 discoverer. Nothing daunted, he pushed on farther toward 
 the north, examining islands and mainland, ever hoping and 
 ever doomed to renewed disappointment, till at last his pro- 
 gress was arrested by impenetrable ice. The neighboring 
 cape he named Icy Point; whence, forced to abandon his 
 project, he turned again toward the sunny south. He made a 
 map of the coast, embodying the results, not only of his own 
 observations, but also all that he could learn of the Russian 
 explorations. With this voyage, the discovery of the western 
 coast of America may be said to have been completed, at least 
 in outline, though a vast deal remained for navigators to 
 explore regarding the details thereof. And here we leave the 
 subject. 
 
 This sketch of the historical development of the coast lines 
 of America in the consciousness of Europe would not be com- 
 plete without some notice of the representations of an imag- 
 inary Antarctic continent south of the Straits of Magellan, and 
 the substitution therefor of the complex of islands now known 
 to exist there. On Magellan's first entrance into the strait, 
 fires were seen along the coast, whence he gave it the name it 
 
Development of Facific- Coast Geography. 37 
 
 has ever since borne, Terra del Fuego, or Land of Fire. From 
 the days of Ptolemy, it was a matter of tradition that the Indian 
 Ocean, like the Mediterranean, was an inland sea ; and that 
 consequently there must exist to the south of it another, as 
 yet unknown continent. Long before Magellan's discovery, 
 there appeared on Behaim's globe a strait represented very 
 nearly in the position of the one found by that explorer ; and 
 south of it there was drawn a great continent. The represen- 
 tations of this mythic body of land are larger or smaller, 
 according to the liveliness of imagination of their respective 
 authors. On some maps there is drawn a continent with its 
 centre at the south pole, and extending thence to an enormous 
 distance in all directions. On others it is much smaller, but 
 still of great extent; while the famous maps of 1527 and 1529 
 already referred to several times, give us but the small extent 
 of coast-line, which had been actually seen by the navigators, 
 and leaves the rest out, to.be supplied from later explorations. 
 In 1578 Francis Drake passed through the straits on his voyage 
 round the world, and then sailed to the southwest until he 
 sighted the end of this group of islands, and convinced him- 
 self that there was no continent there. In 1616 two Dutch 
 navigators named Lemaire and Schouten passed south of the 
 group from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and christened the 
 southern extremity Cape Hoorn, after the latter's native place, 
 a small town on the shores of the Zuyder Zee. Thus the 
 extent of this group of islands became known. However, the 
 non-existence of an Antarctic continent was not proven until 
 Captain Cook made his famous explorations in the south seas, 
 discovering and naming numbers of groups of islands, but 
 finding no trace of the enormous continent that geographers 
 had represented as existing there. Thus actual knowledge 
 took the place of ignorance, and the Untrue was shamed away 
 when exposed to the searching light of day. 
 
III. 
 
 Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 
 
 After Columbus had once shown the way across the Atlantic, 
 it was a comparatively easy matter to follow in his wake, and 
 extend the voyage somewhat further along the coast than he 
 had done ; likewise, after Magellan had penetrated the mys- 
 teries of the straits that now bear his name, the discovery of 
 the Pacific coasts was made possible in ships sailing from 
 Europe. But the exploration of the interior of the country, 
 traversed by unbridged streams and lofty mountain ranges, 
 and largely filled with almost impenetrable forests, was an 
 entirely different matter. We have seen in the preceding 
 lecture how many difficulties and dangers accompanied the 
 short route of Balboa across the Isthmus of Panama ; yet that 
 was but a bagatelle to what must be undergone before the 
 whole vast continent could be opened to and subjugated by 
 the European and his descendants. 
 
 The work here was not only more difficult in itself, but it 
 lacked also the strong motive, especially in North America, 
 which attracted the earliest navigators, namely, the presence 
 of the precious metals. Very possibly, it is owing to this fact, 
 that the entire North American continent is not, like the 
 South American, now in the hands of the Latin races ; for the 
 Spaniards made numerous attempts to explore and settle the 
 north, so long as there seemed to be a possibility of finding 
 gold there ; and only retired from the struggle when convinced 
 of its non-existence. Otherwise the struggle for the possession 
 of the northern part of our continent would have been a 
 38 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 39 
 
 three-fold one ; and who can tell what would have been 
 its issue? 
 
 Another fact must also be borne in mind, and that is the 
 then backward state of mathematical geography. Errors of five 
 degrees of latitude have already been noticed ; but in longitude 
 the uncertainty was even greater, navigators misreckoning 
 therein even to the extent of twenty degrees. Consequently, 
 even after the Pacific coast was to a certain extent known, no 
 one could tell the exact relation between it and the Atlantic, 
 or could calculate the immense stretch of country that lies 
 between the two. The great river basins of the Amazon 
 and La Plata offered unusual facilities for penetrating to the 
 interior of the southern continent, while the silver of the one 
 region, and the famous hard woods of the other, lent the 
 necessary stimulus to their exploration ; and on the Pacific 
 coast, the wealth of Peru was an attraction which would have 
 induced the Spaniards to go through fire and water, if necessary, 
 to obtain it. The same is true of Mexico, where the natives 
 had already reached a considerable degree of civilization, and 
 where accordingly provisions during the march of the invader 
 were more easily obtainable; the country was comparatively 
 narrow from coast to coast, and great wealth was there ready 
 collected for the first brave adventurer who, with the products 
 of European skill, should contend against the arms of native 
 manufacture. But, in the territory now occupied by the 
 United States, which in reality is marvelously rich in the 
 precious metals, the early seekers after gold were not successful 
 in finding it, and eventually abandoned the search. For this 
 reason, much of the 3,000,000 square miles which form our 
 territory was allowed to remain in its pristine state until a 
 comparatively late period, when the discovery of vast quan- 
 tities of gold and silver acted with its old-time attractiveness, 
 and thousands rushed thither to seek their fortunes. Even 
 Canada and a great part of British North America were known 
 long before our western territory, because man had first dis- 
 covered there wealth-producing articles. 
 
40 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 The cartographical productions of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries have a rather strange appearance to eyes 
 acquainted only with recent maps. 
 
 Take, for example, the map of Juan de la Cosa, who neces- 
 sarily knew nothing of the interior of America. He filled it 
 up with lakes and rivers ad libitum^ connecting all rivers with 
 lakes, but not all with the sea. Furthermore he gives names 
 on the coast to rivers, as in the case of Rio Negro, but draws 
 nothing to indicate the presence of flowing water there. The 
 same holds good of the early maps generally, until the con- 
 quest of Mexico gave cartographers something outside of their 
 imaginations as a foundation for what they depicted beyond 
 the coast-lines. The power of imagination varied with the 
 indiv^idual ; but practically all have more or less of the fan- 
 tastic, if we except such unusual productions as the of&cial 
 Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529. Mountains were often visi- 
 ble from the ships of the explorers, and mouths of rivers were 
 frequently entered for fresh water, or in hopes of finding the 
 traditional passage to the Pacific; thus these two features were 
 the first to attract the attention of the explorers, and conse- 
 quently were the first features of the interior to appear on the 
 maps ; but little, however, was known of the courses of the 
 rivers or of the nature of the mountain ranges. Naturally the 
 interior of Espagnola, and of some of the other islands, was 
 familiar to the Spaniards at an early date ; but our attention, in 
 the short time allotted us, must be confined to the mainland. 
 During the conquest of Mexico, Cortes began the founding of 
 cities on the eastern seaboard; and as early as May, 1522, 
 he founded Zacatula on the western coast, a city that still 
 remains in existence. In the meantime, the necessities of 
 the situation had compelled him to send parties of his men 
 in all directions, so that the country was fairly well explored 
 in a short space of time. More or less elaborate accounts 
 of all his doings were sent from time to time to Spain, where 
 he had to defend his reputation from the accusations of his 
 enemies, mainly by showing how much he was doing toward 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions, 41 
 
 opening up a valuable country for his sovereign. Hither and 
 thither marched his troops, conquering and pillaging ; making 
 roads and discovering deposits of the precious metals ; ever 
 extending their borders toward both north and south. In 
 Central America, Cortes' men soon arrived at districts already- 
 explored by his countrymen coming from the Isthmus of 
 Darien. But toward the north lay a territory of unknown 
 extent, in which Indian tales placed seven cities of untold 
 wealth ; and these stories, it w^as, that lead to the exploration 
 and settlement of New Mexico, at a time when the eastern 
 coast of the present United States possessed not a single Euro- 
 pean inhabitant. It may as well here be added that the settle- 
 ment did not thrive, and for a long period, even till toward 
 the close of the eighteenth century, was, in the words of Mr. 
 H. H. Bancroft, "struggling not very zealously, for a bare 
 existence." From 1530 to 1540 various exploring parties 
 traversed this region, reaching perhaps as far north as the 
 fortieth parallel of latitude, and westward into the present 
 territory of Arizona. Several Indian towns were discovered, 
 but they contained very little wealth. However, from this 
 time forth we find on the maps a variety of names, in the 
 interior, sometimes of provinces, sometimes of towns, but 
 generally of uncertain location, as scarcely any two maps agree 
 in this particular. 
 
 During the fourth decade of the sixteenth century, Cartier 
 ascended the river St. Lawrence for 500 miles, passing the 
 site of Montreal, and probably reaching the St. Louis Falls. 
 At the end of the same decade, De Soto commenced, in the 
 south, his ill-fated expedition into the interior. As the rem- 
 nant of De Soto's daring adventurers brought back practically 
 all the information of the interior of the present United States, 
 south of Tennessee and east of the Mississippi, which was 
 gained for a century, it will be worth our while to follow for 
 a moment their supposed route. After a careful study of the 
 records, Mr. H. H. Bancroft is of the opinion that their route 
 was about as follow^s : — landing at Tampa Bay, they proceeded 
 
 / 
 
42 Ameinca: Its Geographical History, 
 
 to near Tallahassee; thence northeast to the Savannah River 
 below Augusta ; thence northwest to the line of the present 
 state of Tennessee near Dalton, Georgia ; thence southwest to 
 near Mobile Bay, whence they turned toward the northwest 
 and advanced to the famous discovery of the Mississippi, 
 which they first saw not far from the mouth of the Arkansas. 
 Crossing the stream, they penetrated far to the west, without 
 finding that rich kingdom of which they were in search ; and 
 returned, deeply disappointed, to the Mississippi, where the 
 leader gave up the ghost, and was secretly buried beneath 
 those waters, the history of which will ever be associated with 
 his name. De Soto was succeeded in command by Luis de 
 Moscoso, under whom the band, greatly reduced in numbers, 
 again turned to the west, marched 150 leagues, till they came 
 in sight of the mountains ; then for the last time retraced 
 their course to the Mississippi above the Arkansas, where they, 
 with great difficulty, constructed some frail craft, in which 
 they succeeded in reaching Panuco; and there they found 
 rest among their fellow-countrymen. As the result of this 
 expedition, many names of Indian tribes came to the knowledge 
 of the Spaniards — names which are found, from time to time, on 
 our maps ; but with the same result as has been before noticed, 
 namely, that their locality is by no means fixed. During 
 this same fourth decade of the sixteenth century, the conquest 
 of Peru was being vigorously prosecuted ; accounts of which 
 brought considerable knowledge of the interior of South 
 America to European cartographers. A little earlier, Sebastian 
 Cabot was making his extended researches into the geography 
 of the basin of the river La Plata, spending five years in the 
 work, and penetrating a thousand miles into the interior; 
 while at the beginning of the fifth decade, Orellana made his 
 descent of the Amazon from the Andes, thus bringing to light 
 the enormous length of that mighty stream. About the 
 middle of the century, Irala, the governor of Buenos Ayres, 
 organized an exploring party which forced a way overland 
 to the Spanish possessions of Peru, and thereby opened 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 43 
 
 communication by land between the Atlantic and Pacific 
 coasts. 
 
 Meantime the cartographers came slowly into possession 
 of the knowledge acquired by the discoverers; but their 
 representations gave much less information than the written 
 descriptions. On the Spanish map of 1527, several territorial 
 divisions are named, of which the most important is Nova 
 Spafia ; and near this name, we find that of Mexico, but with- 
 out anything to indicate to what the latter refers. The north- 
 east corner of South America is designated by its present 
 name of El Brasil, while the northwest portion receives the 
 appellation of ^Castila del Oro.' The Amazon under the 
 name of ' Maranhom/ flows from many sources in the south- 
 west. Ribero's map of two years later contains but little that 
 is new, giving the imaginary courses of several rivers, notably 
 the San Francisco of South America. It names the province 
 of Peru, which is lacking on the preceding ; and adds several 
 names in North America, from those of explorers, or would-be 
 founders of colonies, but in whose territories there were as yet 
 no Caucasian inhabitants. We note also the name ^ Tiera de 
 Patagones,' that given by Magellan to the inhabitants of the 
 southernmost portion of the western continent; and there 
 appears for the first time in Central America the name 
 "• Guatimala." 
 
 On an Italian map of 1534, the great interior of South 
 America is styled ' Castiglia nuova over Perv,' which recalls 
 the name of the province ceded to Pizarro by the Spanish 
 government, before the conquest of the region, and the adop- 
 tion by the Spaniards of the native name, or a corruption of 
 the same ; for as has been already said, it was also called at 
 an early day Birti. The Spanish name, however, occurs but 
 seldom on maps, the native term from the first taking the lead 
 in popular usance, and the official usage being gradually altered 
 in accordance therewith. On the Oxford map of about 1536, 
 is the name ^ rio de la platta,' which I have not noticed on any 
 earlier map, though from this time forth it occurs frequently. 
 
44 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 and finally becomes general. Thus we see how maps grow, if 
 the term be allowed ; for one cartographer not only copies what 
 his predecessors have drawn upon their works, but seeks to add 
 thereto from his own stock of information. Thus it is, that 
 the connection between descriptive and pictorial geography 
 must ever be borne in mind, as both belong to the science, and 
 are equally necessary to its advancement ; the one, however, 
 necessarily following the other, in order to show clearly at a 
 glance, the really important matters which might otherwise 
 cost hours of laborious reading to understand. On the map 
 of J. E,otz, of 1542, which gives the names in the English 
 language, the Gulf of St. Lawrence is quite correctly drawn, 
 though the islands in and about it are largely imaginary in 
 their form and number. The whole map indicates that some 
 knowledge of the results of Cartier's voyages had already pene- 
 trated to England. On the Medina map of 1549, the " R. de 
 los Amazones" rises in the northwestern part of South America 
 and flows in a southeasterly direction, emptying into the ocean 
 at 5 or 6 degrees south latitude, where it receives the name 
 ' maraflon,' thus embodying upon a printed map the results 
 of a noted voyage made within the same decade. Of about 
 the same time are two French maps which Kohl reproduces 
 for us, and on which the St. Lawrence for a considerable 
 distance from its mouth, is fairly well drawn ; but on one it 
 is cut off, as being unknown further inland, while on the other 
 it is represented as rising in mountains. 
 
 On the map of 1554 by John Bellero, there are several 
 features worthy of notice, as for instance that the Amazon is 
 represented as rising in Patagonia, and flowing northeast into 
 the Atlantic, the whole with the name ^ R. de esclavos.' In 
 Central America appear ^ Quatimala ' and ^ Nicaragua.' The 
 name Florida appears twice, being applied in one case to the 
 peninsula alone, and in the other, apparently to the entire ter- 
 ritory north of the Gulf of Mexico. This map was exceed- 
 ingly popular ; was published in connection with two works 
 this same year (1554), and repeated many times within the 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 45 
 
 following fifteen years. On the almost equally celebrated map 
 of Ramusio of 1556, the southern part of South America is 
 occupied by the province of " Chili/' out of which flows the 
 " Rio Maragnon '' northeastward, with its mouth at the 
 equator.^ The territory to the west of it is designated ** El 
 Peru/' and that to the East, '^ Brazil." In the neighborhood 
 of the city of Mexico stands the name * Tecoantepech,' evidently 
 the Tehuantepec of our day. The names of the principal places 
 of Peru already appear ; and we find on this map Trugillo 
 [Truxillo], Lima, Acequipa [Arequipa], Cusco, and a ^ Chili' 
 in smaller letters than those which seem to apply to the whole 
 of the southern portion of the continent. One noteworthy 
 feature of the map is that, according to Mr. Bancroft, it " is 
 the first printed representation of North America as it was 
 actually know^n ; that is, with indications of a broad continent, 
 but all left blank beyond the points of discovery." On the 
 Zaltieri map of 1566, the interior is elaborated to an unusual 
 extent. In Canada the " R. S. Lorenzo " flows southeast out 
 of " Lago ; " and near it are the localities " Ochelaza " and 
 " Ochelai." To the south is " Larcadia," and west of this 
 stands " Terra di Norumbega." The whole interior is filled 
 with Mountains ; and a range in the northwest receives the 
 name "Apalchen/' out of which form has evidently been 
 developed the present name of the eastern mountain range of 
 the United States, Appalachian. " Granata " is the general 
 name on this map for the region later known as New Mexico ; 
 and several towns are indicated, but none of those now exist- 
 ing. Mexico is well supplied with names, among which are 
 noted " Temistitain " and " Mistecui," probably Italianized 
 forms of Temixtitlan and Mexico. On the Ortelius map of 
 1570, with all its richness of detail, and large measure of 
 accuracy, there is a confused representation of the Amazon 
 which is striking. Between the equator and the twentieth 
 parallel south there are drawn two large rivers, rising in the 
 
 ^ The river is similarly represented on the Furlani map of 1660. 
 
46 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 Andes, and flowing in almost parallel courses toward the east, 
 and connecting in the middle. The northern one is called 
 " Amazonum uel Oregliana fl.," and the southern one, " Mar- 
 agnon/' Near the mouth of the latter is the inscription : "jR^o 
 Maragnone cuius ostium distat ah ostio Amazonis ft. 10 ^ lends 
 teste TheiuioP How this confusion arose it would be interest- 
 ing to know; but it is not here the place to go into possible 
 explanations, none of which would be better than conjecture. 
 On the Judaeis map of 1593 are to be found some interesting 
 statements, as in the far west : "7?i his montibus habitant diversae 
 nationes qui continuis bellis inter se conflictantur : Avanares, 
 Albardi, Calicuas, Tagil, Apalchen pluresque aliae^ The 
 eastern part of the territory now occupied by the United States 
 is divided into " Fraucia Nov^a," ^ Virginia,' and ^ Carolina.' 
 In Virginia a mountain range running east and west has 
 near it the name ' Apalchen,' while the mountains separating 
 this English territory from the French one of Carolina, bear 
 the inscription ^^Apalatei monies in guibus aurum et argentumJ^ 
 Quite a number of local names occur both in the east and west, 
 and Canada is fairly well represented". The latter half of the 
 sixteenth century was on the whole rather barren of results in 
 the growth of geographical knowledge of America, and we 
 find very little that is new, either in books of description or on 
 the maps. 
 
 The opening of the seventeenth century saw the establish- 
 ment of a permanent French settlement in Canada, and a 
 lasting colony of English planted in Virginia ; and from these 
 two centres explorations into the interior were made, and 
 maps thereof drawn, so that from this time on we see the 
 continual growth of the inland geography of the main portion 
 of the northern continent. The French penetrated to the 
 north and west of the head waters of the St. Lawrence, brought 
 to light the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains beyond, 
 and did also some exploring in the present New England, 
 where they came into collision with the English. The intrepid 
 John Smith, setting out from the struggling colony of James- 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 47 
 
 town, explored the waters of the neighboring bay and rivers, 
 and the Atlantic coast-line up through New England. French 
 exploration went on more rapidly than the English, because 
 of the religious zeal of the former's monastic orders. On the 
 other hand, the English colonists had come to stay and make 
 homes for themselves ; and, with the exception of such rare 
 enthusiastic spirits as John Smith, they did but little exploring 
 merely for the sake of seeing the country, when they were 
 not seeking a place to found a new colony. Before the middle 
 of the century, the sea-board between the French on the north 
 and Virginia on the south was occupied by several colonies 
 from the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as from England ; 
 and the general maps soon began to show something of a 
 political aspect. Already on the map published by Hakluyt 
 in 1589 there was an attempt to draw boundary lines, the 
 first map on which we have observed anything of the kind. 
 In North America there are only four divisions: — 1, the 
 great northwest, containing the legend ' America sive India 
 Nova ; ' 2, to the northeast was * Nova Francia ; ' 3, south of 
 this, ' Florida,' and the remainder to the isthmus ^ Hispania 
 noua.' South America is divided into five great provinces : 
 ' Caribana ' in the north ; ' Humos Brasi,' from the mouth of 
 the Amazon east ; ' Chiba ' in the south ; ' Peru ' in the west ; 
 while the centre, between the middle Amazon and the Plata, 
 received the name * Amazones.' The second map of this 
 nature, known to us, is a French map of about 1640, the 
 original of which is in the Dep6t de la Marine of Paris. This 
 is a rude map without lines of latitude and longitude, and the 
 coast-lines by no means accurately drawn ; but it is interesting 
 as showing the conception of the division of the continent, at 
 that time probably accepted by the French. The basin of the 
 St. Lawrence, which forms by far the largest part of the map, 
 has no specific name. Far to the northwest is tlie " Lac des 
 hurons," out of which a river flows toward the southeast, which 
 empties into the St. Lawrence just east of the ^ lac s louis.' 
 Southwest from the latter are ' lac francois,' ^ lac Ontario ' and 
 
48 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 ' Lac erie/ ^ Lac Champlain ' is also given, much distorted 
 in form. From the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Atlantic coast 
 stretches almost due west, is indented with bays and rivers, 
 and the whole territory divided into six districts, which, 
 beginning in the east, are designated as follows : — " lacadia," 
 " la nouuelle angleterre,'' " la nouuelle holande/' " la nouuelle 
 suede,'' " la uirginie,'' and " la floride." These are all marked 
 off, the one from the other, by definite lines, and a mountain 
 range separates them on the north from Canada. We may 
 as well here note a peculiar feature of this map, which recurs 
 on a number of other early maps, that is the fact that a con- 
 tinuous watercourse connects the Atlantic, on the New England 
 coast, with the river St. Lawrence. We see thus the rude 
 beginnings of political geography, that side of the science 
 wiiich at present attracts the most popular attention. It seems 
 hard to realize that the vast territory, the political aspect of 
 which could, two hundred and fifty years ago, be sufficiently 
 represented in such crude form, is now filled with an immense 
 population ; and that a good map of it should represent 
 innumerable boundary lines of country, state, and county ; 
 and contain hundreds of dots showing the situation of as many 
 cities, towns, and villages. 
 
 As early as 1609 we find a map of Lescarbot, giving some 
 of the political features of Canada ; for instance, " Kebec " 
 appears for the first time, and there are also "Saincte Croix," 
 "Sagenay," "Hochelaga," etc. For the town last named 
 there is on the map a drawing of five houses within a stockade, 
 the whole surmounted by the French jkur-de-lis. The river 
 Kennebec is called " Kinibeki," probably the native name as 
 the French understood it, from which the present form has 
 been abridged. The French discovery of the Iroquois Indians 
 is here brought to light, and the name is used twice, as desig- 
 nating respectively a country and a river. The rivers of St. 
 John and St. Croix are drawn almost parallel, and empty 
 into the Bay of Fundy which is distorted ; their names are 
 spelled, "R. S. Jan" and " Saincte Croix." In the 1625 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 49 
 
 edition of Purchas there is a very well drawn map of this 
 region, on which quite a number of names occur that are 
 not found on other maps, as Clyde and Twede for the St. John 
 and St. Croix respectively; Cape Cod receives its present 
 name and is better drawn than on any previous map noted. 
 The then new settlement of Plymouth is placed considerably 
 further north than Cape Cod. " De la war bay" is evidently 
 the Chesapeake, for into it flow the rivers on which are the 
 settlements of ^^ James Citti" and "Henrico," while at its 
 mouth are capes Charles and " Henric." However, no other 
 bay is given as lying between this and the Hudson river. 
 " New Scotlande " includes all of the territory now occupied 
 by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. On de Laet's map of 
 " Florida et Regiones Vicinae," of the same year, the interior 
 is well filled with Indian names of native villages, to which 
 are added those of European origin, such as " S. Augustin " 
 of Florida, " Charlesfort " near " Port Royal " in the present 
 South Carolina, etc. " Apalatcy Montes," and a district under 
 the name " Apalache " attract also our attention, because of 
 their evident relation to modern well known names. No. 91, 
 of the Kohl Collection, reproduces for us a curious map 
 extracted from a work published in 1628 under the title of 
 " The World encompassed by Sir Fr. Drake." Here New 
 England is placed northwest of New France, and the whole 
 continent is called " North America or Mexicana," probably 
 the greatest extent ever given the name Mexico, which, as 
 elsewhere remarked, was originally the name of only a 
 quarter or district of the capital city of the Aztecs. The 
 extreme northwestern part of the continent is styled " New 
 Brittayne," and in the northern part of South America 
 appears for the first time "Guiana;" "Bonos Ayres," also a 
 new name, is applied to a small affluent of La Plata. 
 
 Kohl gives us copies of three maps published in 1630 in 
 
 de Laet's work on the New World. These show extended 
 
 information on the part of their compiler, not only as to the 
 
 projects of settlement of his own country but also the work 
 
 4 
 
50 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 in that direction done by other and rival nations. One of these 
 maps is entitled ^^Americae sive Indiae Occidentalis Tabula Gen- 
 eralis/^ and the two continents are called respectively, " Sep- 
 tentrionalis Americae pars/' and " Meridionalis Americae 
 pars." " Tierra del Fuego '^ is cut off on the south with a 
 dotted line, it being already known that there was open sea 
 beyond it, since de Laet's countrymen had passed that way in 
 1616 ; but as they did not explore the islands in detail, the 
 land's extent is here marked as unknown. Some idea of the 
 Great Lakes had already penetrated to Europe, as the St. 
 Lawrence River is here represented as rising in a lake to the 
 northwest, which lake has no western bounds. Just west of 
 "C. Cod," (which on one of the maps is called " C. Blanc"), 
 the territory is called "Novum Belgium," while "Nova 
 Anglia" is further north, and to the west of Nova Scotia. 
 " R. Pentegouet " is evidently meant for Penobscot, though 
 the name seems to be more nearly related to Pemaquid, also 
 evidently an Indian name, which was applied to a settlement 
 made about that time in this vicinity ; and " R. Quinibequi " 
 is to us a new form of Kennebec. In such names as " Cadie," 
 "Nieuw Engeland," "Vossen haven," [Boston Haven], 
 " Hellegat," " Manbatte," [Manhatten], " Nieuw Nederland," 
 "Noordt River,' "Zuyd River," we easily recognize old 
 friends, dressed, however, in somewhat strange habiliments. 
 South America also contains many names which by this time 
 had come into more or less general use. 
 
 Champlain's map of 1632 is the work of a careful explorer 
 who understood also how to depict what he had seen. The 
 territory represented on this map is almost exclusively that 
 visited by the draughtsman himself and included under the 
 name Nouvelle France. The St. Lawrence rises in Lake St. 
 Louis, west of which are two small lakes without names. To 
 the northwest is shown an immense body of water under the 
 name " Mer douce," with its greatest extent from east to west. 
 This error continued for a long time to disfigure the maps of 
 this region ; for the early explorers did not realize that Geor- 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 51 
 
 gian Bay, though connected with, is not a part of Lake Huron. 
 Still further west there is " Grand lac,^^ evidently Lake Su- 
 perior. Of course Lake Champlain is given, the special 
 discovery of the maker of this map ; but it is too broad for 
 its length ; and for Lake George there is represented a wide 
 bay near the southwest end of the main lake ; while the general 
 trend of the whole is northeast and southwest, rather than 
 north and south, as it is in reality. On the Maine coast is 
 the settlement " Pemetegoit," probably Pemaquid, and further 
 to the east, St. Croix ; Quebec is spelled as now. 
 
 In the work of William Wood, entitled '^ New England's 
 Prospect, a true, lively and experimental description of that 
 part of America, commonly called New England," there is a 
 map of " The South part of New England, as it is planted 
 this yeare 1634." The degrees of latitude are marked on the 
 eastern margin, and the city of Boston is placed at 42J degrees, 
 which is very accurate for that period, as the position is now 
 put at 42° 22' [Scribner-Black Atlas, 1890]. On this map, 
 an American begins to feel at home, when he encounters a 
 considerable number of old familiar names, such as Salem, 
 Roxbury, Charlestowne [applied to both settlement and river], 
 Dorchester, Nantasket, Cohassett, ^Sitliate' [Scituate], New 
 and Old Plymouth, ^ Pascataque Riuer ' [Piscataqua River], 
 ' Islands of Shoulds ' [Isles of Shoals], ' Merimock ' River, 
 Cape Ann, Marble Harbor, Nahant Point, ^ Narrogansett's ' 
 bay and river, etc. 
 
 In "A relation of Maryland," published in 1635, there is a 
 map of that region, with the west turned toward the top. 
 " Chesapeack bay " is elaborately drawn, and extends fully up 
 to the 40th degree of north latitude, while Delaware Bay is 
 crudely represented, as if known only by hearsay, and, accord- 
 ing to the scale given on the map itself, does not reach the 
 40th parallel by eight " Sea Leagues." Between the upper 
 waters of the two bays is the name of a tribe of Indians, 
 " Sasquehannocks," doubtless the origin of the name of Penn- 
 sylvania's long river, the Susquehanna. The chief river of 
 
62 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 the region as shown on the map is the " Patowmeck," at whose 
 mouth is placed the then new settlement of Lord Baltimore, 
 with the elaborate name of " St. Maries Augusta Catolina." 
 The settled part of Virginia is also added to the map and the 
 usual names given. 
 
 From the middle of the seventeenth century, the general 
 features of the Atlantic sea-board were fairly well known in 
 one part or another of Europe ; and for the future we shall 
 remark only such features of the maps that come under notice 
 as are new, or for some other reason are of special interest. Im- 
 migration to the New World was now an established thing, and 
 the stream, though not so mighty as it was in time to become, 
 was already quite constant ; and many there were, not only 
 anxious to come for a time, for the sake of adventure or spec- 
 ulation, but who found here life more agreeable or at least 
 more tolerable, than in the fatherland. It is not possible in 
 geographical works to follow the gradual penetration of the 
 wilderness by individual pioneers, how their families grew up 
 about them, and friends and acquaintances were attracted 
 thither, till in time a settlement was there, large enough to 
 call attention to its existence. But such is the true historical 
 development precedent to the growth of our geography, 
 especially on its political side. 
 
 The second half of the century was a busy one in America ; 
 and while the English colonists were engaged in laying the 
 foundations of a future great commonwealth, the French, in 
 their self-sacrificing fnissionary labors, were bringing to light 
 vast stretches of the continent, whose immensity till then had 
 not even been dreamed of. All of the Great Lakes were soon 
 on the maps, with a fair idea of their inter-connection ; and 
 the Mississippi, from its head-waters almost, even to its mouth 
 in the Gulf of Mexico, was traversed and mapped, while the 
 size of the streams flowing into it, furnished the first ground 
 for estimating the immensity of the country drained by its 
 waters. A French anonymous map of 1660 gives all the 
 Great Lakes : " Lacus Ontarius," very well drawn ; " Lac " 
 
Geogra'phy of the Interior and Polar Regions, 53 
 
 " Erius s. Felis," less so ; " Lacus aquarum Marinarura/' the 
 name given to Lake St. Clair, which however is represented as 
 only a slight broadening of the river ; " Mare dulce sen Lacus 
 Huronum/^ is Lake Huron, as usual much exaggerated in its 
 breadth ; " Lacus Superior " is not known as far as its western 
 extremity j only the northeastern portion of Lake Michigan 
 is depicted, and bears the legend "Magnus lacus Algon- 
 quinorum seu Lacus Faetentium." This map shows also an 
 acquaintance on the part of the French, with the Virginia 
 settlements, and also with the Swedish settlements on the 
 Delaware. Of about ten years later is another anonymous 
 French map with the title " Lac Superieur, et autres lieux, oil 
 sont les Missions des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus," etc. 
 Here the entire lake is represented, and bears the name of 
 Tracy as w^ll as its more usual and now universal one of 
 Superior. It is drawn too long, by about 100 miles, accord- 
 ing to the scale ; but when we consider that this is the first 
 attempt, as far as we know, to represent this entire body of 
 water, and that the only survey thereof had been a crude 
 reconnaissance, we must rank the work as of high quality. 
 Lake Michigan has the name " Lac des Illinois ; " and near 
 the junction of the lakes we find the beginnings of the modern 
 towns of Ignace and Mackinaw, under the term missions. 
 
 Kohl gives in No. 227 of his collection a map which he 
 believes to be a copy of the one which Father Marquette him- 
 self made during his voyage on the Mississippi in 1673. The 
 latitude is marked on the margins, and includes the territory 
 from the 32d to the 48th degree north. Here are met some 
 strange-looking names, which, however, have evidently con- 
 nection with some well-known modern ones. The Missouri 
 river is not named, but near it is placed a tribe of Indians 
 with the name " Oumesourit ; '^ while not far off is another 
 tribe named " Kansa." At the junction of the Mississippi, 
 with an unnamed river which is probably the Arkansas, is 
 another tribe of Indians called " Arkansea." On the Ohio 
 Hiver is found " R. Ouabouskiaou," which, according to Kohl, 
 
54 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 is the original of our Wabash. "Kachkaska'' is a small 
 stream flowing east into the southwestern corner of the " Lac 
 des Illinois ; " a name that is doubtless Kaskaskia, and since 
 that time transferred to a river in the southern part of Illinois, 
 which flows into the Mississippi. Another map of the same 
 year is extracted from Tiievenot's work of Voyages and 
 Travels, and represents the same region. On the first map 
 the Mississippi bore the name Conception, while it here 
 receives a name recognizable as related with its modern one, 
 " Mitchisipi ou Grande Riviere." The latitude of most places 
 is wrongly represented, and no attempt is made to give their 
 longitude. The map bears also a less number of recognizable 
 names. Worthy of remark is the fact that, during his voyage, 
 Marquette was told by the Indians that beyond the source of 
 the Missouri, there rose another river which flows westward, — 
 probably the first intimation on this side the Rocky Moun- 
 tains of the existence of the Columbia River. Of two years 
 later is the Joliet map of the Mississippi valley, which region 
 is called on the map " La Colbertie ou Amerique Occidentale ; " 
 and the Father of Waters itself is named after the French- 
 man Colbert. The Allegheny and Ohio Rivers are not named, 
 but bear the legend " Riviere par ou deseendit Le Sieur de la 
 Salle au sortir du Lac Erie pour aller dans le Mexique." 
 Niagara Falls receive the striking name "Sault de demi 
 lieue." On another map made by Joliet, probably during the 
 following decade, the head waters of the Mississipi are placed 
 in about 54 degrees of north latitude, and the name has 
 become modified to " Messisipi." Of about the same period 
 is a map of Raffeix on which we meet for the first time 
 " Ohoio La belle Riviere." Father Hennepin's map of 1683 
 gives us " La Louisiane " for the first time, and applies to 
 some of the Great Lakes names not elsewhere met with. 
 
 But detail grows perhaps wearisome, and to continue the 
 geographical history of the United States at the same rate 
 would fill a volume, instead of being part of an hour's 
 lecture. The subject in itself, however, cannot fail to be in- 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 55 
 
 teresting to any one who desires to know the development of 
 his country. 
 
 Before the close of the seventeenth century there was in 
 Europe a knowledge of the general features of the territory 
 of the United States, with the exception of the far north- 
 west ; and during the eighteenth century, this knowledge was 
 somewhat increased in detail. Veranderie succeeded in pene- 
 trating west from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains ; 
 and Le Page du Pratz relates the story of an Indian named 
 Moncacht Ape, who in 1745 made his way over the moun- 
 tains, and descended the " Beautiful River," as he called the 
 stream on whose waters he voyaged to the Pacific. We are 
 not accustomed to think of Indians as explorers, who leave 
 their homes and wander several thousand miles merely 
 for the sake of gratifying their curiosity. However, there 
 seems little room for doubt in reference to this first recorded 
 exploration of the Pacific slope by any one coming from the 
 country east of the Mississippi. But the eighteenth century 
 did on the whole very little toward opening up the vast 
 interior of this great continent to the knowledge of civil- 
 ized man ; and we pass accordingly to the beginning of the 
 present century, when the then young and zealous federal 
 government, under the lead of Jefferson, purchased Louisiana, 
 and sent out explorers to report on the territory which had 
 thus come into our possession. These opened the way, which 
 hardy pioneers seeking for homes were not slow to follow ; 
 and what was thus begun was accelerated by the discovery of 
 gold, as the middle of the century drew near. This fact has 
 had more effect in a few decades than mere human curiosity to 
 penetrate the secrets of nature had had in as many centuries. 
 Look upon a map of the great West, of the last century or of 
 only half a century ago, and on one of the present day, and 
 behold the evidences of the work of man ; for nature during 
 that period has remained practically the same, and all the 
 immeasurable difference there observable is due to human 
 energy. 
 
56 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 Polar Chorography. 
 
 We turn now to a region which, though among the earliest 
 portions of the New World to attract attention, is the last to 
 be well known, because of the inherent difficulties of explor- 
 ing it. Here is the one part of the earth where a love of 
 science has been to a large extent the moving factor in its ex- 
 ploration, and where wealth and life itself have been offered 
 up in the most generous manner in order to bring to us a 
 knowledge of it. From the suggestion of Cabot in the fif- 
 teenth century to the present, interest thei'ein has sometimes 
 been at a low ebb, but never for any length of time been 
 entirely wanting. Here is the region also where imagination 
 has played the greatest r6le; and much of the geographical 
 representation of which is purely the product of fertile brains 
 without any foundation in fact or experience. Something of 
 this feature has been told in treating of the Pacific coast ; and 
 in the short time at our disposal now, it will be better to con- 
 fine the attention to the facts of the case as shown on various 
 relatively trustworthy maps. 
 
 The first explorers of the frigid regions of the Atlantic 
 were, however, not actuated by any higher motives than those 
 of commercial gain ; for they desired to reach the wealth of 
 the Orient by a passage which could not be blocked by the 
 Portuguese, who by right of first discovery and by the gift of 
 the Holy See, had the sole title to the route via the Cape of 
 Good Hope. Furthermore, if found, the route by the north- 
 west passage would be much shorter, especially for the nations 
 of northern Europe, than that around Africa. Though much 
 of this region was doubtless known to the Northmen from the 
 eleventh to the fourteenth century, no maps of that period are 
 known to us, except that of the Italian, Zeno, of the four- 
 teenth century, which however, was not given to the world 
 till the year 1558. This map contains a variety of names, 
 some of which were reproduced on maps down to a compara- 
 tively late period ; and about the signification of which there 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 57 
 
 has been a great deal of learned dispute. Probably as rational 
 interpretation of these names as we can find is that of Major, 
 who has made a careful study of the matter. He gives the 
 modern equivalents of the names as follows : ^ Engroelant/ 
 Greenland ; ' Islanda/ Iceland ; ^ Estland/ the Shetland 
 Islands ; ^ Frisland/ Faroe Islands ; ^ Markland/ Nova Scotia ; 
 ' Estotiland/ Newfoundland ; ^ Drogeo/ coast of North 
 America ; ' Icaria/ coast of Kerry in Ireland. 
 
 As of Columbus's first voyage, so of Cabot's, there remains 
 no map to tell us just where he saw the American coast. 
 Years later Sebastian Cabot made a map of the New World, 
 which, however, attempts to portray all that was known up to 
 the time of drawing it ; so that there are no means of ascertain- 
 ing just what had been discovered by his father or himself. The 
 oldest map which represents the northeastern part of North 
 America, and belonging to what may be called the Columbian 
 period of discovery, in contradistinction to that of the North- 
 men, is the Cantino map of 1 502, which shows early Portu- 
 guese discoveries in the north. On another Portuguese map, 
 of 1504, we find "Newfoundland and Labrador under the 
 name of ^ Terra de Cortte Eeall,' and Greenland with no name, 
 but so correctly represented as to form strong evidence that 
 it was reached by Cortereal '' [H. H. Bancroft]. This is the 
 most accurate map of that region which appeared for a long 
 time. Those in the editions of Ptolemy of 1508 and 1511 are 
 not at all well drawn as regards this portion ; and even as late as 
 the Schoener globe of 1520, not as much is known in Germany 
 of this region as is depicted on this early Portuguese map. This 
 state of the case continued until the English explorations were 
 renewed in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. In the 
 meantime Zaltieri in 1566 and Ortelius in 1570 had made an 
 approach toward a fair representation of the northern regions; 
 but whether these were the result of surmises on their part or 
 whether they knew of explorations in those parts, of which 
 we have no records, I cannot say. In 1578 appeared George 
 Best's "A true discourse of the late voyages of discoveries, for" 
 
58 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 " the finding of a passage to Cathaya by the North West under 
 the conduct of Martin Frobisher, general!, ..." In this 
 work there is a map of the world in the form of a flattened 
 ellipse, the most northerly part of which is occupied by four 
 immense islands, bearing the title " Terra Septentrionalis." 
 South of the western half of these are " Frobishers Straights,'' 
 the eastern portion of which contains a group of islands 
 that Frobisher himself called Terra Incognita. On Dee's map 
 of 1580 the polar regions receive careful treatment, and the 
 strait discovered by Frobisher is well represented ; but is con- 
 tinued inland, to an indefinite extent. Here are also some of 
 the names of the Zeno map. The Lok map of two years later 
 shows much more evidence of actual acquaintance with the 
 region, though the knowledge has by no means yet become 
 accurate. Frisland is here a peninsula in the far northeast, 
 extending below the 60th parallel, while ' Island ' is just north 
 of ^ Hibernia,' on the Arctic Circle. ^ Groenland ' is all above 
 the circle, extending almost to 80 degrees north. To the 
 northwest of this there is also ^lac. Scolvus Groetland.' 
 Frobisher Strait, Lok Island, and other names also appear. 
 
 In 1585, 1586, and 1587, John Davis made his celebrated 
 arctic voyages, and opened up much new territory to the 
 knowledge of the English ; but I have seen no map from his 
 hand, or that is the direct product of his discoveries. Cer- 
 tainly, the map of the world, by lohannes Myrtius, contained 
 in a book bearing the date 1590, whose introduction is dated 
 1587, contains no glimmer of such information^ Hakluyt's 
 map of 1589 takes but little notice of any English discoveries 
 in the far north, and continues the already known strait west- 
 ward into the Pacific. Of the other discoveries, there is no trace. 
 Wytfliet's map of 1597 has at 60 degrees north a "Golfo de 
 Merosro," southwest of which is placed " Terra Corterealis," 
 " which," says Kohl, " supports the old tradition, that Cor- 
 tereal entered a strait or gulf in that latitude, and that this 
 Gulf of Cortereal was our Hudson's Strait." On Hakluyt's 
 later map, of 1598, are located both " Fretum Davis" and 
 
Geography of the Interior and Polar Regions. 59 
 
 " Frobisher's Straights ; '* and south of the latter is " Estoti- 
 land." The map in Purchas, 1625, begins to bear some 
 resemblance in the north to our present conception of that 
 country. " Fretum Hudson " leads west to Hudson Bay ; 
 and the western part of the latter is called " Button Bale," 
 with the connecting shore between them still omitted. To the 
 northeast is " Parte of Groenland, with " C. Farewell '^ at its 
 southern extremity, and ^'Fretum Davis" separating it from 
 the mainland. On the English map, extracted from the work 
 on the voyage of Francis Drake, there is added to what we 
 have noted on the other maps, " Baffin's Bay," which had 
 been discovered sixteen years before by the man whose name 
 it bears. Of the year 1631 there is a work devoted to the 
 description of the voyage of the discoverer of James Bay, 
 accompanied by a good map of the region visited. 
 
 From this time on, to the beginning of the present century, 
 there was but little done toward bringing to light the secrets of 
 this vast country, forever under the rule of winter. But the 
 valuable work of Sir John Franklin, in connection with his 
 tragic fate, reopened the subject in the first half of our cen- 
 tury ; and since then the various nations of the civilized world 
 have vied with each other in their efforts to penetrate the veil 
 that hitherto has concealed this country from view. A great 
 complex of islands and numerous water ways have been map- 
 ped for us, the limits of the mainland designated, and the 
 fact established that a water communication between the At- 
 lantic and Pacific does exist here; but all hope has been 
 abandoned that it will ever, at least in our era, prove practica- 
 ble for commerce. Fortunately the need for it has long since 
 disappeared, and the high seas have become free as the air to 
 all who trust themselves to their treacherous waves. 
 
IV. 
 
 Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 
 
 America, 
 
 The discovery of a New World has made Columbus the 
 hero of centuries, and his name has been mentioned with almost 
 universal praise. The maps however, give no prominence to 
 that name, but bear in large letters the name of another ; and 
 both he who bore this name in life, and he who proposed its 
 adoption in the world's geography, have been decried and exe- 
 crated almost as much as lauded. How have such anomalies 
 come about? To Clio we must look for the answer; but, 
 though the roll she bears in her hand contains all truth, she 
 never lets any one individual see the whole ; and accordingly 
 accounts differ as to what men have there found. We must 
 therefore not expect the absolute, unalterable truth in applying 
 to History for an explanation of the past ; but, examining such 
 fragments as she offers to our view, judge of their contents in a 
 manner consistent with the most probable solution of the prob- 
 lem to which we apply ourselves. In the present case the con- 
 test lies between Spain and Germany ; between a country that 
 strove to grasp all in secrecy, and one whose subjects remained 
 at home and sought to diffuse knowledge ; between the sword 
 and the pen : and, as history has so often demonstrated, the pen, 
 in this case also, was the stronger. Recently there has developed 
 another struggle, based on the fact that theorists have arisen 
 who are trying to destroy the authenticity of the records of 
 the centuries, and who find the name America a product of the 
 60 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 61 
 
 land that bears it, and not a latinized form of the name of a 
 man who has been branded as a braggart and an impostor. 
 
 Columbus started out in 1492 to find, not a New World, 
 but the Asia which Marco Polo had described in such glow- 
 ing terms, and whose riches and spices were valuable beyond 
 measure. Though he came to the western hemisphere four 
 times and touched the continent of America twice, he lived 
 and died in the belief that he had visited the eastern part of 
 Asia. He was told of the existence of the Pacific Ocean, but 
 in his blindness, gave the information another interpretation. 
 He saw little or nothing such as Marco Polo had described, 
 yet he compelled his companions to swear that they believed 
 themselves on the coast of Asia. He tried to have his dis- 
 coveries kept secret even from his fellow countrymen, and his 
 government attempted to prevent the knowledge passing out- 
 side their realms ; so that when the rest of the world had any 
 information of the new discoveries, they were at liberty to 
 apply to the regions known such names as pleased their fancy. 
 Columbus claimed for himself wealth and political power as 
 the reward of his discovery, and died poor and neglected, 
 though his descendants received what he had desired. But 
 another visited these shores, with facile pen in hand, and gave 
 to the world through his friends and patrons a glowing 
 description of the beauties and wonders his eyes had beheld 
 in that strange country ; and added " Novum mundum appel- 
 lare licet ; " and for a long time it was so called : but as in the 
 case of Magellan, the name which he proposed for the strait 
 of his discovery gradually gave way to his own name, so in 
 this other case, the name proposed by Americus Vespucius 
 gradually made room for his own name. Though Vespucius 
 was not probably the original discoverer of the coast of South 
 America, he was the first to tell the world what an extensive and 
 magnificent country it is ; and a world, grateful for the infor- 
 mation, and liking the sound of the name, adopted it. As he 
 was a foreigner, the Spaniards were long unwilling to receive 
 that appellation ; but though they could conquer the greatest 
 
62 AmeiHca: Its Geographical History. 
 
 part of the New World, they did not in the end have the 
 privilege of naming it : and their selfish secrecy is, in our 
 humble opinion, the prime cause of the fact. 
 
 Inasmuch as Columbus believed that he was sailing in the 
 waters of Asia, he had no reason to seek a new name for the 
 whole extent of territory which he visited ; moreover, he did 
 not see nearly so much of the mainland as in all probability 
 Vespucius did ; and for local names he was content to apply 
 the names of saints, or a name suggested by his experience at 
 a given point, or even to adopt the native name, as he under- 
 stood it from the mouths of the Indians. Vespucius may 
 still have thought this to be a part of Asia ; but he evidently 
 recognized the difference between what he saw and what he 
 had expected to see in the land of Marco Polo ; and in all 
 earnestness he proposed the name New World for this enor- 
 mous extent of country ; and even the Spaniards accepted his 
 proposition. 
 
 There are grave discrepancies in the accounts we have of 
 the life of Vespucius, and also in his own accounts of his 
 voyages to America. But that seems to us to have little to do 
 with the acceptance of his name for the western continents. 
 If it comes to a question as to the justness of so honoring 
 him above Columbus, then even if he had seen the continent a 
 year or so earlier than the great admiral, it would be unjust 
 to give him the preference; for there can be little doubt that 
 he would never have visited the western hemisphere if Colum- 
 bus had not shown the way. But the two men were of entirely 
 different moulds; and the result is in accordance therewith. 
 The one sought immediate power and wealth ; and largely by 
 his own mismanagement failed ; but the justness of history 
 has given him his due theoretically, while helpless to alter the 
 habits of men ; the other sought notoriety by the aid of his 
 pen ; the world read, was interested and entertained, and 
 formed the habit of speaking of the region and the man who 
 first revealed it, in the same breath ; and as man is a creature 
 of habit, the name will probably endure as long as the race 
 
Historical Notes on Cei^tain Geographical Names. 63 
 
 which now inhabits the continent. The history of geography- 
 shows that the names of the prominent features of a land are 
 most enduring, as witness the names of the Mississippi Eiver, 
 the Ohio, Missouri, and others, names used by the Indians 
 who have long since been gathered to their fathers ; and whose 
 descendants, if there be any, are living far away from the 
 graves of their ancestors. If they had possessed a general 
 name for the entire continent, that, too, would perhaps, nay, 
 probably, have been preserved to this day ; but as that was 
 lacking, and another, convenient and euphonius, was proposed, 
 it was accepted and will probably endure for untold ages to come. 
 In the year following the death of Columbus, there was 
 published in a small town of Lorraine, a work of but fifty- 
 two small quarto pages, which contained a proposition, 
 modestly worded, but which was to result in naming the great 
 stretch of land that occupies the western hemisphere. This 
 pamphlet bore the title Cosmographiae Imtrodvctio, . . . In- 
 super quatuor Artierici Vespucij Nauigationes. It is said to 
 have been the first complete edition of the writings of Vespu- 
 cius on the New World, although portions of them had appeared 
 earlier. These writings were destined to become popular ; and 
 before 1530 there were issued in French, German, Italian, and 
 Latin at least fourteen editions of them. The important 
 passage for us in this work reads in English as follows : — 
 " But now that those parts have been more extensively 
 examined, and another fourth part has been discovered by 
 Americus (as will be seen in the sequel), I do not see why we 
 should rightly refuse to name it America, namely, the land of 
 Americus or America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man of 
 sagacious mind, since both Europe and Asia took their names 
 from women." (H. H. Bancroft.) ^ If those had been days 
 
 ^ The original as given by Peschel [Abhandlungen zur Erd- und Vol- 
 kerkunde, 231-2], reads : — ^' Nunc vero et hae partes [Europa, Africa, Asia'] 
 sunt latius lustrafce et alia quarta pars per Americum Vespucium {ut in sequenti- 
 bus audietur) inventa est, quam non video cur quisjure vetet ah Americo inventore, 
 sagacis ingenii viro Amerigen quasi Americi terram sive Americam dicendam : 
 cum et Europa et Asia a mulieribus sum sortita sint nomina." 
 
64 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 when newspaper notoriety could be purchased for money, there 
 might be some foundation for the modern accusation that 
 Vespucius was in collusion with the editor, and so responsible 
 for depriving Columbus of the honor of having his name 
 attached to the world he had discovered ; but if that had been 
 the case, he would probably have chosen some other press for 
 the propagation of his scheme, than a comparatively obscure 
 one far away from the centre of exploring activity. The 
 ruling duke of Lorraine happened to be a promotor of learn- 
 ing, and had gathered at the littte town of St. Di6 a small 
 company of learned men to conduct the local university, one 
 of whom was especially interested in geography, and another 
 of whom had studied in Paris and possibly met a personal 
 friend of Vespucius. These men planned the issue of a new 
 edition of the geographical work of Ptolemy, and made their 
 preparations accordingly. As a preliminary, this little Intro- 
 dvctio was published on the 25th of April, 1507 ; but the 
 main work was interrupted by the death of the patron duke, 
 and the Ptolemy was not issued till 1513, and was then 
 printed in Strasburg. Furthermore, the map of America in 
 that Atlas does not bear the name America. In the meantime, 
 Vespucius had died, having lived on cordial terms with the 
 family of Columbus, although there had continued for several 
 years a suit at law between that family and the Spanish Court 
 in reference to the first discovery of the northern coast of 
 South America ; in which, however, Vespucius made no claim 
 to be the first discoverer, notwithstanding the fact that the 
 work of Hylacomylus was known in Spain and Columbus' 
 son possessed a copy of the same, wherein the statement occurs 
 that Vespucius had made a voyage to the mainland in the 
 year 1497. This statement has been interpreted to mean 
 North and Central America, and there is a bare possibility of 
 his having made such a voyage ; but there is no evidence that 
 he himself, then or at any period of his life, laid claim to be the 
 original discoverer of the continent. All of his so-called four 
 voyages have been declared by his assailants to be apocryphal, 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 65 
 
 although three have been proven beyond reasonable doubt, to be 
 authentic. This relieves him of the charge of being an impostor ; 
 and it may yet possibly be shown that the first voyage also 
 was really made. At least the contrary has not been proven. 
 However, Santarem '^ claims that one hundred thousand doc- 
 uments in the Royal Archives of Portugal, and the register 
 of maps which belonged to King Emmanuel, make no mention 
 of Yespucius, and that there is no register of the letters patent 
 which Vespucius claimed to have received. Nor is there any 
 mention in several hundred other contemporary manuscripts 
 preserved in the great library at Paris, and in other collections, 
 which Santarem says he has examined." (Winsor.) As he 
 is bitterly hostile to the fame of Vespucius, these sweeping 
 statements should probably be received with some allowance. 
 Mr. Gay, in Winsor^s Narrative and Critical History, gives 
 form to an idea that the name was originally meant to be 
 applied only to that country surrounding a settlement which 
 Vespucius established near Cape Frio, and that by the force 
 of circumstances, this name came to be applied to the whole 
 continent. He says : — "The precise spot of this settlement 
 is uncertain ; but as it was planted by Vespucci, and as it was 
 the first colony of Europeans in that part of the New World, 
 there was an evident and just propriety in bestowing the 
 derivative — America — of his name upon the country, which 
 at first was known as ^ The Land of the True Cross,' and 
 afterward as ^ Brazil.' The name of Brazil was retained when 
 the wider application — America — was given to the whole con- 
 tinent.'' (II. 152.) That this is a possible solution of the 
 difl&culty can be shown from analogous cases in the history of 
 America. Thus Cartier gave the name St. Lawrence to a little 
 bay near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River ; and the gradual 
 change from that application to the whole Gulf and River 
 which now bear the name can be traced on the maps. Like- 
 wise we have the authority of Kohl for the statement that 
 Gautimala was originally the name of the city and residence 
 of a powerful cacique in southeastern Mexico, to which district 
 5 
 
66 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Cortes had sent Alvarado in 1523 ; and the name occurs in the 
 latter's report of his expedition to his general ; furthermore, 
 that at one time, almost all of Central America was under the 
 ^^Audiencia^' or general government of that name. Still more 
 striking is the name of Mexico, which at first was applied to 
 only a district of the capital city of Montezuma, and was 
 gradually enlarged in its application, till it embraced the whole 
 country. 
 
 We can scarcely realize in these days of newspapers and the 
 publication of thousands of books annually, that before the 
 year 1507 only two descriptions of the western discoveries had 
 appeared, namely, one letter of Columbus, and one of Vespu- 
 cius. No wonder then that a curious public eagerly bought 
 Waldseemuller's little quarto, and called for four editions of 
 the same in a short time ; no wonder that, by perusing it, the 
 public was lead to believe that Vespucius was the great dis- 
 coverer. Can it then seem strange to us that the Germans at 
 least were willing to attach his name to the country of which 
 they had first heard through his writings alone ? It has gener- 
 ally been supposed that the earliest map to bear the name 
 America was that of Apianus or Bienewitz, of the year 1 520, 
 which appeared in an edition of the geographical work of 
 Solinus, published in Vienna in 1522. Of the same period 
 is the Nuremberg globe of Schoener (1520), whereon the 
 name America also occurs. Then there is a map, long ascribed 
 to Leonardo da Vinci, and now in the queen's collection at 
 Windsor, and thought to be of the year 1513 or 1514, where- 
 on the name is drawn ; but the date of the map is uncertain, 
 and Winsor says : " Its connection with Da Vinci is now 
 denied.'^ On the other hand there is in the possession of Mr. 
 Kalbfleisch of New York, an anonymous " Cosmographiae 
 Introductio,^^ thought by the critics to be of the year 1517, in 
 which there is a map with the name America, of which 
 Mr. Winsor remarks : " There is fair ground for supposing 
 that it antedates all other printed maps yet known which 
 bear this name." The same author believes the Frankfort 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 67 
 
 globe of 1515 to be the first drawing on which the name 
 occurs. 
 
 Upon the map by Apianus, the name is situated along 
 the eastern coast of Brazil, south of Cape Augustine, and 
 reads ^'America provincia ;^^ and on Schoener^s globe of 
 1520 it reads '^ America vel Brasilia sive Papagalli teri^a;^^ 
 thus showing, as Mr. Gay suggests, that it was originally in- 
 tended to apply the name only to that portion of the country 
 where Vespucius had been, and in whose neighborhood he may 
 have attempted to found a colony. That the name was not 
 rapidly adopted, we gather from the assertion of Peschel that, 
 of twenty-two editions of Ptolemy's tables that were issued dur- 
 ing the sixteenth century, the name America is nowhere found ; 
 but Mr. Winsor assures us that the name occurs in the Ptolemy 
 of 1522. The Germans, however, stood by their countryman, 
 in upholding his proposition ; and on Mercator's map of 1541 
 the name America is applied, for the first time we believe, to 
 both continents of the western hemisphere ; and, in the words 
 of Mr. Winsor, "thus the injustice was made perpetual." As 
 early as 1519 or 1520 there was a book published in London 
 with the title New Interlude, in a verse of which the name 
 America occurs; and not long after, (1522) appeared the first 
 English book to treat of America, which however it called 
 " Armenica." It is entitled " Of the newe lades and of ye 
 people founde by the Messengers of the Kynge of portygale.'' 
 This same year Friess issued his "Orbis typus universalis,^^ 
 etc. ; and on the map showing his conception of the New 
 World, the name America is found designating the continent 
 of South America. Apianus published in 1524 a ^^Cosmo- 
 graphicus Liber/^ which contains a short chapter on America, 
 in which he makes the direct statement that the land was 
 named from Vespucci, its discoverer. (H. H. Bancroft.) 
 
 The Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529, so frequently mentioned 
 already, both designate South America by the name Novus 
 Mundus, the name, as we have seen, proposed by Vespucius 
 himself. Among the Spaniards this name alternated with New 
 
68 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Indies and West Indies ; as they were for a long time unwil- 
 ling to accept the German usage. Las Casas in his Historia, 
 begun in 1527, shows that he knew of the German usage, for 
 he says : " Foreign writers call the country America/' (Quoted, 
 Winsor, II, p. 174). The Spaniards then began to propose 
 other names, which, however, never had any currency ; such 
 as Colonia, Columbiana, and Columba ; while one enthusiast 
 went so far as to wish to unite the names of the sovereigns, 
 under whom Columbus made his voyage of discovery, in the 
 awkward compound Fer-Isabelica. Cabral had named the 
 stretch of the Brazilian coast seen by him. Land of the True 
 Cross ; and that, or more commonly. Land of the Holy Cross, 
 continued for some time to adorn the Spanish maps, but was 
 finally superseded by the shorter and more euphonious name 
 America. 
 
 On an anonymous map of about 1530, and the Grynaeus 
 map of 1531, America is the name given to South America; 
 and in 1532 appeared the Novus Orbis of this same Grynaeus, 
 in which "the assertion is made that Vespucci discovered 
 America before Columbus, which aroused the wrath of Las 
 Casas, and seems to have originated the subsequent bitter 
 attacks on Vespucci.'' (H. H. Bancroft.) About the middle 
 of the century, we find on the Xancy globe and on a map in 
 the work of Friess, the name America ; but though in South 
 America, it is in neither case given any very great prominence. 
 
 In 1570 was published Ortelius' atlas, the first product of 
 modern times worthy the name. It contained a map of the 
 New World which became the model of many succeeding 
 ones ; and, as it bore the name America, it brought that name 
 into such general use that it could not thereafter be gotten rid 
 of. The influence thus exercised was greatly strengthened by 
 the issue of Mercator's atlas in 1598. These two men, the 
 greatest geographers of their age, were friends; and their 
 united influence in spreading this name for the New World 
 surpassed the power of Spain or any other nation to root it 
 out. Of course we must recognize the fact that its euphonious 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 69 
 
 sound, and its analogy to the names of the other continents, 
 were also not without effect; but just therein lay a part of 
 their good judgment in giving their adhesion to an idea which 
 of itself was likely to attract the masses as well as thought- 
 ful men. A map of 1575 by Thomas Porcacchi da Castiglione 
 bears the title Hondo Nvovo ; but in his remarks he says that 
 some called it the " American Indies," a name we have not 
 elsewhere noticed. On Sir Humphrey Gilbert^s map of the 
 following year, the name America is applied exclusively to 
 North America, and Peru is apparently given to the whole of 
 South America. Martin Frobisher, on his map of 1578, 
 gives America in letters of the same size as Europe, Asia, etc. ; 
 and evidently intends to use the name for the whole western 
 mainland. Hakluyt's map of 1589 has the title America 
 sive India Nova, which is doubtless intended for the entire 
 continent. 
 
 On the map by Hondius, of the same year, America is 
 placed in large capitals in North America ; and South America 
 is divided into provinces, each with its own local name ; but 
 it is probable that, less of the interior of North America being 
 known, he took occasion thus to fill it up with the name in- 
 tended for the whole. Still another map of this same year, 
 that of Judaeus, employs the name, and that in a somewhat 
 new manner, having ^ Terra America ' in North America ; and 
 on a later map, the same author calls North America ^Americae 
 pars horealisJ The following year produced a map with titles 
 for the two continents, which so far as we know, are almost 
 unique ; for Petrus Plancius calls North America, ^America 
 Mexicana/ and the southern continent, ^America Peruana.^ 
 The map of Johannes Oliva, published at Marseilles in 1613, 
 compromises between the Spanish and German methods of 
 naming the New World, and applies to North America 
 ^America sive India Nova/ and to South America, ' Hondo 
 nouo ; ' the latter however in small letters, placed near the 
 Plata River. The map in the 1625 edition of Purchas gives 
 us ^America Septentrionalis ; ' and in the text there is related 
 
70 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 a conversation in which Juan de Fiica speaks of " the Indies 
 now called North America." On the map which accompanies 
 " The World encompassed by Sir Francis Drake," there is a 
 similarity to the usage noted above in connection with the map 
 of Plancius, namely, the northern continent is called ' North 
 America or Mexicana,' and the southern continent, ' Sovth 
 America or Peru.' On De Laet's map of 1630 there is 
 another slight variation of the name, the title reading 'Ame7'- 
 icae sive Indiae Occidentalis Tabula Gerieralis/ while on the 
 part occupied by the northern continent we read 'Septentrionalis 
 Americae joarsj Thus we have followed the development of 
 the usage of the name proposed in an obscure town of Lor- 
 raine, for the northeastern coast of South America, until it 
 was accepted by a large part if not the whole of the learned 
 world, for the entire hemisphere ; and which, by the addition 
 of adjectives, gradually distinguished between the north and 
 the south. The designation Central America is of late origin ; 
 and I have not seen it on any map antedating the present 
 century. 
 
 The above is we believe the true historical genesis of the 
 geographical term America ; but it would not do to dismiss 
 the subject without mentioning the fact that within recent 
 years there have been broached two other theories which, if 
 we had not direct, trustworthy, historical statements to the 
 contrary, might have at least a show of plausibility. The 
 first is that of Mr. Jules Marcou, and was published in the 
 Atlantic Monthly in March, 1875, pp. 291 et seq. His fund- 
 amental proposition is as follows : — '^ Americ, Amerriqite, or 
 Amerique is the name in Nicaragua for the high land or 
 mountain range that lies between Juigalpa and Libertad, in 
 in the province of Chrontales, and which reaches on the one 
 side into the country of the Carcas Indians, and on the other 
 into that of the Ramas Indians." He then proceeds to show 
 that words of similar ending are frequent in the native languages 
 of Central America, and remarks on the tenacity with which 
 local names survive, such as those of mountains, valleys, lakes, 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names, 71 
 
 and rivers. Turning then to the last voyage of Columbus, in 
 which he visited the coast of Central America, and the fact of 
 his having found stores of gold among the natives there, he be- 
 lieves that, to the question as to whence came such wealth, the 
 natives must have replied " Americ." " We may suppose,'^ 
 adds Mr. Marcou, ''that Columbo and his companions on 
 their return to Europe, when relating their adventures, would 
 boast of the rich gold mines they had discovered through the 
 Indians of Nicaragua, and say they lay in the direction of 
 Americ. This would make popular the word Americ, as the 
 common designation of that part of the Indies in which the 
 richest mines of gold in the New World were situated." He 
 supposes, further, that the name gradually penetrated to the 
 interior of the continent of Europe, till it reached the little 
 town of St. Di^. But he offers not one particle of contem- 
 poraneous evidence that such was the case. True, there are 
 often movements of historical importance of which it is im- 
 possible to follow the early steps ; but surely, if this supposi- 
 tion of our author were correct, some one of the many Spanish 
 documents of the time would contain at least a hint of the 
 fact; and even those pronounced enemies of the name America, 
 such as Navarrete and Mufioz, find not a trace of such. As 
 to the original proposition to use the name, he asserts : — 
 " Hylacomylus of Saint Die, ignorant of any printed account 
 of these voyages but those of Albericus Vespucius, — pub- 
 lished in Latin in 1505, and in German in 1506, — thought 
 he saw in the Christian name Albericus the origin of this, 
 for him, altered and corrupted word, Americ or Amerique, 
 and . . . called this country by the only name among those of 
 the navigators that had reached him, and which resembled 
 the word Americ or Amerique." To this he adds that 
 Hylacomylus knew only the forms Albericus and Alberico of 
 Vespucius' name, in as much as the other forms Amerigo and 
 Morigo existed only in Spanish documents that remained un- 
 published until many years after the death of Hylacomylus. 
 But that this is probably not the case, is strongly indicated by 
 
72 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 the text of Hylacomylus himself, who, in proposing the name, 
 evidently sought a form similar to that of the other quarters 
 of the globe, and himself employs the phrase ^'Amerigen quasi 
 Americi terram sive Americam dicendamy The very fact of 
 his using first the form Amerigen appears as if he recognized 
 that that was more closely related to the original, but that he 
 made the change for purposes of euphony. 
 
 Mr. Marcou is evidently too strong in his assertion as to 
 the rarity of the name Amerigo, since we find that two centu- 
 ries before this, Dante was familiar with the names of the 
 Spanish poets Amerijo de Pecutiano and Amerijo de Belinoi. 
 Since j and g were at that period used interchangeably, as we 
 find for example in the work of Garcilaso de la Vega, it follows 
 that the form Amerigo may very well have been known to 
 Hylacomylus. As to the accent not having been the same, 
 we find that America was made analogous by the Spaniards ; 
 for in the index of Barcia's great work the name is printed 
 America. 
 
 Mr. Marcou makes a good point of the unusual use of the 
 Christian name of the discoverer for a land, in which he asserts 
 this case to be practically unique, except in the name of mon- 
 archs ; but he loses sight of the desire of Hylacomylus to assimi- 
 late the name with those of the other continents ; and he 
 suggests that Vespucia, or some similar word, would have been 
 far more natural, if the word Americ were not already known 
 to the author. But Vespucci is not so euphonious or so 
 easily pronounced as America; and these considerations 
 doubtless had weight with the scholar of St. Di^. Another 
 statement of this new theory is : '^ There can be little 
 doubt that the word America was not only known but 
 popularized to a certain extent, in the sea-ports of Spain, 
 Portugal, and the Indies, or it would not have been thus at 
 once accepted by universal consent, without discussion." That 
 it was not accepted at once and without discussion has been 
 sufficiently shown, we believe, in our treatment of the matter. 
 He further says : " And it was employed and accepted with- 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 73 
 
 out a thought of the pilot Alberico Vespuzio ; it was a long 
 time after that discussions arose among learned geographers, 
 and that the gross mistake of Hylacomylus was imposed upon 
 the world as truth/' That the first part of this second state- 
 ment is not true, is demonstrated by the fact that the name was 
 so intimately associated with that of Vespucius, that Columbus 
 was in danger of being thereby forgotten as the original dis- 
 coverer : and as above remarked, it was this fact that roused 
 the wrath of Las Casas against the admirers of Yespucius, 
 and opened the discussion, which has continued from that time 
 to the present. That commencement was not however so long 
 after the first publication of the St. Die tract as one would be 
 led to suppose by Mr. Marcou's assertion ; for it was the work 
 of Grynaeus, which appeared in 1 632 that is supposed to have 
 precipitated the discussion ; and Las Casas died in 1556, so' 
 that the discussion must have started between these dates. 
 Furthermore, Las Casas was in a splendid position to know if 
 the name originated in America or in St. Di^; for his father 
 was a companion of Columbus on his first voyage, and he 
 himself took part in the third voyage, and spent many years 
 in the New World. The facts that he introduces into the dis- 
 cussion not a word or hint that the name was of native origin, 
 and ascribes its use only to foreign writers, are at least strong 
 negative evidence that the name was not ^' popularized, to a 
 certain extent, in the sea-ports of Spain." 
 
 The most recent theory that has come to our notice is that 
 entitled " Discovery of the Origin of the Name of America, 
 by Thomas de St. Bris. New York, 1888. Abridged Popu- 
 lar Edition.^' This is an octavo pamphlet of 140 pages, with 
 a number of illustrations which seem to us but little germain 
 to the subject in hand. The style is obscure, and the author 
 has a method of punctuation all his own. He gives a biblio- 
 graphy of 63 numbers, and quotes foreign authors in English 
 in such a manner, that it is at times impossible to know posi- 
 tively whether he is translating literally, or interspersing his 
 own ideas in the translation. These peculiarities of style are 
 
74 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 unfortunate, as they naturally repel the reader from the 
 examination of a work that is evidently the result of much 
 research and thought. We have not had time to consult 
 many references of the author ; but as one was at hand, it was 
 examined, and found to convey a very different meaning from 
 that implied by Mr. de St. Bris. In note 3, p. 58, he says : — 
 "Many authors, unaware that America was the national 
 name of the Southern Continent, could not understand the 
 Spanish pioneers, who gave this name to several places on the 
 coast, and cartographers hotly disputed the question ; as to 
 which was correct, without finding that they all were *.'' 
 The * refers to the bottom of the page where a note reads, 
 " See Kohl, Maracapana." Referring to his bibliography, the 
 only work of Kohl mentioned is " Die beiden dltesten General- 
 Karten vmi Ameriha,''^ No page is given in the note ; but on 
 page 121 of the above-named work, under the heading Mara- 
 capana we read as follows : "The name Marcapana appears on 
 both our maps not only improperly spelled but also in a false 
 position. The port ^Maracapana' made known by Hojeda's 
 [Ojeda^s (?)] expedition lay west of Margarita and Cumana, 
 and is perhaps the modern port of Barcelona. All the good 
 later maps. . . , have also Maracapana in the west where 
 Herrera placed it. According to Navarrete it should be our 
 Puerto Cochima.^' ^ This passage gives us no ground for the 
 assertion that the question was " hotly disputed," for it says 
 that " all the good later maps " placed the name Maracapana 
 in the same place. Neither does it even hint that both posi- 
 tions were correct. Furthermore, we would call attention to 
 the fact that Mr. de St. Bris separates the word Maraca-pana 
 
 ^ " Der Name Maracapana scheint auf unsern beiden Karten sowohl 
 unrichtig geschrieben, als auch eine falsche Position erlialten zu haben. 
 Der von der Expedition des Hojeda bekannte Hafen " Maracapana " lag 
 westlich von Margarita und Cumana und ist vielleicht unser heutiger Hafen 
 von Barcelona. Alle guten spiitern Karten . . . haben auch das Maracapana 
 dort im westen, wohin es Herrera versetzt. Nach Navarrete soil es unser 
 Puerto Cochima sein." 
 
Historical Notes on Cetiain Geographical Names. 75 
 
 into two parts, in order to strengthen the impression of his 
 theory ; but Kohl does not do so ; and America is very far 
 from being a form of Maracapaua. 
 
 However, whether correct or not, our author^s theory is 
 interesting. His central idea is that the native name of 
 the immense territory occupied by the so-called Peruvians 
 and their allied and kindred nations, was a modified form 
 of the name America ; that this name was composed from the 
 words amarUj the name of their holy symbol the cross, formed 
 by a snake, their holy animal, and a stick ; to which was added 
 the word ca, meaning land. Thus Amaruca, or usually 
 America, was the land of the holy animal. " We have, there- 
 fore, at the period of the Spanish pioneers, the South American 
 continent, under two great Kingdoms, of one name, and prob- 
 ably only one government ; in an advanced state of civiliza- 
 tion, civilly if not morally." " The population of the Empire 
 of Amaraca — which extended along the Pacific coast for three 
 thousand miles — was estimated at twelve millions.'' In the 
 course of the work, a considerable variety of names are quoted 
 from different authors, all of which are interpreted as signify- 
 ing America although the word in this, its permanent form, 
 seems to have been nowhere found until the suggestion of St. 
 Die. This suggestion he attributes to Walter Ludd ; and be- 
 sides, he loses sight of the fact, that from that time on the 
 form remained constant, as applied to the whole continent, 
 though the local names, from which he derives it, continued 
 to be variable. In addition to the use of the word Amaraca, 
 with a great variety of prefixes and suffixes, we are told that 
 Cax-Amaica, Tamaraka, Tamaragua, Aymarca, Aromaia, are 
 all really America. The divergence in the methods of spel- 
 ling is explained by the use of sign language among the 
 natives ; but that " every European spelled the name with 
 different letters, which he supposed to be more correct than his 
 neighbor, who was left to guess what was meant.'' He at- 
 tempts to fortify his theory by quotations from Walter Raleigh, 
 Alexander von Humboldt, and others ; in fact from any source 
 
76 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 whatever, where a word in the least resembling America is 
 employed. One of the extracts from Raleigh's account of 
 Guiana reads as follows : — " For when the Spaniards con- 
 quored the saide Empire of Peru, and had put to death 
 Atabalipa, which had formerly caused his elder brother 
 Guascar to be slaine, one of his younger brothers fled out of 
 Peru, and tooke with him many thousands of those souldiers 
 of the Empire, called Oreiones (noblemen), and with these, 
 and many others which followed him, he vanquished al that 
 tract and valley of America, situated between the rivers 
 Orenoco and Amazon." In quoting this passage, de St. Bris 
 claims that Walter Kaleigh " is the only author who has — as 
 far as we know — correctly given the native name of the coast 
 of America, first visited by Columbus." We think, however, 
 that our author here strains a point for the sake of his theory ; 
 for we do not believe that any one, not having such a theory 
 to defend, would interpret the phrase "al that tract and valley 
 of America," in any other manner than as designating the 
 part of the whole continent of America, namely that between 
 the Orinoco and Amazon, which the writer intended. The 
 English language is often ambiguous in the use of the prep- 
 osition of; and so it is just possible, though not at all proba- 
 ble, that Raleigh meant the name America to be applied to 
 the valley, and no more. We must take into account the fact 
 that this book was written late in the sixteenth century, when 
 the name America, as applied to the New World was no 
 longer a novelty, at least in the north of Europe ; and would 
 fall naturally from the pen of such a man as Raleigh, as the 
 name of the whole and not of a comparatively small portion, or 
 that lying between the Amazon and Orinoco. Remarking 
 that Columbus expected to find Asia, and the names mentioned 
 by Marco Polo, our author asserts that Moraca-pana " was a 
 transformation of the name Amaraca-pana or America; in 
 order to give it some resemblance to Mangi." This is really 
 beyond credulity ; for if a man makes a change, for the sake 
 of establishing a similarity, he would surely in such a case 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names, 77 
 
 have altered the consonants and not the vowels ; for we en- 
 tirely fail to see that Morica is much more nearly related to 
 Mangi than Amaraca. Another quotation which he gives pur- 
 ports to come from Humboldt, but he does not say from which 
 work of that voluminous writer. However he asserts that 
 ^' Bishop Geraldini, writing from the new lands in 1515, said 
 clearly, in a letter addressed to Pope Leon X. ^That the 
 island, was larger than Europe and Asia, which the ignorant 
 call Asia, and others America or Paria/'' Since Geraldini 
 was not made Bishop till 1520, there is evidently an error 
 here. For in as much as it is thought by the best scholars that 
 the name America was not in use among the Spaniards at so 
 early a date, it is of the utmost importance that the date be 
 accurately known, even if the letter is as quoted. According 
 to our author, it was not Hylacomylus that baptized America 
 but the great emperor Charles V., of whom he says (p. 126), 
 " It was only a just tribute, a golden debt of gratitude, to erect 
 an everlasting monument, a gigantic historical statue, always 
 on the lips of the universe, in honor of the late Vice-King 
 and Lord High Admiral Don Christopher Columbus, by in- 
 structing his cartographer Gerard Mercater [sic], to write over 
 the entire southern continent, His ' plus ultra,' a world on His 
 crest, the name of America, where it appeared — so far as we 
 know — for the first time in this atlas issued in 1541, to which 
 was added the remark ^ many still call it India.' '' He gives 
 no authority for this very remarkable statement ; but in a foot 
 note kindly informs us that ^* We have only been able to find 
 circumstantial evidence that Mercater wrote the name of 
 America over the Southern Continent by the King's com- 
 mand." ! As we have elsewhere seen, it was precisely on this 
 map of Mercator's of 1541 that the name America was for 
 the first time placed on both continents of the New World ; 
 so here again there is a decided historical flaw in our author's 
 argument, to say nothing of his assertion in reference to the 
 command of the emperor, based on " circumstantial evidence." 
 Furthermore, the Emperor Charles V. was still living when 
 
78 America: lis Geographical History. 
 
 Las Casas made his attack on the name America ; and if our 
 author were correct as to this supposition, the fact would then 
 have come out, and thus put an end to the controversy. One 
 more argument of Mr. de St. Bris, and we have finished. 
 " It is hardly possible,'' he says, ** that people of education, 
 would have attempted to propose a name for territory, in 
 which they had not the slightest interest ; unless they had 
 assumed that the proposition had already been practically 
 carried out, which they were led to suppose from the similarity 
 of name.'' When we consider that printing was then a com- 
 paratively new art, and that book makers as individuals were 
 in a manner set above those around them ; when to this is 
 added the fact that in St. Di6 for the first time, an edition of 
 the entire writings of Americus Vespucius was published, we 
 may well conceive of the author believing he had hit upon a 
 happy thought, which would be pleasing to both him, whose 
 work he published and to his readers. De St. Bris asserts 
 that '* the Spaniards had their principalities of New Granada, 
 New Castile, the West Indies, Golden Castles, in the western 
 hemisphere, but they wanted a general name to include all 
 these possessions." If this were true when Mercator came to 
 make his map in 1541, and it is in this connection that the 
 statement occurs, how much more was it true in 1507, when 
 Hylacomylus made his proposition. 
 
 Brazil} 
 
 The history of the use of the name Brazil as a geographical 
 term is a strange one ; for it was not always applied to the 
 same territory, with greater or less extent, as in the case of 
 most geographical names ; nor was it a case of natural growth 
 from a local to a general name, as was frequently the case in 
 the New World. On the contrary, this name seems to have 
 
 ^This chapter appeared in the April number of ^^ Modern Language 
 Notes,'' 1890. 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 79 
 
 had something of the will-o'-the-wisp character ; for on various 
 maps it may be seen designating a great Antarctic continent, ex- 
 tending to the south pole, or a small island near the Arctic 
 Circle ; or it may be as far west as the southern part of South 
 America or as far east as the vicinity of the coast of Ireland. 
 The form of the name also is almost as various as the posi- 
 tions in which it is found ; for we have noted thirteen varia- 
 tions of the word, Bresilia, Brisilia, Brasil, Brassil, Brazil, 
 Brazill, Prisilia, Brasilia, Brasielie, Brazili, Brazile, Brasi, 
 Presilly, — and it is not at all impossible that still others exist. 
 We are informed that the word was in use before the dis- 
 covery of America, to designate an island, whose situation is 
 not revealed, where navigators were in the habit of gathering 
 wood for dyeing purposes,^ and that after the discovery of South 
 America, this same species of tree was found on the banks of 
 the Amazon. But that does not account for the transferrence 
 of the name to such remote parts as the Arctic or Antarctic 
 regions, where there is no probability that the same kind of 
 trees flourished. " Wieser finds the name Brazil, as applied 
 to CabraFs Sancta Cruz, in. use ever after 1604," citing as 
 the earliest instance the "terra nova de Prisilli" of the 
 " Beschreibung der Meerfahrt von Lissahon nach Calacut " of 
 that year, published in the Jahresberichte of the " Kreisverein 
 fur Schwaben und Neuberg (Augsburg, 1861), p. 160." 
 Winsor, VIII, 375, note 5, where he cities also a work on 
 Presilly Landt. 
 
 The earliest map on which we have seen the name is that of 
 the Ptolemy edition of 1508, where " R. de Brasil " designates 
 a river flowing into the Atlantic Ocean not far south of " Cap. 
 Ste. Crucis." According to Kohl the earliest date at which it 
 can be definitely stated that the name was usual, is 1511, from 
 which time the name given this region by Cabral, Land of the 
 Holy or True Cross, gradually became obsolete. On the 
 Ptolemy map of 1513 the name occurs twice, but with difler- 
 
 ^ J. G. Kohl, Die beiden altesten General-Karten von Amerika, p. 145. 
 
80 Ameiica: Its Geographical History, 
 
 ent spelling. At 23 degrees of south latitude, the '^ rio de 
 brazil ^^ flows into *^ porto seguro ; ^' and not far east of the 
 Gulf of Darien, there is found an "y. do brassil." Reisch, 
 in 1515, extends the name to the whole continent of South 
 America, which he entitles '^ Paria sen Prisilia.'^ The Frank- 
 fort globe, which is supposed to have been made sometime 
 within the five years following, transfers the name to a 
 large Antarctic continent, and calls it " Brasilia Regio ; '' 
 while the Schoener globe varies this again by calling the 
 Antarctic continent '^ Brasilia inferior," and placing a '' Rio 
 de Brasil " far in the south, emptying into the Atlantic at a 
 point south of a great stream which is evidently the Plata, but 
 which he calls ^' Rio de Mezo.'^ As in other respects we have 
 found the annoy mous official map of 1527 so good, so in this 
 case, it confines itself to the known, and entitles the north- 
 eastern portion of the South American continent '^ El Brasil." 
 So also on that of Ribero, two years later, the name is found 
 in the right place, although somewhat lengthened, in the form 
 "Tierra del Brasil." But the name had not yet become 
 constant, for on the very next map, that of the British 
 Museum, of about 1530, there is no name for the district 
 now known as Brazil, but a river of 30 degrees south 
 bears the name " brasilia." Grynaeus, on his map of 
 1631, draws a large Antarctic continent, and places on it the 
 legend ^' Terra Australis recenter inventeTj sed non diem plene 
 cognita,'^ and gives this southern land the name of ^' Brasielia 
 RegiOe" The Venitian map of 1534 has ' Brasil ' in the right 
 place, while the one next in chronological order, the Agnese 
 map of 1536 gives us "brazill" out in the ocean, south of 
 " pernambucho." Of even date is probably the Oxford map, 
 which designates apparently the whole of the southern part of 
 South America by the name " Brazili," extending on both 
 sides of the "rio de la platta;" and in the interior of the 
 northern portion of the continent is the name " brazile ; " but 
 as to what the latter applies, can only be matter of supposition. 
 Three times is the name repeated on the Lyons edition of 
 
Histmical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 81 
 
 Ptolemy of 1541 ; once in connection with two small islands 
 not far west of "Anglia ^' (England), where the name is spelled 
 " brazil ; '^ again, designating a small river of north-eastern 
 South America, with the same spelling ; and finally, not far 
 from the Isthmus of Darien, where is located " Insula do 
 brassil." Homem's map of the world, which dates from the 
 same decade, shows a country correctly situated, with the name 
 " Brazil," and on the coast, at about fifteen degrees south, is a 
 town of ^' brazill." The Nancy globe, of the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, calls the southern part of the continent 
 "Bresilia Regio," and the territory usually known by that 
 name, receives here the appellation " Papagalli tefa." On the 
 Bellero map of 1554, " Bresilia" is confined to a comparatively 
 small district in the northeast corner of the continent, by the 
 undue extension of " Andaluzia nova,'^ and the province con- 
 tains a ^ R. del brasil ; ' but a more considerable peculiarity is 
 presented by the famous Ramusio map of 1556 on which the 
 name " Brasil " is duplicated ; once for the whole eastern part 
 of South America, its western border being the " Rio Mara- 
 gnon," which flows from *^ Chili" due north, thus dividing the 
 continent into two nearly equal portions ; and Ramusio calls 
 the whole southern continent of the New World " la partey 
 che si chiama la terra del Brasil & Peru " (the part which is 
 called the land of Brazil and Peru). Not satisfied with this, 
 he gives us a second "Brasil" as a small island between 
 " Irlanda " and the Isle of " Man" ! Two maps of 1560 are 
 preserved to us, one by Dolfinatto, on which " brasil " is a 
 little island at about 60 degrees north, somewhat east of 
 "Tiera de Bacalos," and the other by Furlani, on which an 
 island bearing the same name finds place near the 65th parallel, 
 close to " Tierra de Laborador." Still another place was found 
 for this poor wandering child of fancy, by Zaltieri, (1566) who 
 designates a diminutive island southeast of the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence by that name. Ortelius (1570) has the *R. de 
 Brasil," so often encountered on the eastern coast, near the 
 twentieth parallel, south, and says also, apparently in reference 
 6 
 
82 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 to the country : ^^ Brasilia a Lusitanis A°. 1504 inventa.^' 
 Lok's map in the Haklayt edition of 1582 has " Brasil " as a 
 small island on the first meridian, which is probably that of 
 the Cape Verde Islands. The island is about 50 degrees north, 
 and somewhat southwest of " Hibernia ; '^ in the edition of 
 1589 the island is about the same, while the continental terri- 
 tory, generally known under that name, is curiously called 
 " Humos Brasi." The Judaeus map of the same year places 
 near together " Brasil '' and " S. Branda," another mythical 
 island that remained on the maps till a comparatively late 
 period, and both somewhat east of " Nova Fraucia." Then 
 we have four maps which approach the normal much more 
 nearly, as they all bear " Brasilia '' in the northeastern part 
 of South America, with greater or less extent. These are the 
 maps of Myrtius of 1587, of Hondius of 1589, of Plancius, 
 1594, and of Hakluyt^s edition of 1598. To these may be 
 added also the work of Martines of Messina, of 1578, with 
 the abridged form of the name ^brasil.' However, in 1598 
 appeared the so-called map of Porro, whereon " Brasil '^ again 
 indicates mythical islands, situated not far from and to the 
 southwest of " Hibernia." Thus ends the sixteenth century ; 
 and with the opening of the seventeenth, the name is firmly 
 fixed as the designation of the northeastern part of South 
 America. The boundaries of the country so known were how- 
 ever still undefined, and in fact remained so when, in the early 
 part of the present century, universal revolutions shook the 
 whole continent, and resulted in all but a diminutive portion 
 of it being declared free from the further rule of Europe ; and 
 the people themselves were called upon to settle their mutual 
 borders. One thing however is worthy of remark, namely 
 that the method of spelling the name which remained the 
 favorite one throughout the sixteenth century, that is with 
 an s, has now generally given way to the modern form 
 with 2. 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 83 
 
 Canada. 
 
 The history of this geographical name is another illustra- 
 tion of the growth of the local to the general ; for, going back 
 to the time of Cartier, in the first half of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, we find it applied to a hamlet on or near the banks of 
 the St. Lawrence. Whether the term was generic in its appli- 
 cation to any small collection of houses is not clear to ray 
 mind ; for though we have a statement to that effect, by one 
 author, it is denied by another, who applies it to a fixed dis- 
 trict; and the maps may be interpreted in accordance with 
 either theory. As we shall see, a special town of that name 
 is put down on quite a number of maps in very much the 
 same place, and on other maps the name is evidently applied to 
 a district of greater or less area. Regarding the ultimate origin 
 of the name, there is some room for doubt ; for though the 
 early explorers evidently took it for an indigenous word, 
 modern philological investigation points to another conclusion. 
 Professor A. M. Elliott, after examining the word with refer- 
 ence to other Indian words of this section says : ^ — " Accord- 
 ing to mere form then, irrespective of the positive and forcible 
 considerations that tend to fix a totally different etymon for 
 the geographical term Canada, we may eliminate the present 
 favorite Indian etymology from our discussion." Turning, 
 then, to the European languages, he finds the word in use as a 
 common noun in both Spanish and Portuguese; and either 
 alone or in combination, often employed in the designation of 
 topographical sites. Seeking analogies in the use of the words 
 Florida and Barbada as adjectives limiting terra, he would 
 interpret Canada in the same manner. " The origin of the 
 root can is, of course, the Latin canna a reed, which gives 
 regularly in Spanish Cafi-ada, the common term for " glade." 
 In modern Portuguese, can-ada denotes 1, a measure for 
 liquids, of little more than a liter ; 2, a path." The Spanish 
 
 ^ " Origin of the word ' Canada/ " Modern Language Notes, 1888, iii, No. 6. 
 
84 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 pronunciation, however, is Caiidda, which must be changed 
 in order to adapt it to the laws of English pronunciation, 
 " In form, then, Canada follows the Portuguese rule ; in 
 signification, the Spanish derivative from the Latin canna/^ 
 " But it is probable that we have here a simple non-palatalized 
 product for Latin nn such as belonged to the older period of 
 the Spanish language/' The name is found more than fifty- 
 times in Spain to-day, and survives in the Argentine Eepublic, 
 for the designation of low districts not unlike those on the St. 
 Lawrence. The name occurs too in France as a geographical 
 term ; and our author is of the opinion that if the history of 
 any one of the seven French places bearing it, can be traced 
 back to a time preceding the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, that that would be proof conclusive of the European 
 origin of the word. Cartier's " JRecit " has been carefully read 
 to arrive at the meaning he himself attached to the word, and 
 Professor Elliott comes to the conclusion that " There cannot 
 be the slightest doubt after these divers statements, intended 
 to represent so varied events, and widely separated, too, in 
 point of time, that the only use to which the name was then 
 applied, was simply to indicate a limited district of country 
 lying along the north bank of the St. Lawrence between the 
 Saguenay and Quebec." " The fact, then, I hold to be incon- 
 testable that Caktier found the name Canada already in ex- 
 istence as applied to a single province when he arrived at 
 Stadacona (Quebec) in the month of September 1535." Far 
 be it from us to dispute Professor Elliott's philology ; but he 
 stops short of satisfying our curiosity, by not explaining how 
 a Spanish word came to be in common use among a tribe of 
 savages who had seen practically nothing of the Spaniards. 
 The Spaniards were theoretically acquainted with the Canadian 
 coast from an early period, as we see by the official maps 
 of 1527 and 1529; but that they were at all familiar with 
 the interior of the country, along the banks of the St. Law- 
 rence, we have seen no proof; and would be disposed to doubt 
 it until shown good reason to the contrary. That they ever 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 85 
 
 remained here long enough to make an impression on the In- 
 dian mind, is still more questionable. Furthermore, when it 
 is considered how difficult it is to root out an old geographical 
 name and substitute a new one, especially among people of 
 low intelligence, and little accustomed to change, it seems to 
 us very improbable that a visit or two from Spanish naviga- 
 tors, even if they ever penetrated so far up the St. Lawrence, 
 would be sufficient to revolutionize the native name of a dis- 
 trict. Mr. Marcou^s theory as to the derivation of the name 
 America from the fact of Columbus and his followers having 
 heard the word Americ from the lips of the savages as the desig- 
 nation of the source of their gold supplies, is called " foolish '' 
 by Mr. H. H. Bancroft ; yet we have frequent analogy of the 
 adoption of the Indian name by explorers ; can Mr. Elliott 
 show us any analogous adoptions by the American Indians of 
 European words as the names of their territories ? If so, we 
 might see more probability in his etymology. Moreover, if 
 the Spaniards had used this term to designate the country on 
 the St. Lawrence, would we not find it on at least one or the 
 other of their early maps ? So far as my investigations go, 
 I have failed to find it there. 
 
 The earliest map on which I have noticed the name Canada 
 is that of Yallard, No. 156 of the Kohl Collection. It is 
 there used to designate a small district on the north bank of 
 the St. Lawrence, between an unnamed island (Orleans ?) and 
 a lake to the west which is called simply " le lac.'' On an 
 anonymous map, which Kohl supposes to be from the year 
 1548 or thereabouts, the name Canada occurs three times; 
 namely, once in large letters, between the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
 and the " Mer de France ; " again it is seen in small letters east 
 of the " R. du Sagnay," and north of the St. Lawrence River ; 
 and a third time it finds a place southwest of the given portion 
 of the river St. Lawrence. Another anonymous French map 
 of probably a few years later, gives apparently the name of the 
 whole country as CANADA, in large capitals ; then the accus- 
 tomed district in small capitals ; and lastly, an affluent of the 
 
S6 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 St. Lawrence, coming from the north, bears the same name. 
 Diego Homem, on his map of 1558, uses the name for an 
 island situated between a great river, evidently the St. Law- 
 rence, on the south, and " Mare leparaniatiil " on the north. 
 On a map of 1556 by Sanson d' Abbeville, " Le Canada " is the 
 designation of a large territory, extending from a line south of 
 the St. Lawrence River and the mountains of" Virginie ^' to a 
 line in the north, separating it from " Estotilande ou Terre de 
 Labrador " and " Nouvelle Bretagne." This map introduces 
 us also to an appellation of the St. Lawrence River which 
 held ground for a time but apparently never became popular : 
 '^ La Gr. Riv. de Canada ou de St. Laurens.^' This magnifi- 
 cent stream remained for a long time without any fixed name : 
 here we see the transition stage, giving a choice of names ; but 
 in the end the saint's name crowded out the native one, 
 probably because the latter would ever have necessitated the 
 joining of some explicative adjective with it, as in this case 
 " Grande." A map of this region by Guitierrez, of the year 
 1562 contains "Canada Prov." north of "Tierre Francisca^' 
 and of "Tierra di Norimberga." Ortelius (1570) calls the 
 whole district west of the "Saguenai fl." by the name 
 CANADA, and names a town in the southern part of the pro- 
 vince, and near the St. Lawrence River "Canado." On 
 The vet's map, extracted from the work " La France Antarc- 
 tic,'' " Canade " is a town situated on a small river entering 
 the St. Lawrence from the north. Sir Humphrey Gilbert 
 had still another idea of the application of this name ; for on 
 the map in his " Discourse," " Canada " is a large island east 
 of" La nuova Franza." Martines' map in the British Museum 
 places the province of " Canada " west of " Baccilaos." On 
 Hakluyt's map contained in the edition of 1 589, "' Canada " 
 is a town of " Nova Francia." Frobisher makes of Canada 
 a peninsula, occupying the northeastern portion of North 
 America between " bacalaos " and " Hispania nova." In the 
 title of his map of 1593, Judaeus mentions Canada as one of 
 the principal divisions of North America, and twice in notes 
 
Historical Notes on Certain Geographical Names. 87 
 
 speaks of the natives under the name " Canadenses." One of 
 these legends is at seventy degrees of north latitude, and 
 reads : " Hoc mare dulcium aquarum est, cujus terminus ignorari 
 Canadenses aijuntj' The other is in southwestern California, 
 and reads as follows : " Qui inter Florida et Baccalaos habi- 
 tanty hi omnes uno nomine Canadenses appellantur Hochelaga, 
 Hongueda CorterealisJ' Furthermore the name Canada stands 
 on the map for the region bounded by the St. Lawrence and 
 the " Saguenai," Hochelaga and Hongueda. Whytfliet's map 
 of the country, issued in 1597 is entitled ^' Nova Francia et 
 Canada," and Canada in capital letters is placed in the north, 
 and again in small letters is used to designate a town on a 
 branch of the St. Lawrence, not far from the main stream. 
 Lescarbot^s map of 1609 multiplies the name in a manner to 
 indicate his fondness for it. Thus we have the " Golfe de 
 Canada," " La grande R. de Canada," besides two districts 
 bearing the name ; one immediately south of the mouth of the 
 St. Lawrence River, and the other west of the "R. de 
 Saguenay." If this map were seventy-five or one hundred 
 years older than it is, we should feel inclined to accept Pro- 
 fessor Elliott's interpretation of the origin of the name : for 
 it looks very much like a generic term applied to various 
 localities which it describes, without taking the trouble to 
 specify more exactly by the use of individual proper names. 
 On No. 167 of KohPs Collection, which he gives as a copy of 
 Purchas' map of 1625, '^New France" is the name of the 
 great stretch of country north of the St. Lawrence, while the 
 Gulf and River of St. Lawrence are named respectively 
 " Golfe of Canada " and " The great riuer of Canada." De 
 Laet's map of 1630 gives "La Grand Riviere de Canada" 
 but calls the gulf "S. Laurens." A district north of the 
 " Baye de Chaleur " bears the legend " Canadiens." We have 
 thus examined the maps of a century following the first intro- 
 duction of the geographical name Canada, as far as we have 
 been able to find them. The name was by no means univer- 
 sally adopted in the earlier days ; and it is safe to say that the 
 
88 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 majority of maps of this period which have come under our 
 notice employ the French official name for the country, that 
 is New France. The shorter and more easily pronounced 
 word crowded out of use the longer name ; and survived even 
 the British conquest, which the name New France could 
 scarcely have done. What will be the result if Canada is 
 ever incorporated in the United States, we leave for the future 
 to decide. 
 
V. 
 
 Development of American National and State 
 boundaeies. 
 
 Before the era of Columbus the vast space between Europe 
 on the east and Asia on the west, was practically a blank in 
 the consciousness of the civilized world. From his voyage 
 in 1492 may be reckoned the birth of the western continent ; 
 which, in the subsequent period of exploration, gradually rose 
 as it were piece by piece out of the ocean, and assumed visible 
 form and shape to the eye of observing Europe. But long 
 before the whole was known, the secondary development 
 began, with the acquisition of more detailed knowledge of 
 the immediate surroundings of the several colonies. As in 
 organic bodies, the internal development continues after the 
 outer form is fixed, so with our geographical development, 
 the internal organs of states and countries have been slowly 
 developing toward fixity after the outer form had been defi- 
 nitely settled. At the same time, the claims of jurisdiction 
 have gone through numerous changes, the principal being the 
 gradual narrowing of pretensions to universal dominion over 
 newly discovered territory, to a claim of that district actually 
 in possession. The first charter of Columbus conferred on 
 him the admiralty of such " Islands and Continent '^ as he 
 might discover.^ On his return, Spain, wishing to obtain the 
 monopoly of all lands that might be discovered in that direc- 
 tion, applied to the pope for a confirmation of her title. This 
 
 ^ Charters and Constitutions, compiled by Ben. Parley Poore, I, 304. 
 
 89 
 
90 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 resulted in the famous bulls of Pope Alexander YI, by which 
 all non-Christian unknown lands of the earth were divided 
 between Spain and Portugal, by a line extending north and 
 south, from pole to pole, and passing one hundred leagues 
 west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. Portugal pro- 
 tested so strongly against this arrangement that she forced 
 Spain to a treaty by which that line was moved two hundred 
 and seventy leagues toward the west. Resting on this grant 
 of the pope, Spain claimed universal jurisdiction in the New 
 World, with the exception of a portion of South America, 
 which, by the above mentioned treaty of Tordesillas, fell to 
 the Portuguese. The other marine powers were unwilling 
 that Spain should monopolize the vast unknown possibilities 
 of the New World, and followed in her footsteps in sending 
 out exploring expeditions. Later came the period of settle- 
 ment, which, with the English, and therefore the most im- 
 portant for the history of the United States, may be considered 
 to have commenced with Raleigh's charter of March 25, 1584, 
 by which he received from the English crown, for himself, his 
 heirs and assigns, " free libertie and licence from time to time, 
 and at all times for euer hereafter, to discouer, search, finde 
 out, and view such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, 
 countreis, and territories not actually possessed of any Chris- 
 tian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian People, as to him, his 
 heirs and assigns, and to euery or any of them shall seeme 
 good." He was to have the fee-simple of all lands discovered, 
 and the rights of government over all "that shall abide 
 within 200. leagues of any of the saide place or places, where 
 the said Walter Ralegh . . . shall inhabite within 6. yeeres 
 next ensuing the date hereof." 
 
 In the grant of 1606 to the Virginia Company, the more 
 definite limits of from thirty-four to forty-five degrees of 
 north latitude in America were assigned. Later by the 
 charter of Carolina, issued in 1665, territory so far south as 
 the twenty-ninth degree of north latitude was granted, notwith- 
 standing the fact that the Spaniards had first explored this 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 91 
 
 region, and that a Spanish colony of nearly or quite a century's 
 existence was within the territory now granted. Under such 
 circumstances conflicts were sure to arise. France had also 
 some show of claim to this territory on account of her early 
 settlement at Port Royal. But she preferred in the end, to 
 apply her energies further north, where her claims came in 
 conflict with those of England. The Dutch, who were enter- 
 prising mariners also, did not fail to set up a claim to a por- 
 tion of the New World, both on the ground of discovery and 
 of first settlement ; and even the Swedes, in their period of 
 prosperity, essayed to establish by colonization a claim to terri- 
 tory on this side the Atlantic. How were all these conflict- 
 ing interests to be reconciled ? It was a new experiment in 
 the world's history ; and only time could solve the difficult 
 problem here presented. Portugal's right to unexplored 
 lands, granted by a bull of Pope Eugene TV. had been 
 acquiesced in by other nations,^ probably because the prize did 
 not seem worth contending for. But the hope of finding gold 
 in America, combined with the change of ideas wrought by 
 the Reformation, presented too strong a temptation for the 
 nations of western Europe to resist. International law, itself 
 then a new science, was not of sufficient influence to enforce a 
 policy according to its principles. Abstract ideas of justice 
 seldom if ever prevail in such cases, where self-interest gets 
 the upper hand. Hence we find that the old rule of might 
 makes right was the guiding principle by which America 
 became divided among its present owners. 
 
 The ease with which these vast stretches of land were given 
 away on paper, led to a lavishness and carelessness in their 
 disposal, even among the subjects of the same power, which 
 finally produced endless trouble. We have seen the extensive 
 and indefinite nature of Raleigh's grant. Under it no perma- 
 nent settlement was formed. Then came the grant of 1606, 
 dividing the whole territory from 34° to 45° north latitude 
 
 ' W. Robertson, Hist, of America. 3 vols. Basil, 1790, v. I, p. 58. 
 
92 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 between two branches of the same company, but leaving the 
 district between the 38th and 41st degrees open to both ; for- 
 bidding, however, each to found a settlement within one hun- 
 dred miles of the other. In 1609 there was granted to the 
 London Company the territory extending 200 miles north and 
 200 miles south of Point Comfort, with the islands within 
 100 miles of the coast, while the grant of the mainland was 
 to extend " from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up 
 into the Land throughout from Sea to Sea, West and North- 
 west." A glance at the map shows that this grant includes 
 the coast-line of a part of New Jersey, all of Delaware, Mary- 
 land and North Carolina, to say nothing of the vast interior 
 stretching to the Pacific. The present State of Virginia is, 
 in extent of territory, the mere shadow of the magnificent 
 domain granted under that name in 1609. The first im- 
 portant reduction came through the grant of Maryland in 
 1632. The Virginians protested against this cutting off 
 " nere two-third parts of the better territory of Virginia," 
 but without effect. The same rule of the right of might held 
 good here, as it did between the different nations ; the Vir- 
 ginia Company had been deprived of their governmental 
 powers, though their property rights were guaranteed them. 
 Lord Baltimore was the stronger at court and retained what 
 had been granted him. Carolina was later cut off from the 
 other side ; and so the mutilation continued. 
 
 The case was similar in the north. To the "second Col- 
 lony" was granted in 1620 the region between the fortieth 
 and forty-eighth parallels of latitude, and extending to the 
 Pacific. Out of this tract were afterward carved, by the gov- 
 ernment and by the company, so many grants that it was 
 almost impossible to bring order out of the resulting chaos. 
 
 What then were the causes that led to this confusion, 
 sowed the seeds of discord among the colonists themselves and 
 also among the respective European countries? First and 
 foremost were the extravagant pretensions of the different 
 courts in claiming immense regions of which they were not 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 93 
 
 able to take possession. In this respect England took the 
 lead ; for though her charters almost invariably granted only 
 such lands as were not already owned or occupied by any 
 Christian prince or People, she herself and her colonists gave 
 practically no heed to this clause, and , in several instances 
 drove out or subdued others, who by every principle of jus- 
 tice were better entitled to the soil than their conquerors. A 
 second reason was the carelessness with which grants were 
 made ; the king, though he never dies, seeming to have had a 
 very poor memory as to past actions, as soon as he wished, in 
 an easy and cheap manner, to reward a new favorite. But 
 the trouble was brought about as much by ignorance as by 
 carelessness ; — reliance on the descriptions of travelers, and on 
 crude and imperfect maps, being a very potent cause. The 
 art of map-making was not yet well developed. Further- 
 more the astronomers had not then succeeded in determining 
 accurately the latitude and longitude of even the main cities 
 of Europe ; while the instruments for observations at sea were 
 still more crude and inaccurate than those employed on land. 
 Measurements of portions of the earth had indeed been 
 essayed, to establish the length of a degree of latitude ; but 
 it was after the middle of the seventeenth century [1669] be- 
 fore an approach to accurateness was reached in France ; and 
 so slow was the spread of scientific knowledge in those times, 
 that it took ten years for the knowledge of the French meas- 
 urements to find its way to the Royal Society of London. 
 The early English settlements to the south of the 40th 
 parallel were so far from the Spaniards that the latter, though 
 theoretically claiming the entire continent, did not attempt to 
 disturb them. It was otherwise however with the northern 
 colonies. France and England were both deeply interested in 
 the fisheries, and both wished to obtain possession of the 
 neighboring lands. In the seventeenth century the principal 
 territory in dispute was the eastern coast of Maine. As early 
 as December 18th, 1603, King Henry IV. of France had 
 granted to Sieur de Monts the country from the 40th to the 
 
94 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 46th degree of north latitude. Id the following year this en- 
 terprising Frenchman had a settlement on what is now the 
 coast of Nova Scotia ; and with this as a central point, he 
 claimed the neighboring territory according to the terms of his 
 patent. The first English patent covering this territory in 
 definite terms was that of 1606, which however for this region 
 remained practically a dead letter till after the settlement of 
 Plymouth in 1620. In this year the "second Collony" 
 received the charter for '^ New England in America," limited 
 on the north by the 48th parallel of latitude. Settlements 
 increased rapidly ; and it was not long before the representa- 
 tives of the two nations found their interests clashing. The 
 French finally narrowed their claims and expressed a willing- 
 ness to consider Pemaquid Point, which was about half way 
 between the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers, as their western 
 limit. In as much as the French settlements were much the 
 earlier, this establishing a middle point as mutual boundary 
 was, in theory at least, a cession on their part ; and according 
 to modern ideas of international law, would have been emi- 
 nently just. But England, who ever denied Spain's right to 
 possession as against herself, on the score of mere discovery, 
 was strenuous in asserting her own rights, which had no better 
 basis, as against France. As the English colonists were the 
 more numerous, they finally succeeded in obtaining by force 
 of arms that which no modern court of justice or international 
 tribunal would have awarded them. At the treaty of Utrecht, 
 (1713) France was forced to cede to England " Acadia and 
 Nova Scotia, with its ancient boundaries." A half century 
 passes, of bickerings, mutual recriminations and wars ; and 
 again France is forced to acknowledge herself conquered, and 
 cedes to England " Canada with all its dependencies also the 
 Island of Cape Breton, and all other islands and coasts in the 
 gulf and river of St. Lawrence, and generally all that belongs 
 to the said country, lands, islands and coasts." At the same 
 time England surrenders her claims to the territory west to 
 the Pacific and accepts the Mississippi as her western border. 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 95 
 
 To the south of the English colonies was Spanish Florida, 
 under which name the Spaniards claimed an indefinite extent 
 of territory northwards. However, the English did not hesi- 
 tate to claim this country also, and grant charters for the same. 
 Although the actual settlements of South Carolina did not 
 extend to an uncomfortable proximity to the Spaniards, con- 
 stant unrest and occasional war between the representatives of 
 the two nations, disturbed both colonies. In 1732 Georgia 
 was chartered, with southern limits bounded by the Altamaha 
 River. War again broke out, with varying fortunes for the 
 contestants. But as the English succeeded in maintaining 
 their post at the mouth of the St. Mary's, that river, instead 
 of the Altamaha, ultimately became the southern boundary of 
 Georgia. By the treaty of Paris [1763], Spain ceded Florida 
 to England in exchange for Cuba; and France ceded to 
 Spain by a separate treaty, Louisiana west of the Mississippi, 
 together with the island of New Orleans. 
 
 Such was the condition of the boundaries when the struggle 
 broke out that ended in the establishment of American inde- 
 pendence. According to the definitive treaty of peace, signed 
 at Paris September 3, 1783, between England and the United 
 States, the boundaries of the latter were fixed as follows : — 
 *' From the North- West angle of Nova Scotia, viz. that angle 
 which is formed by a line drawn due north, from the source 
 of Saint-Croix river to the Highlands which divide those 
 rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from 
 those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north western- 
 most head of Connecticut river; thence down along the mid- 
 dle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north-latitude ; 
 from thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes 
 the river Iroquois or Catarquy ; thence along the middle of 
 the said river into lake Ontario, through the middle of said 
 lake, until it strikes the communication by water between that 
 lake and lake Erie ; thence along the middle of said commu- 
 nication into lake Erie through the middle of said lake until 
 it arrives at the water communication between that lake and 
 
96 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 lake Huron ; thence along the middle of said water communi- 
 cation into the lake Huron; thence through the middle of 
 said lake to the water communication between that lake and 
 lake Superior; thence through lake Superior, northward of 
 the isles Royal and Philipeaux, to the Long-Lake and the 
 water communication between it and the lake of the Woods ; 
 thence through the said lake to the most north-western point 
 thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river 
 Mississippi ; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle 
 of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the north- 
 ernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude; — 
 South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination 
 of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of thirty-one degrees 
 north of the Equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola 
 or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junc- 
 tion with the Flint river ; thence straight to the head of St. 
 Mary's river, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's 
 river to the Atlantic Ocean : — East, by a line to be drawn 
 along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its mouth in the 
 bay of Fundy to its source; and from its source directly 
 north to the aforesaid Highlands, which divide the rivers that 
 fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the 
 river St. Lawrence ; comprehending all islands within twenty 
 leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and 
 lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points 
 where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the 
 one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively 
 touch the bay of Fundy, and the Atlantic Ocean ; excepting 
 such islands as now are, or heretofore have been, within the 
 limits of the said province of Nova Scotia." ^ 
 
 Spain returned the province of Louisiana to France by the 
 treaty of St. Ildefonso, October 1st, 1800, "with the same 
 extent as it now has in the hands of Spain, and as it had 
 when France possessed it, and as it should be according to the" 
 
 ^ Martens et Cussy, JRecueU de traites, I, 312. 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 97 
 
 treaties subsequently made between Spain and other states." 
 By the treaty signed at Paris, April 30th, 1803, Napoleon 
 ceded to the United States, in the name of the French Repub- 
 lic, Louisiana, " forever and in full sovereignty, . . . with all 
 its rights and appurtenances, thus and in the manner that it 
 was acquired by the French Republic, in virtue of the above- 
 mentioned treaty, concluded with His Catholic Majesty." ^ 
 The borders between Louisiana and the Spanish provinces on 
 the west and south had never been defined. The United 
 States having purchased the former, were disposed to extend 
 their claim as far as possible. " The French had ever regarded 
 the mouth of the Del Norte as the western limit of Louisiana 
 on the Gulf of Mexico; and the United States naturally 
 claimed to the same point." ^ But the Spaniards were not by 
 any means disposed to cede so much territory ; and the result, 
 instead of a war, as it would have been at an earlier period, 
 was a long series of negotiations, with a peaceable settlement 
 finally of the difficulties. Spain claimed, in right of her set- 
 tlement at Santa Fe, the territory to the Mississippi ; and 
 furthermore insisted that she had ceded to France in 1800 the 
 Spanish not the French territory of Louisiana. As there was 
 no pressing need of settlement and each party refused to recede 
 from its demands, the matter was allowed to rest, until the 
 circumstances had changed and each was more disposed to 
 make concessions for the sake of peace. This change was 
 brought about by a dispute between the same powers concern- 
 ing Florida. Both divisions of the latter province had been 
 retroceded by England to Spain in 1783 ; the same boundaries 
 as are fixed by the treaty of 1783 with England are ratified 
 by a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1795. 
 However in 1810, the United States seize the greater part of 
 West Florida, to keep it from falling into the hands of the 
 British, from whom trouble is expected, and who are conse- 
 quently not wanted as a neighbor on the south as well as on 
 
 1 Ibid., II, 283. 2 T. Twiss, The Oregon Question, p. 230. 
 
 7 
 
98 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 the north. In the later discussions as to boundaries, Spain 
 waives "all demands on this head ;" and after many proposi- 
 tions and counter-propositions, an arrangement satisfactory to 
 both parties was finally reached, which was embodied in the 
 provisions of the treaty of Washington, February 22d, 1819. 
 In accordance therewith Spain yielded both the Floridas to 
 the United States, while the latter resigned their claim to 
 Texas and agreed to pay to their own citizens claims to the 
 amount of $5,000,000 which the latter had against Spain. 
 Between Louisiana and Mexico, the boundaries were agreed 
 upon as follows : — '^ The boundary-line between the two 
 countries, west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulph 
 of Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, con- 
 tinuing north, along the w^estern bank of that River, to the 
 32d degree of latitude ; thence, by a line due north, to the 
 degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachi- 
 toches, or Red River ; then following the course of the Rio 
 Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from 
 London and 23 from Washington ; then, crossing the said 
 Red River, and running thence, by a line due north, to the 
 river Arkansas; thence, following the course of the southern 
 bank of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north ; and 
 thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea ; " ^ the 
 United States to have all the islands in the rivers ; but the 
 navigation to be free to both nations. The purchase of 
 Louisiana from France gave to the United States their first 
 claim to territory west of the Mississippi River ; and in the 
 course of these negotiations with Spain, had appeared for the 
 first time, a claim on their part to the region west to the 
 Pacific.^ It was not long till this claim assumed definite pro- 
 portions in respect to lands farther north than the boundaries 
 now established with Spain ; and it was to require all the 
 learning and statesmanship of the young republic to establish 
 international recognition to those claims. 
 
 1 Martens et Cussy, III, 410, et seq. * Twiss, p. 238. 
 
ATneriaan National and State Boundaries. 99 
 
 As far as Spain was concerned, the United States were now 
 at liberty to lay claim to the entire western part of North 
 America north of the forty-second parallel. But therein they 
 came at once in contact, if not in conflict, with the claims of 
 other powers. Although Spain had at one time claimed 
 exclusive jurisdiction to the entire western coast of North 
 America as far north as the sixtieth degree, England had not 
 only not respected Spain's assumed rights, but had finally 
 compelled her, when in difficulty, to sign the convention of 
 the Escurial, October 28, 1790, by which both parties " agreed 
 that their respective subjects shall not be disturbed or molested, 
 either in navigating or carrying on their fisheries in the Pacific 
 Ocean, or in the South Seas, or in landing on the coasts of 
 those seas, in places not already occupied, for the purpose of 
 carrying on their commerce with the natives of the country, 
 or of making settlements there ; the whole subject, neverthe- 
 less, to the restrictions and provisions specified in the three 
 following articles:"^ These articles provided (1) that Spain 
 should have exclusive jurisdiction over a territory of ten sea 
 leagues radius from any of her existing settlements ; (2) that 
 all settlements made since April, 1789, or to be made there- 
 after, should be free of access to the trade of both nations ; 
 (3) that neither party should thereafter make settlements in 
 South America at any place south of the existing Spanish 
 settlements. From the time of this treaty, England main- 
 tained that she had all the rights of settlement and commerce 
 in common with Spain, in the region north of the 38th paral- 
 lel, the position of the most northerly of Spain's then existing 
 settlements on the Pacific coast ; and she accordingly denied 
 that the United States, by the treaty of 1819, could have any 
 higher right than Spain had had. But there was still another 
 party who claimed an interest in this territory. In Russia^ 
 which had at an early period established hunting and trading 
 stations far to the north-west, there was issued on the 16th of 
 
 ^ Ibid., 113, ei seq. 
 
100 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 September, 182 J, an imperial ukase asserting exclusive juris- 
 diction over " the north-west coast of America, as far south as 
 51° north lat.," and prohibiting "all foreign vessels from ap- 
 proaching within one hundred miles of the shore, under 
 penalty of confiscation/' ^ Both the United States and Eng- 
 land protested against this assumption of territorial jurisdic- 
 tion by Russia; and, by the conventions of 1824 and 1825 
 respectively, they succeeded in having Russia resign all claims 
 south of 54° 40' north latitude. Thus the contest was nar- 
 rowed down to the two representatives of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race ; and long and determinedly, though without war, they 
 wrestled for the jurisdiction. The apple of discord was the 
 basin of the Columbia River, to which England claimed at 
 least an equal right with the United States ; and proposed to 
 have that river as their mutual boundary, with the navigation 
 free to both ; but the United States would be satisfied with 
 nothing less than exclusive possession of the whole. 
 
 The treaty of 1783 had provided that the boundary between 
 the United States and the British posessions of the northwest 
 should be a due west course from the Lake of the Woods to 
 the Mississippi. By 1794 it had become doubtful if the 
 Mississippi extended so far north ; and the treaty of Ghent 
 (1814) settled the matter by fixing the forty-ninth parallel as 
 the mutual boundary. By the convention of 1818 this boun- 
 dary was extended to the " Stony " (Rocky) Mountains ; and 
 the territory beyond was to be open to both parties. 
 
 The disputed part of the Pacific coast had been visited from 
 time to time by Spanish, English, and Russian ships ; but not 
 one of them had entered the mouth of the Columbia River, 
 before Captain Gray, in 1789, in an American trading ship, 
 made his way over the bar that obstructs the entrance and 
 sailed for some distance up the stream. In 1803, " Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, then President of the United States, commissioned 
 Captains Lewis and Clarke to explore the River Missouri and '' 
 
 1 Ibid., 254. 
 
American National and State Boundanes. 101 
 
 '' its principal branches to their sources, and then to seek and 
 trace to its termination in the Pacific some stream, whether 
 the Columbia, the Oregon, the Colorado, or any other, which 
 might offer the most direct and practicable water communica- 
 tion across the continent for the purposes of commerce."' 
 They found and explored the Columbia, from one of its sources 
 to its mouth. Relying on these grounds of discovery and on 
 the fact that an American company made the first settlement 
 in the district, the United States laid claim to the whole basin 
 of the Columbia; and after the treaty of 1819 with Spain, 
 considered their title as unimpeachable, in as much as Spanish 
 mariners had been the first to make nearer observations of the 
 coast. England insisted on the right of occupation in common, 
 urging the convention of 1790 with Spain as a recognition of 
 that right. Our government first claimed to the olst parallel, 
 as lying within the basin of the Columbia ; but later offered as 
 a compromise, to extend to the Pacific the already existing 
 boundary-line which divided the territories of the two nations, 
 as far as the Rocky Mountains, namely, the 49th parallel. For a 
 long time England would not listen to thisj always insisting that 
 the navigation of the Columbia was necessary to the prosperity 
 of her northwest territory. The matter was finally compro- 
 mised and settled by the Oregon treaty of 1846, by which free 
 navigation of the river was guaranteed to the Hudson's Bay 
 Company and those trading with it. The boundary-line was 
 to be the 49th parallel to the end of the mainland, thence 
 through the Georgia and Juan de Fuca straits to the Pacific. 
 The discoveries, explorations, and first settlement of the 
 Americans in this region, should have given them some 
 advantage, on the principle now recognized by the Powers, in 
 reference to Africa ; but the best ground for the justice of this 
 method of settlement seems to be the fact that possession in 
 common, by two nations, of the whole country from the 42d 
 degree to 54° 40' was not practicable ; and as neither had 
 
 1 Ibid., 14-15. 
 
102 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 exclusive rights, from discovery or settlement on the Pacific 
 coast, but practically, if not theoretically, claimed the district 
 as an extension of that already in possession, it was the most 
 natural course to extend to the Pacific the dividing line which 
 was already in existence east of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 There was to be still another enlargement of territory before 
 the United States should receive the form which now appears 
 so symmetrical and natural on the map. By the treaty of 
 1819 they had surrendered all claim to the district between 
 the boundary then fixed — Sabine and Arkansas Rivers — and 
 the Rio Grande del Norte. However, this region became peo- 
 pled with a large proportion of English-speaking immigrants, 
 who were discontented with the government as a member of 
 the Mexican States, which had been independent of Spain since 
 1821. They accordingly declared their independence from 
 Mexico; and from 1837 to 1845 remained an independent 
 republic. In the latter year the country was admitted, at her 
 own request, to the American Union as one of the states. The 
 dissatisfaction of Mexico at this step led to a war, the result 
 of which was that the United States took not only Texas, but 
 the whole district west to the Pacific and south to the junction 
 of the Colorado and Gila rivers. But not yet was the desire 
 for more satisfied ; for it was found that there were lacking 
 good routes of communication between the eastern and western 
 parts of the newly-acquired territory; and hence our govern- 
 ment had to go again to Mexico, this time with gold instead 
 of arms in her hand, and ask for a strip south of the Gila 
 River, which was bought for $10,000,000, and is known un- 
 der the name of the Gadsden purchase.^ 
 
 Having thus followed in short the widening of the English 
 borders in North America, till that nation possessed almost all 
 to the east of the Mississippi ; then the establishment of an 
 
 * As Alaska is distant and separated from the rest of the United States, it 
 is not deemed necessary here to enter into the matter of the purchase in 
 1867, from Russia, of this tract of more than 500,000 square miles. 
 
Ame7'ican National and State Boundaries. 103 
 
 independent state of the same people, in the New World, and 
 the enlargement of this state through purchase and conquest, 
 until it became about three times its original size, we turn our 
 attention to the development of the interior lines of demarca- 
 tion. This is a study of no less importance, and in some re- 
 spects of greater interest, than the other. We have already 
 seen how England from the first claimed ownership of the 
 entire central belt of the continent, and gave to one company, 
 divided into two sections, the right to take possession of, people, 
 and govern this immense territory. The task proved too great 
 for the company ; then, too, there were others ready and 
 anxious to undertake the work of colonization ; and they 
 asked for, and received permission to found colonies within 
 the bounds already prescribed, but generally with the condi- 
 tion attached that lands so granted were not already occupied 
 by Christian people. The first reduction of Virginia's terri- 
 tory was made in favor of Lord Baltimore, a court favorite 
 who had already attempted to plant a colony in the south- 
 eastern part of Newfoundland, and failed. Admiring the 
 country and climate of Virginia, he secured a grant of the 
 territory north and east of the Potomac River and extending 
 to the 40th parallel of north latitude. He dying before the 
 charter w^as sealed, a new instrument was drawn up in favor 
 of his son Cecil, second Lord Baltimore. Previous to this, 
 the government of Virginia had been taken out of the hands 
 of the company, though the judgment on the process of quo 
 warranto had never been formally entered till Baltimore ap- 
 plied for the patent. Furthermore, the possessory rights of 
 the company had been frequently assured to them. The early 
 days of the colony had not been prosperous ones for its found- 
 ers and financial backers. Now that the colony was firmly 
 established and there was a prospect of reaping rich returns 
 on the original outlay, the members of the company regarded 
 this grant to Baltimore as a serious infringement on their 
 rights, and complained loudly thereof. Those were days of 
 despotism; and the ' Virginians spoke to deaf ears. The 
 
104 Amencci: Its Geographical History, 
 
 government received a legal decision in its favor, Lord Justice 
 Holt deciding that "the laws of England do not extend to 
 Virginia ; being a conquered country, their law is what the 
 King pleases." ^ So Lord Baltimore retained his grant and 
 planted his colony. The day was to come, how^ever, when 
 the tables would be turned ; and his descendants would hear a 
 somewhat similar judgment, but this time against them ; and 
 after long delay, they also would have to submit. 
 
 In the meantime the Dutch had discovered, explored, and 
 settled the region along the Hudson river; and also made 
 some attempts to settle the Delaware valley, which, however, 
 were at first unsuccessful. The Swedes, carrying out a cher- 
 ished plan of Gustavus Adolphus, made their way to the same 
 district, bought lands of the Indians, and commenced what, 
 under favoring circumstances, might have grown to a large 
 and flourishing colony. However, they failed to live in peace 
 with their European neighbors, and fell before the greater 
 power of the Dutch. Thus the Swedish colony became in- 
 corporated in the New Netherlands ; and Dutch settlers began 
 to people the banks of the Delaware. To the east, the Dutch 
 were not so fortunate. Though the first English settlements 
 there were not so old as the Dutch trading post on the Hudson, 
 still they were more flourishing and grew very much more 
 rapidly. At first the Dutch were rather traders than colonists ; 
 and when they began to realize the importance of peopling the 
 country with an agricultural and industrial population, they 
 introduced a system akin to feudalism which was not calcu- 
 lated to foster colonial growth of a healthy nature. The 
 Dutch, having established a post on the Connecticut River, 
 claimed the entire valley. But the English coming in num- 
 bers thither, the Dutch were compelled to allow them at first 
 equal privileges there, and at last to yield, making a pro- 
 visional treaty by which they gave up all claims to the 
 mainland east of a point near the present city of Green- 
 
 1 Hildreth, U. S. Hist., II, 125. 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 105 
 
 wich, retaining on the Connecticut only their fort of Good 
 Hope. 
 
 Under the English charter of 1606 there was no colony 
 planted in the northern district set off by that document. 
 The Pilgrim Fathers had planned to settle further south than 
 they actually did ; and first obtained a patent for the lands 
 they occupied, after they were settled in their new homes. 
 Though they drew up a plan for self-government before they 
 landed, they never succeeded in gaining a royal charter con- 
 ferring the powers of government on them. In fact, how- 
 ever, they governed themselves for a long time, but could not 
 prevent their territory finally (1691) being incorporated with 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 On November 3, 1620, was issued the charter for '* New 
 England in America,^^ under which name was to be included 
 " all that Circuit, Continent, Precincts, and Limits in America, 
 lying and being in Breadth, from Fourty Degrees of North- 
 erly Latitude, from the Equinoctiall Line, to Fourty-eight 
 Degrees of the said Northerly Latitude, and in length by all 
 the Breadth aforesaid throughout the Maine Land, from Sea 
 to Sea/' This immense tract, like that of Virginia, was to be 
 subjected to many future amputations. The Dutch claimed 
 the territory from the fortieth to the forty-fifth parallel ; and 
 were already, at the time of the issuing of this patent, in 
 possession of the Hudson river country, with a settlement 
 farther north than 42° 30'. To the north, the French were 
 already in possession, having for many years before this time 
 had a trading post as far south as about the 44th parallel. 
 Accordingly, if the English had abided by the letter of their 
 charters, they would not have claimed more than the territory 
 between the already existing Dutch and French settlements, 
 or less than one and a half degrees of latitude, instead of eight. 
 
 The development of the New England boundary-lines is 
 difficult to follow. There were two granting powers, the 
 crown and the Plymouth Company ; and their respective 
 grants were not always in harmony ; moreover, the successive 
 
106 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 grants of each were often inconsistent with its own earlier 
 grants. The result was confusion twice confounded. To 
 examine all the details of the various grants would take us 
 much beyond the limits of a lecture. We may take as a cen- 
 tral point the grant of Massachusetts Bay ; as it was not only 
 the largest tract conveyed to any one party, but the district so 
 ceded was soon to become the main colony of New England. 
 On the 19th of March, 1628, the Plymouth Company con- 
 veyed to John Humphrey and others the domain ; and on the 
 4th of the following March, a royal charter was issued con- 
 firming the same and granting governmental powers over the 
 tract described as follows: — ''All that Parte of Newe Eng- 
 land in America, which lyes and extendes betweene a great 
 River there, comonlie called Monomack River, alias Merri- 
 mack River, and a certen other River there, called Charles 
 River, being in the Bottome of a certen Bay there, comonlie 
 called Massachusetts, alias Mattachusetts, alias Massatusetts 
 Bay; and also all and singuler those Landes and Heredita- 
 ments whatsoever, lying within the Space of Three Englishe 
 Myles on the South Parte of the said River, called Charles 
 River, or of any or every Parte thereof; and also all and 
 singuler the Landes and Hereditaments whatsoever, lying and 
 being within the Space of Three Englishe Myles to the south 
 of the southernmost Parte of the said Baye, called Massachu- 
 setts, . . . Bay : And also all those Landes and Heredita- 
 ments whatsoever, which lye and be within the Space of Three 
 Englishe Myles to the Northward of the saide River, called 
 Monomack, alias Merry mack, or to the Northward of any 
 and every Parte thereof, and all Landes and Hereditaments 
 whatsoever, lying within the Lymitts aforesaide, North and 
 South, in Latitude and Bredth, and in Length and Longitude, 
 of and within all the Bredth aforesaide, throughout the mayne 
 Landes there, from the Atlantick and Western Sea and Ocean 
 on the East Parte, to the South Sea on the West Parte,^' in- 
 cluding the neighboring islands.^ A portion of this district, 
 
 ^ Char, ancl Cons., I, 194. 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 107 
 
 to the north, had already been conveyed in 1622 to Mason, 
 and had received the name of Mariana ; another portion, ten 
 by thirty miles in extent, had been bestowed in 1623 on 
 Robert Gorges. Massachusetts was, however, to extend her 
 jurisdiction very considerably north and south, and then to 
 undergo a number of amputations, before her borders should 
 become permanently established. 
 
 That the spirit of colonization was rife in England, was not 
 the only ground for increase in the number of distinct settle- 
 ments which, in the course of a few years, sprang up in New 
 England.^ Grants to enterprising individuals did their work ; 
 but no less did the dissatisfaction produced by the strictness, nay 
 harshness, of the Massachusetts authorities. To this cause in 
 whole or in part, is due the emigration which led to the found- 
 ing of the present states of Rhode Island and Connecticut. 
 Herein lay the seeds of another conilict. Although not within 
 her charter limits, Massachusetts laid claim to the jurisdiction 
 over her emigrants.^ For a time each of the off-shoots was 
 practically independent ; then gradually took place a drawing 
 together round the two main settlements. But there was a 
 middle district which, for more than half a century, continued 
 to be the cause of dispute. 
 
 The Plymouth Company made at an early date, several 
 small grants of land in the district immediately to the north 
 of the Massachusetts Bay territory ; but these were ignored 
 and superseded by an extensive cession to John Mason, 
 November 7th, 1629, embracing the coast from the Merrimack 
 to the Piscataqua and sixty miles inland. As the Massachu- 
 setts Bay charter conveyed all the land to the extent of three 
 miles north of any part of the Merrimack River, and as by 
 
 ^Hildreth, I, 267, writing of the year 1640, says: "Already there existed 
 east of the Hudson twelve independent communities, comprising not less 
 than fifty towns or distinct settlements." 
 
 ^ Ibid., I, 232. "The emigrants [of 1636] took with them a commission 
 of government, the joint act of the Massachusetts General Court and of the 
 commissioners representing the lords proprietors of Connecticut. 
 
108 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 survey it was found that that river extends inland toward the 
 northwest, Massachusetts claimed jurisdiction, and exercised it 
 at times, oyer this section. After a century's dispute the mat- 
 ter came finally before the highest authorities in England for 
 settlement, and Massachusetts suffered a greater diminution of 
 territory thereby than even New Hampshire had asked or had 
 reason to expect. " The Privy Council decided, however, that 
 this due west line (from a point three miles north of the Mer- 
 rimack River) should take its departure from a point three 
 miles north of the south westernmost bend of that river, thus 
 giving to New Hampshire twenty-eight entire townships, and 
 parts of six others settled under grants from Massachusetts." 
 
 The early history of the region now included in the state of 
 Maine is kaleidoscopic in character ; and is as little capable of 
 short description as the complicated movements of that instru- 
 ment.^ The conflicting claims there of French and English, 
 of Mason and Gorges, of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and New 
 York, present an exceedingly confused picture. The English 
 finally conquered the French in war ; Massachusetts bought 
 out Gorges' claim. After the formation of the republic, Mas- 
 sachusetts was induced to give up her claims, and Maine 
 became [1820] an independent member of the Union. Its 
 eastern boundary had been a subject of dispute between Eng- 
 land and the United States from the time of their first treaty, 
 — they not being able to agree as to which river was meant 
 under the name of St. Croix. By the treaty of 1794 between 
 these powers, a commission was constituted for determining 
 the question. The members thereof were enabled to reach a 
 conclusion by discovering the remains of an old fort on the 
 banks of the stream now known as the St. Croix ; and decided 
 also that the eastern and not the western branch of the same 
 should form the boundary. The New Hampshire line had 
 
 ^ Ihid.y I, 201. "The coast from the Piscataqua to the Kennebec was 
 covered by six other patents [than that of Gorges], issued in the course of 
 three years by the Council for New England.' 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 109 
 
 been definitely settled by the English Privy Council at the 
 same time [1737] as the northern line of Massachusetts had 
 been fixed. 
 
 The royal commission of 1664 had attempted to settle 
 boundary, as well as other disputes in New England. How- 
 ever, their decisions had but little permanent effect. Among 
 other matters referred to this commission, was the settlement 
 of the quarrel over the territory between Rhode Island and 
 Connecticut. Orders had been given that, if it were found 
 true, as reported, that this district had been ceded by the 
 Indians to King Charles I, then Nicholls was to seize it 
 in the name of the king, and give it the name of King's 
 Province. "After hearing the parties, the commissioners 
 directed that the territory in dispute, including the whole 
 Narraganset country, should constitute, under the name of 
 King's Province, a separate district." . . . This decision, 
 however, did not end the matter. It was held invalid because 
 it wanted the signature of Nicholls, whose participation was 
 essential to all decisions of the commissioners. Disputes, 
 both as to jurisdiction and land titles, presently revived, and 
 were carried on for the next fifty years? In 1683 another 
 commission reported, " that the jurisdiction of the Narragan- 
 set country belonged to Connecticut, and the land to the 
 Atherton Company.'' Rhode Island, however, charging the 
 commissioners with partiality, succeeded in preventing the 
 confirmation of the report. Having finally come before the 
 king in council, the matter was settled in 1725 by giving 
 King's Province to Rhode Island, thus confirming her charter 
 of 1662. 
 
 The charters of Massachusetts and Connecticut had granted 
 to those colonies an extension of their respective north and 
 south boundaries to the Pacific Ocean. We have seen that 
 they, especially Connecticut, came thus in conflict with the 
 Dutch in the New Netherlands ; that the latter were driven 
 from the Connecticut river, with the exception of the land 
 occupied by their fort, and the former accepted bounds not 
 
110 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 nearer than ten miles east of the Hudson river [1650]. 
 The Duke of York\s charter of 1664 conveyed to him the 
 country between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers ; and 
 after the Dutch had been conquered, York^s governor 
 attempted to establish a claim to the country as far as the 
 Connecticut. This, however, he was unable to do. The 
 commissioners of 1664 determined on a boundary-line run- 
 ning north-northwest from tide-water in the ^Mamarouck.' 
 But learning later that such a line would cross the Hudson in 
 the Highlands, instead of keeping twenty miles east of that 
 river, the same commissioners abrogated their former decision, 
 and the dispute between the inhabitants of New York and 
 Connecticut was renewed. In 1683 there was an afrreement 
 entered into between the parties, by which New York agreed 
 to cede to Connecticut a tract of 61,440 acres, in return for a 
 similar tract between the portion so setoff and Massachusetts. 
 Royal sanction to the agreement was received, and New York 
 surveyed and set off to Connecticut the portion agreed upon ; 
 but the latter failed to do her part. In 1725 commissioners 
 were appointed, who entered into articles of agreement as to 
 the manner of condlicting the survey, and there halted for six 
 years. Finally in 1731, the survey was made of the portion 
 north of that which had been set off by New York in 1684 ; and 
 the line of demarcation between New York and Connecticut 
 was fixed practically as now. Nevertheless, controversies arose 
 from time to time regarding the boundary ; and in 1860 New 
 York made an ex parte survey, which survey was adopted by 
 agreement between the two states in 1880, and confirmed by 
 the Congress of the United States, on February 26, 1881. 
 
 Massachusetts compromised her claim to land in New York 
 by allowing the present boundary-line to be established in 
 consideration of receiving one-half of the proceeds of the sale 
 of the public lands of that state. 
 
 The territory now forming the state of Vermont was the 
 subject of a long and bitter struggle. Though explored and 
 claimed by the French, they had to yield that with their other 
 
American National and State Boundaries. Ill 
 
 possessions in the year 1763. In the meantime a lively con- 
 test between New York and New Hampshire had developed 
 in reference to the same district. The former insisted on 
 having her charter limits; while under New Hampshire's 
 seal, Went worth, the royal governor, was granting lands be- 
 tween the Connecticut and Lake Champlain. Massachusetts 
 tried also to extend her borders in this direction ; but resigned 
 her claims in 1781. In the following year New Hampshire 
 did likewise. The inhabitants would have submitted to New 
 York's jurisdiction if that state had recognized the validity 
 of the New Hampshire land grants. Failing to do this, the 
 sturdy inhabitants of the district held out for an independent 
 state government ; and succeeded finally in 1790 in wringing 
 from New York her consent thereto. 
 
 The New Netherlands had extended their sway to the west 
 of the Delaware in 1655. But that portion of her dominions 
 did not prosper, and the victors did not long have the pleasure 
 of ruling over their conquered neighbors. After nine years, 
 the whole region falls a prey to a new conqueror, England. 
 The agents of the Duke of York seized the settlements on 
 the west of the Delaware as well as those on the east, although 
 that river formed his charter bounds ; and till 1681 they 
 ruled the same as an appendage of New York. In that year 
 a new colony is marked out which is to extend five degrees 
 west of the Delaware River, with northern extension to " the 
 three and fortieth degree of Northerne Latitude ; and bounded 
 on the South by a Circle drawne at twelve miles distance 
 from New Castle Northward and Westward unto the begin- 
 ning of the fortieth degree of Northern Latitude, and then by 
 a streight Line Westward to the Limitt of Longitude above- 
 mentioned." Read as a whole, the charter is evidently in- 
 tended to grant three degrees of latitude; but taking advan- 
 tage of the expression, " the said Lands to bee bounded on 
 the North by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree 
 of Northern Latitude," it was decided in the middle of the 
 following century that the king could grant lands to the north 
 
112 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 of the " beginning ^' of the forty-third degree of latitude, which 
 was interpreted as meaning all north of the forty-second 
 parallel. This practically excluded Pennsylvania from the 
 commerce of Lake Erie. But in 1781 New York released to 
 the general government all land to which she had claim, west 
 of the meridian of the western extremity of Lake Ontario ; 
 and the small triangle thus wrmed on Lake Erie was bought 
 by the state of Pennsylvania from the general government in 
 1792. In the Virginia charter of 1609 occurred, in the de- 
 scription of the territory granted, the following expression : 
 " and all that Space and Circuit of Land, lying from the Sea 
 Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land through- 
 out from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest.'' Under this 
 patent, or rather description (for the patent was at an 
 early day abrogated), Virginia claimed for a long time the 
 territory now comprised within the western limits of Penn- 
 sylvania : but was finally led to acquiesce in the terms of the 
 latter's patent by which the line five degrees west of the Del- 
 aware became the western border. 
 
 Pennsylvania's southern boundary-line was the cause of a 
 bitter quarrel with Maryland, of ninety years' duration. The 
 charter of the latter defined her northern boundary as extend- 
 ing from the Delaware Bay in a direct line to the meridian 
 of the head waters of the Potomac ; but it also provided that 
 that line should be on the fortieth parallel of latitude. As 
 the bay does not extend so far north as forty degrees, it was 
 impossible to reconcile the two descriptions. Penn's territory 
 was to be bounded on the south by a curved line, drawn at a 
 radius of twelve miles from New Castle, and continued by 
 the fortieth parallel ; and these two descriptions were also 
 irreconcilable with each other. Baltimore claimed to the fortieth 
 parallel wherever the astronomers might find it, in as much 
 as that would give him the most territory ; while Penn, for 
 the same reason, claimed to the twelve-mile line from New 
 Castle. According to the rules of law the concrete, such as 
 the mention of the Delaware Bay and the line at a fixed dis- 
 
Ameriean National and State Boundaries. 113 
 
 tance from New Castle, takes precedence of the general or 
 imaginary, as the fortieth parallel, whose determination 
 depends on the accuracy of the astronomical instruments used, 
 and the skill of the observer ; so that technically Penn had 
 the better case ; and the courts and Privy Council of England 
 so decided a number of times ; but the Balti mores continued 
 to contest the matter so long as there was a possibility of 
 gaining thereby ; and the matter was not finally settled until 
 1767, by the survey of the famous Mason and Dixon line, 
 which line was the result of a compromise, agreed upon by 
 the parties to the dispute in 1732, and enforced by the Eng- 
 lish court in 1760/ 
 
 Nature herself had settled, on three sides, the bounds of 
 New Jersey. But with the fourth, that colony had difficul- 
 ties enough. Several months before he himself w^as in pos- 
 session, the Duke of York granted to Carteret and Berkeley 
 this peninsula, to be bounded ^^ on the north by a line drawn 
 from the Hudson at the forty-first parallel of latitude, to 
 strike the Delaware in 41° 40'." The Peninsula was for a 
 time divided into east and west provinces, which however in 
 the end became united. There were numerous attempts to 
 incorporate the whole in New York, but they ultimately 
 failed ; as did also the persistent efforts of New York to 
 move the dividing line further toward the south ; so that in 
 consequence the first designated bounds became the permanent 
 ones for New Jersey. 
 
 The history of the boundary-lines of Delaware is intimately 
 connected with that of Pennsylvania, as both territories were 
 under the rule of the same English grantee. At the same 
 time as the southern limit of Pennsylvania was settled, Del- 
 aware's bounds were also fixed. The twelve-mile circle from 
 the centre of New Castle was her northern boundary ; her 
 
 ^ For details see the author's article : " The boundary dispute between 
 Pennsylvania and Maryland." Pennsylvania Mag. of Hist, and Biog., Octo- 
 ber, 1885. 
 8 
 
114 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 territory was to extend so far south as the claimed position 
 of Cape Henlopen of the old maps, which accounts for 
 the discrepancy of the description with the modern maps. 
 From this point, a due east and west line was to be run 
 across the land to Chesapeake Bay, and from its centre, 
 a straight line was to be run tangent to the circle about 
 New Castle; and from the point of contact, a due north 
 and south line was to be carried to the southern border line 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 South of the fortieth parallel lies an immense district, the 
 whole of which was at first called by the English, Virginia. 
 Only a comparatively small portion surrounding the spot 
 on which was established the first permanent settlement 
 there, retains the name to-day. To the north lies Mary- 
 land, the first tract that became independent ; of whose 
 north and east boundaries we have already spoken. To the 
 west there could be no ground of dispute, except as to that 
 small portion of the line between the head waters of the 
 Potomac and the southern line of Pennsylvania. This was 
 surveyed by commissioners appointed by Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia in 1859, and ratified by the Maryland legislature in the 
 year 1860 ; and since the formation of West Virginia, is the 
 border between that state and Maryland. But as to which 
 branch of the Potomac should be considered its head waters 
 continues to this day, I believe, a subject of dispute between 
 Maryland and Virginia. The short southern boundary-line 
 on the eastern peninsula was also the cause of considerable 
 trouble between Maryland and Virginia. In order to fill the 
 disputed territory with persons attached to his interest. Lord 
 Baltimore offered the lauds here to the inhabitants of the 
 neighboring counties of Virginia on specially favorable terms, 
 which offers " appear to have been gladly accepted." In the 
 end however Virginia seems to have been the winner ; for as 
 late as 1874 we find among an enumeration of Maryland's 
 losses, taking the bounds of the original charter as the stand- 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 115 
 
 ard, — " and to Virginia a half million of acres.^^ ^ The final 
 settlement was made by the award of arbitrators in 1877, 
 which was ratified by the respective states, and at last by Con- 
 gress in 1879. 
 
 As early as 1630 a large tract south of the present Virginia 
 was granted to Sir Robert Heath ; but as no permanent settle- 
 ment came into existence under his authority, the grant was 
 afterwards declared void ; and in 1663 the Earl of Clarendon, 
 the Duke of Albemarle, and others received a patent from 
 the English monarch for all that tract extending from ^' Lucke 
 Island, which lieth in the southern Virginia seas, and within 
 six and thirty degrees of the northern latitude," as far south 
 " as the river St. Matthias, which bordereth upon the coast of 
 Florida," and west to the Pacific. In the later charter of 
 1665 these limits were somewhat changed, the northern 
 extremity being placed at the north end of " Currituck river 
 or inlet," while the southern line was extended to the twenty- 
 ninth parallel. The influx of immigrants was for a time 
 considerable ; and they mostly gathered round two centres, in 
 the northern and southern portions respectively. Inspired 
 with ideas of freedom and popular rights, they broke away 
 not only from the proprietors, but also from each other. The 
 border-line remained for a long time a matter of controversy ; 
 a decision of the English authorities was reached in 1772, but 
 failed of establishment. On attaining independence in 1776, 
 North Carolina recognized the border line as laid down by 
 the English authorities, and inserted it in her constitution 
 adopted that year. It was to be a north-west line starting at 
 the mouth of the Little River and running " through the 
 boundary house, which stands in thirty-three degrees fifty-six 
 seconds, to thirty-five degrees north latitude ; and from thence 
 a west course so far as is mentioned in the Charter of King " 
 
 ^ Report and journal of proceedings of the joint commissioners to adjust 
 the boundary line of the States of Maryland and Virginia. Annapolis, 
 1874, p. 122. 
 
116 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 "Charles II. to the late proprietors of Carolina." South 
 Carolina was unwilling to accept this simple boundary-line ; 
 and the result of disputes and defective surveying is the present 
 irregular one, by which North Carolina has lost " probably 
 between 500 and 1,000 square miles." ^ In 1789 the state 
 ceded to the federal government all lands to which she had 
 claim west of the Smoky Mountains ; but the commissioners 
 who surveyed the southern part of the line in 1821 made it a 
 direct north and south line instead of following the mountains, 
 by which North Carolina h)st a valuable mining district. 
 
 In 1732 there was carved out of South Carolina all the 
 country between the most northern branch of the Savannah 
 and the most southern branch of the Altamaha (most probably 
 the St. Matthias of the charter of 1663), and extending west 
 from their respective sources to the Pacific. To this tract was 
 given the name of Georgia. Trouble arising with the Spanish 
 colony of Florida, there was conquered and retained the post 
 at the mouth of the St. Mary's River. Florida itself being 
 ceded to England in 1763, the district between St. Mary's 
 and the Altamaha was formally annexed to Georgia by pro- 
 clamation and has ever since continued to be a part of the same. 
 There were however long disputes as to which stream consti- 
 tutes the head of St. Mary's ; and the matter was not finally 
 decided until the present century. 
 
 Thus we have attempted to sketch the manner in which 
 our national and early state boundaries became what they are. 
 Almost every line has a history of its own, which it would be 
 interesting to follow out in detail ; but that would take us 
 much beyond the limits of a lecture. 
 
 The charters of some of the original colonies extended their 
 jurisdiction west to the Pacific ; but this they were destined 
 never to enjoy. The valley of the Mississippi received French 
 and Spanish immigrants before English settlers made their 
 way thither. When France was compelled to resign Canada 
 
 ^ Quoted in Henry Gannett's Boundaries of the United States, p. 95. 
 
American National and State Boundaries. 117 
 
 in 1763, England, on the other hand, yielded all claim to ter- 
 ritory west of the Mississippi. The United States having won 
 their independence from the latter country, fell heir to her 
 claims as far west as that river. There being great practical 
 difficulties in the way of settling the conflicting claims of the 
 several states to the immense, almost uninhabited tract, between 
 the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi, Virginia led 
 the way [1781] in offering to resign her share of the same to 
 the national government, on condition that the territory so 
 surrendered should in time, when sufficiently populated, be 
 divided into states to be admitted into the Union on the same 
 footing as the original states. This generous example was 
 followed by other states. At first with scattered population 
 and immense extent, there were formed territorial or tempo- 
 rary governments, with the main power resting in the federal 
 government. As population increased, bounds were con- 
 tracted ; — natural boundary-lines where practicable being 
 adopted ; and when no natural boundary offered itself, straight 
 north and south, and east and west lines were generally laid 
 down. From this point on, the subject has less interest. 
 There was now a central power to settle the lines of demarka- 
 tion ; and these were generally acquiesced in without hesita- 
 tion. The territory, west of the Mississippi came by treaties, 
 directly into the hands of the national government ; and the 
 several states as such, have had little or no voice in the matter 
 of its division. Here was again the story of increasing pop- 
 ulation and narrowing bounds ; and where there was no inter- 
 national dispute, the boundary-lines of the far west present 
 comparatively little material for the historian. 
 
VI. 
 
 Geographical Work of the National Government. 
 
 The intelligent mind has a natural curiosity to know some- 
 thing of the world in which we live ; how much more then 
 of the land which we call ours, to which we owe allegiance, 
 in patriotism for which our breasts are supposed to swell with 
 pride whenever her name is mentioned, and in defence of 
 which we may be called upon at any moment to lay down our 
 lives. Moreover, such a mobile population as the American, 
 wishes to know of all parts of its country, so that each one 
 may see if perchance he might not better his condition by 
 going elsewhere than where he is at the time being. Then 
 too, there is the economical consideration : — when men are 
 hunting the treasures of the earth, a geological map may help 
 them materially in the search. For the great nations of 
 Europe, the chief reason for making a perfect map of their land 
 is one of military aim, as the fate of battles is often 
 decided by the more or less accurate knowledge of the topog- 
 raphy of the ground whereon they are to be fought. To this 
 end the principal nations there have had constructed maps 
 whereon it is attempted to represent not only the main features 
 of elevation and drainage ; but it is scarcely too much to say 
 that every farm house and every clump of trees, together with 
 every by-path are represented. With these maps it is possible 
 even for a stranger to go through the land without a guide, and 
 follow his route with almost as much confidence as though he 
 were at home there. As America changes with great rapidity 
 in its cultural aspects, especially in the West, the United 
 118 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 119 
 
 States authorities have not deemed it advisable to go into such 
 detail here ; but, though we do not expect a war, as do the 
 nations of Europe, and can therefore spare the expense of such 
 minute work, the surveying that had already been done before 
 the opening of the War of the Rebellion was found very 
 useful to the authorities during the war ; and the Survey has 
 been more popular and has secured the support of Congress 
 in a much more liberal spirit ever since. Another object, 
 which in Europe leads to the making of accurate national 
 maps, but is of little importance here, is for taxing purposes. 
 Where the population is crowded together, and the expenses 
 of government great in proportion to the national wealth, it 
 becomes important to be able to tax everything which will 
 bear it; and land has been in all countries an important 
 source of revenue to the government ; as population increases, 
 the value of land per square foot gains in importance, and an 
 accurate knowledge of the possibilities of the revenues is 
 necessary to the authorities. Though our national government 
 lays no tax on land in private hands, the same is generally 
 subject to local taxation; and, as the best surveys in the 
 country are those of the central authorities, several of the 
 state governments have called in the assistance of the central 
 power in surveying their domains. This country's immense 
 coast-line, in connection with its great natural wealth, destined 
 it for a land of large commercial interests ; and in furtherance 
 of these interests it is necessary to do what is possible for the 
 safety of the shipping engaged in the carrying trade. Accord- 
 ingly a knowledge of the coast of the country is of paramount 
 importance. This is not to be had for the mere asking ; 
 because the gaining of that knowledge must come through 
 work of the most delicate and complicated kind. Not only 
 must the line between land and water be laid down, and that 
 varies from hour to hour on account of the tides ; but the 
 points on the land by which the position of a ship nearing the 
 shore can be determined, must also be accurately mapped. To 
 this add the necessity of knowing the channels by which the 
 
120 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 shore may be safely approached, the direction of the currents 
 through which one must pass, and which have an influence on 
 the sailing of the ship ; and still more, the depth of water at 
 a given time, as that is equally important ; and it will be seen 
 how necessary it is for a commercial country to have a 
 coast survey. 
 
 How are maps made ? is a very natural question, after one 
 has been talking so much about the product. The method 
 pursued depends very largely on the object aimed at. The 
 maps of some of the early navigators serve as an illustration 
 of what may be done by personal observation of a country, 
 with little or no assistance from instruments. With training, 
 one may acquire the power of observing closely and repro- 
 ducing fairly well what one has seen. An army officer told 
 me at Washington, that men are now trained in our army so 
 that after riding over the country they can on their return 
 make a very fair sketch of the topography of the land seen, 
 and sufficiently accurate to enable a commander to place his 
 troops for a battle, dispose his artillery to advantage, etc. 
 But on such reconnaisances, as they are called, no accurate 
 maps could be based. A step higher in the scale of accuracy 
 are the ordinary plane surveys, such as are used in platting 
 land for the market, or city building lots. Though this 
 method is sufficiently accurate for short distances, it is utterly 
 inadequate for long distances, owing to the spheroidal form 
 of the earth ; as, for example, a survey continued in this 
 manner from the Gulf of Mexico to the northern boundary of 
 the State of Mississippi, would there be in error four miles in 
 every hundred. 
 
 Up to a comparatively recent period, the best maps of the 
 United States were almost entirely based on such surveys, as 
 no other kind had been carried out to any extent. Separate 
 portions of the country had been thus surveyed, as was thought, 
 with sufficient accuracy ; but when it was attempted to unite 
 into one whole the several maps thus produced, they were 
 found not to fit, and some strange results were noted ; as for 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 121 
 
 example the Ohio River disappeared, while the Mississippi 
 was almost annihilated in some places, and in others its width 
 increased to several miles. For really accurate surveying, it 
 is necessary to have a geodetic foundation, that is, all lines 
 must be considered in reference to the curvature of the earth^s 
 surface. Work of this kind requires a knowledge of higher 
 mathematics, together with skill in using instruments of 
 the utmost delicacy for astronomical and terrestrial obser- 
 vation. The foundation of this work is in the astronomical de- 
 termination of the position of two or more points on the surface 
 of the earth ; for the earth being spherical, there is no other 
 method of determining absolute position on it than in reference 
 to the heavens ; and even this is not infallible, as the improve- 
 ment in methods and instruments of one agre has shown the 
 errors of the preceding. But it is the best we have, and must 
 therefore be the basis of the best work. The amount of labor 
 involved in such determination of position may be judged from 
 the fact that Mechain and Delambre, two famous French 
 surveyors, each made 1800 astronomical observations to ascer- 
 tain the exact position of the Pantheon at Paris. Then there 
 must be a base-line measured on the earth, for which work 
 many instruments have been invented, with ever increasing 
 accuracy ; so that now it is maintained that the experts can 
 measure a mile on the ground with a probable error of only 
 one-quarter of an inch or less. This line must be connected by 
 triangles with the points astronomically determined ; and each 
 angle of every triangle is, on the average, measured thirty 
 times by those engaged on the U. S. Coast Survey. But even 
 this is not all, for the altitude of every point must be known 
 and then reduced to the level of the sea. In determining the 
 size and form of the earth, to which all this work naturally 
 leads, it is not the form as presented to the eye, but an 
 imaginary form, such as there would be if the entire globe 
 were covered with a calm ocean. Only with such a beginning 
 is it possible to prepare a correct map of the country. The 
 further work to be done depends on the object for which the 
 
122 Ametnea: Its Geographical History. 
 
 survey is made. If that is for a general map of a country, 
 such as you find in the ordinary atlas, only a comparatively 
 few points need to be thus established, and the rest can be 
 drawn in after less careful observations of the intervening 
 country. If the utmost accuracy is sought, then it becomes 
 necessary to observe with great care an almost innumerable 
 number of triangles, and to pass over practically every foot of 
 the ground, and note its configuration. The work of our 
 national government furnishes us with illustrations of all the 
 varieties of surveying now in use ; for, with various objects 
 in view at different times, the government has instituted sur- 
 veys of all grades of accuracy. For ordinary geographical 
 purposes the survey should be of such a character as to give, 
 when complete, a knowledge of the distribution of land and 
 water, of the elevations of the land, of the position of political 
 borders, and the situation of cities and towns. Going beyond 
 this, it is possible to have maps of an infinite variety, showing 
 the distribution of the population, or of the mineral resources, 
 or of rainfall, — in short, of an endless variety of matters of 
 information. 
 
 In the prosecution of this work there are needed not only 
 men of trained minds capable of doing the work, but also 
 elaborate instruments for the necessary observations ; first for 
 the determination of the latitude, which is now done princi- 
 pally by observing stars near the zenith, instead of circum- 
 polar stars, as was originally the case; in which work, the 
 Americans have made some advances on that of their prede- 
 cessors. Then the longitude is to be determined, in which 
 our experts have shown the world how it can be done with 
 the greatest accuracy, namely, by means of the electric telegraph. 
 In perhaps no branch of science has the advance been greater 
 since the discovery of America, than just here ; for the early 
 navigators were liable to mistakes of from fifteen to twenty 
 degrees in its determination ; while, for example, the Coast Sur- 
 vey has determined the longitude of Lafayette Park, San Fran- 
 cisco, by several sets of experiments whose results differ from each 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 123 
 
 other but 0.06 of a second of time or 0.90 of a second of arc ; or 
 less than ^^Viy of the error of the early navigators. Of very 
 great importance is also the manner, as well as the means, of 
 measuring the base-lines; because an inaccuracy here will 
 extend throughout the whole line dependent on it, in the same 
 proportion. For this work new instruments have been 
 invented and constructed at Washington, in the manipulation 
 of which there has been distinguished success. In the obser- 
 vation of the angles of the triangles by which the survey is 
 conducted, Americans have reached as high a degree of accuracy 
 as any other nation ; and have observed the greatest distance 
 ever used for such purpose, in one case, the two stations being 
 one hundred and ninety-one miles apart. After all the innumer- 
 able observations have been made, there follows the intricate 
 work of bringing the results thus obtained into shape for the 
 construction of the map, which is the ultimate object aimed 
 at. Now the artists are brought into requisition, who are to 
 place on paper, correctly and in a manner agreeable to the eye 
 and also easy of comprehension, all that has been learned by 
 the survey. This done, the picture must be transferred to 
 stone or copper and placed in the hands of the printer. From 
 him it passes to the public, who as a rule have not the slight- 
 est conception of the vast amount of labor that has been 
 expended on its production. 
 
 It will probably be easier to understand what the govern- 
 ment has done, after having an idea of the problems which it 
 was desired to solve ; hence this, perhaps too long, introduc- 
 tion. The attention of the federal government was called to 
 the need of a survey of the coast as early as 1806, by Pro- 
 fessor Patterson, of Philadelphia, who, it is believed, was the 
 originator of the idea. President Jefferson recognized the 
 value of the suggestion and sent to Congress a recommenda- 
 tion in accordance therewith. This resulted in the law of 
 1807 by which the President was authorized to inaugurate a 
 survey of the coast. The plan of work submitted by Mr. 
 Hassler, a Swiss who had been engaged in similar work in his 
 
124 AmeiHca: Its Geographical History. 
 
 native land, was accepted ; and he was authorized to go to 
 Europe in order to procure the necessary instruments. There 
 were unavoidable delays in making the preliminary prepa- 
 rations, and it was 1811 before Mr. Hassler departed on his 
 mission. Then came the war with great Britain, and other 
 complications arose, so that he did not return with the neces- 
 sary equipment until 1816, and the work of surveying was 
 commenced the year following. But Congress felt dissatisfied 
 with the slow progress of its measure, and refused, after two 
 years, to renew its appropriation, so that the work was com- 
 pelled to cease in 1819. From this time until 1832, what 
 little was done toward increasing the knowledge of our coast- 
 line was done by the navy, but so poorly that Congress was 
 finally induced to revive the old law, and Mr. Hassler was 
 again placed in charge. The work was now reorganized in a 
 more efficient manner, and continued under the same direction 
 until Mr. Hassler's death in 1843. But it was not free from 
 fault-finding criticism during this time, and had to undergo 
 a searching investigation in 1842, from which it emerged in 
 triumph. When it is considered that Mr. Hassler had to 
 organize the work from the foundation, train his assistants, 
 and in some cases even invent his own instruments, it will be 
 found that the work he accomplished in the ten years preced- 
 ing the investigation was most creditable to him. The results 
 are thus summarized by one of his successors : " A base-line 
 had been measured in the vicinity of New York, the com- 
 mercial importance of which obviously indicated it as the 
 proper point of beginning. The triangulation had extended 
 eastward to Rhode Island and southward to the head of Ches- 
 apeake Bay, the primary triangulation crossing the neck of 
 New Jersey and Delaware, while a secondary triangulation 
 skirted the coast of New Jersey, meeting with another series 
 which extended down Delaware Bay. The topography had 
 kept pace with the triangulation, and the hydrography of New 
 York bay and harbor, of Long Island Sound, of Delaware 
 bay and river, and the off-shore soundings from Montauk " 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 125 
 
 " Point to the capes of the Delaware were substantially com- 
 pleted. The triangulation covered an area ^ of 9000 square 
 miles, furnishing determinations of nearly 1200 stations for 
 the delineation of 1600 miles of shore-line ; 168 topographical 
 maps had been surveyed and 142 hydrographical charts.' " 
 [Johnson's Cyclopaedia, Art. Coast Survey.] 
 
 The act of March 10th, 1843, provided that the Coast 
 Survey be organized on a plan to be submitted by a com- 
 mission appointed by the President of the United States, and 
 to consist of three civilians, two officers of the navy, and four 
 of the army. These had already completed their task by the 
 end of the same month ; and on the SOth, submitted to the 
 President, " The Plan for the reorganization of the Coast 
 Survey." Professor A. D. Bache was the new director ; and 
 throughout the period of almost a quarter of a century, during 
 which he occupied that important position, the Survey con- 
 tinued the work with great proficiency. During this period the 
 United States doubled its coast-line by the acquisition of 
 Mexican territory, and the settlement of the Oregon dispute ; 
 so that there was all the more necessity for increasing the 
 facilities of the bureau. In 1867 Mr. Bache died, and was 
 succeeded by Professor Benjamin Pierce; and in the same 
 year, Alaska was purchased from Russia, by which 26,000 
 miles more were added to the national coast-line. It is the 
 duty of the Coast Survey to delineate accurately the entire 
 line of the national coast, with all its meanderings, including 
 all bays, and rivers up to the head of tide-water, as well as the 
 adjacent islands. Taking this view of it, our Atlantic coast 
 has a length of 14,723 miles ; that of the Gulf of Mexico, 
 10,406 miles ; and the Pacific coast, exclusive of Alaska, 4,252 
 miles ; so that, including Alaska, the work of this bureau 
 must cover an extent of more than 55,000 miles. Nor is this 
 all ; for their work extends inland as far as may be useful for 
 coast defense ; and out to sea, twenty leagues, and sometimes 
 further ; as in investigating the Gulf Stream. Furthermore 
 they have extended a geodetic line along the Appalachian 
 
126 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 Mountains ; and lines of level even to the mouth of the Mis- 
 sissippi, by which it is shown that the Gulf of Mexico is 40 
 inches higher at the latter point, than the ocean at Cape Cod, 
 — a most important discovery which suggests at once a theory 
 as to the cause of the movement of the Gulf Stream. And 
 lastly, they are running a geodetic line from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific, as a trustworthy basis for the accurate geography 
 of the interior. Of this enormous stretch of country there 
 now (March 1st, 1892) remain to be surveyed only eight 
 degrees of longitude, — some portions of Kansas and Colorado, 
 and one station in Utah, being still unfinished. 
 
 Notwithstanding the high quality of the work done by this 
 bureau, which has received the approval and praise of scientists 
 in Europe and America, there have not been wanting from 
 time to time detractors, who have made charges of inefficiency, 
 generally coupled with the demand that the oversight of the 
 bureau be transferred to another department of the govern- 
 ment, namely the Navy — it has generally been a sub-division 
 of the Treasury Department. But from each new investiga- 
 tion, it has come out with increased honor ; and instead of 
 doing it harm, the attention aroused by such carping has only 
 added to its good name. 
 
 By the kindness of Professor T. C. Mendenhall, the present 
 Director of the Survey, I have been placed in possession of a 
 manuscript copy of an article entitled : " The U. S. Coast 
 and Geodetic Survey. Summary of its History, Objects, 
 Methods of Work and Contributions to Geographical Knowl- 
 edge,'' from which I extract the following, as to some of the 
 results of this gigantic undertaking of our government : " In 
 the introduction of improved instruments, apparatus and 
 methods of observation, marked progress was made. The 
 primary base-lines were measured with an apparatus devised 
 by the Superintendent and constructed at the Office of the 
 Survey with special reference to accuracy and economy of 
 measurement and facility of use in the field. The method of 
 determining latitude by measuring with a micrometer small " 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 127 
 
 " zenith differences of stars north and south of the zenith, as 
 devised by Capt. Talcott, of the U. S. Engineers by an in- 
 genious adaptation of the Zenith Telescope, was brought into 
 general use in the Survey, and it was soon found by discussion 
 of the results that the places of stars thus obtained were in 
 many cases superior in precision to those of the British Associa- 
 tion Catalogue. This led to a demand for better star 
 places, and at the request of the Superintendent, the Directors 
 of the principal Observatories undertook to determine the 
 places of all stars observed by the Coast Survey for latitude. 
 Not only was the accuracy of the latitude determinations of 
 the Survey thus increased, but the Observatories themselves 
 felt the stimulus given to astronomical research, and to the 
 publication of Star Catalogues of a high order of precision." 
 
 " But the most important contribution made by the Coast 
 Survey to practical astronomy was undoubtedly the application 
 of the electric telegraph to the determination of differences of 
 longitude. It was part of the plan of re-organization of 1843 
 that the difference of longitude between some main points of 
 the Survey, and the meridians of any or all of the European 
 observatories should be ascertained immediately. The Observ- 
 atory at Cambridge, Massachusetts, having been adopted as 
 the point of reference for Coast Survey longitudes, arrange- 
 ments were ol once carried into effect for the transportation of 
 chronometers between Liverpool and Boston ; occultations and 
 moon culminations were observed regularly at Cambridge, 
 Nantucket, and Philadelphia ; and care was taken to have 
 observations made whenever they occurred.'^ 
 
 " As soon as the first lines of electric telegraph were estab- 
 lished, experiments were made at the suggestion of Professor 
 Bache, and with the co-operation of Professor Morse, between 
 Washington and Philadelphia and Philadelphia and New 
 York. The Coast Survey Report for 1846 contains an 
 account of the first successful attempt made to exchange 
 signals for longitude, by the electric telegraph. On the 10th 
 of October in that year communication was effected between " 
 
128 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 " Philadelphia and Washington ; signals for time by the clock 
 were transmitted, and the instant of transit of a star over the 
 wires of the transit instrument was telegraphed. From this 
 date each year brought improvements in methods of observing 
 and recording ; the signals were soon recorded automatically 
 by astronomical clocks upon chronographs. The Atlantic 
 Cable of 1866 was at once utilized as a means of determining 
 the longitude of Cambridge from Greenwich ; in 1870, a 
 second determination was made through the French Cables 
 from Brest to Duxbury, Mass., the cables being joined at St. 
 Pierre, Miquelon ; and in 1872, Brest having been connected 
 with Greenwich by cable, signals from Cambridge, from 
 Greenwich and from Paris were united at Brest and compared 
 on the Brest chronograph, and a satisfactory junction effected 
 betw^een the American and European systems of longitude.^' 
 
 " From the final discussion of the results of these three 
 determinations, made in different years and by different 
 observers, it appears that the several values for the longitude 
 of Cambridge from Greenwich do not differ more than five- 
 hundredths of a second of time. 
 
 " The distinguished astronomer Sir George B. Airy, Director 
 of the Greenwich Observatory, was among the first to recognize 
 the great value of the American method, as it soon came to be 
 called, and to adopt it in the work under his oliarge. It is 
 now in general use by astronomers throughout the world. In 
 North America, the stations connected by telegraphic deter- 
 minations of longitude extend from Newfoundland to Mexico 
 and Central America, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
 Upwards of one hundred and forty such stations have been 
 occupied in the United States." 
 
 The survey of the Atlantic and Gulf coast-lines is practi- 
 cally complete. As to what still remains to be done on the 
 Pacific, I cannot do better than quote Professor Mendenhall 
 himself. In a letter of March 1st, 1892, he says: "The 
 portions of the Pacific Coast remaining to be surv^eyed are as 
 follows : — The primary triangulation from about latitude 40° '^ 
 
Geographical Wm^h of the National Government. 129 
 
 " to the vicinity of Olympia, Washington ; the coast triangula- 
 tion from the vicinity of Cape Sebastian to and including the 
 Straits of Fuca, excepting detached portions in the vicinity of 
 Coos Bay, Willapa Bay, Gray's Harbor, Umbqua and 
 Yaquina rivers, etc. ; the topography of the outer coasts of 
 Oregon and Washington is about one-third completed, but a 
 preliminary or reconnaissance survey has been made over the 
 whole. The various harbors and entrances are completed. 
 The Straits of Fuca and some portions of the Gulf of Georgia 
 are still unfinished. The hydrography from Cape Orford to 
 Cape Kiwanda, Oregon, and from Gray's Harbor to Cape 
 Johnson, Washington, remain to be surveyed. In south-east 
 Alaska all the waters between the main-land and the islands, 
 and including Portland Canal, from Dixon Entrance to the 
 head of Chilcat Inlet have been surveyed, but all other por- 
 tions of the Alaska coast remain unsurveyed." 
 
 I cannot say just what amount of money this great work has 
 cost; but in a pamphlet of 1884, entitled, "The late attacks 
 upon the Coast and Geodetic Survey," p. 16, there is the fol- 
 lowing statement : " The average appropriation . . . from 
 1870 to 1884, — including fourteen fiscal years, — has been 
 $622,200." " For the current fiscal year (1891-92), the appro- 
 priation for field and office expenses, repairs of vessels, Alaska 
 Boundary Survey, &c., is $515,130." Besides the paid officials 
 of the Coast Survey, army and navy officers have from time 
 to time been detailed by their respective superiors to assist in 
 the work ; but at present none of the army are so engaged, 
 though some navy officers are detailed by the Navy Depart- 
 ment for hydrographic work conducted by the Coast Survey. 
 
 When we are told that 63,000 copies of charts were issued 
 by this bureau last year (1891), it enables us to form some 
 slight conception of the large scale on which its work is carried 
 on. These charts are of different varieties, both as to methods 
 of presenting the facts with which they deal, and also as to 
 the amount of detail given thereon. In scale they range 
 between 1 : 5000 and 1 : 80,000. The average of the maps, 
 9 
 
130 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 however, are made on a scale of 1 : 10,000, or about 6 inches to 
 the mile ; so that a square foot on the map represents about 
 four square miles of the earth's surface. As the maps are made 
 for navigators, but little of the land is shown, but that little is 
 given with great minuteness ; and hill and valley, woods and 
 fields, roads, railroads, and water ways down to the smallest 
 creek, — all find place here. Then too every light house with 
 the color of its light, every buoy with its color, the route for the 
 safest approach to land, with its compass direction and the 
 variation of the compass, soundings at innumerable points, 
 together with the substance and character of the bottom, — all 
 can here be seen at a glance and be much better and more 
 easily understood than from a lengthy description in words. 
 A map of the entire United States on such a scale (yir^Trv) 
 would require four hundred thousand sheets, which in atlas 
 form, would constitute a library of itself, of eight thousand 
 large folio volumes. 
 
 Though scientifically unimportant, the plane survey of the 
 public lands of the United States has been of great commercial 
 utility. In 1802 Colonel Mansfield, then surveyor of the 
 Northwest Territory, proposed a plan for the carrying out of 
 this work, which plan with small variations, has been in use 
 ever since. The public domain is divided into land districts, 
 over each of which there is placed a surveyor-general, whose 
 duty it is to superintend the survey thereof. In each district 
 a meridian and an east and west line are carefully run, and 
 their positions determined astronomically, though not with 
 the utmost accuracy. With this as a foundation, the whole 
 district is divided into townships, six miles square, a con- 
 ventional allowance being made for the true direction of the 
 meridians. Smaller divisions, called sections, quarter-sections, 
 etc., are surveyed as the land is put on the market. Large 
 portions of the country have been thus surveyed, with varying 
 degrees of accuracy. " Unfortunately, one vicious principle 
 was early incorporated in the plan, viz., that the work should 
 be given out under contract, not to the lowest bidder but to'' 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 131 
 
 " preferred bidders, a method which resulted in great extrava- 
 gance on the one hand, and such a deterioration of the work 
 upon the other that it iinally subserved but the single purpose 
 of parceling the lands. Since the organization of these 
 surveys up to the present time (1884) |35,000,000 have been 
 expended therefor, and it will always be a matter of profound 
 regret to scholars and statesmen that the grand purposes for 
 which the surveys were primarily organized were not fully 
 realized." (J. W. Powell, On the Organization of Scientific 
 Work of the General Government, Pt. 2, p. 1072.) 
 
 Previous to the organization of the Geological Survey in 
 1879, the work of surveying the country was distributed 
 among various bodies of experts. Thus to the Lake Survey, 
 was entrusted the work of surveying the shores of the Great 
 Lakes and connecting Lake Michigan with the head of Lake 
 Erie. To the Engineers' Corps of the army was given the 
 work of surveying several small areas of land, the course of 
 the Mississippi, and other places for the improvement of 
 rivers. The early explorations of the west were made by 
 parties sent out by the War Department. These parties 
 made maps of the country seen, but they were necessarily 
 crude ; and they are now of but little use. Some of the older 
 States undertook to have their own domairis surveyed, among 
 which were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Then too 
 the surveys necessary for the great railroads increased very 
 considerably the accurate knowledge of the topography of the 
 country, some of this work having been done with great care. 
 
 After the War of the Rebellion, the national government 
 entered on this class of work with more vigor than it had 
 hitherto displayed, and the work was prosecuted in several 
 localities at the same time. Under Mr. Clarence King, the 
 fortieth parallel between the one hundred and fourth and the 
 one hundred and twentieth meridian west from Greenwich 
 was surveyed, including a strip of land one hundred and five 
 miles wide, and covering in all an area of 87,000 square miles. 
 
132 Ame^'ica: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Of this region a map was made, representing four miles to the 
 inch, with contour lines representing vertical differences of 
 three hundred feet. 
 
 About 100,000 square miles of country in Colorado, New 
 Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho were surveyed by the 
 Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, under 
 the direction of Dr. F. V. Hayden. Maps of this survey 
 were also issued, of the same scale as that of King, but with 
 the contour lines at every 200 feet. 
 
 " The Geographical Surveys west of the One Hundredth 
 Meridian " were placed under the charge of Lieut. George M. 
 Wheeler of the Engineer Corps ; and several hundred thousand 
 square miles in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, 
 California, Oregon, and Idaho were surveyed ; but on so small 
 a scale and by such inaccurate methods that the work does not 
 at all meet the modern requirements, and much of it will have 
 to be done over again. 
 
 In Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona, about 60,000 square 
 miles were surveyed by a body of men under the able direction 
 of the present head of the Geological Survey, of which a map 
 was made on a scale of four miles to the inch, and 250 feet 
 contours. The aggregate cost of these four surveys was only 
 $1,985,028.57, — less t^an is now expended in two years for 
 the operations of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the 
 Geological Survey. 
 
 Experience however showed that such division of labor was 
 not advantageous, either from an economical point of view, 
 or as regards the quality of the work. Accordingly in 1879, 
 after mature consideration, all these various surveys were 
 abolished, and the entire work of this nature, excepting that of 
 the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which serves a different pur- 
 pose, and proceeds largely on different methods, was united 
 under the management of the Geological Survey ; so that since 
 then all such work has been carried on in accordance with a 
 unified plan, and under the same central control. 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 133 
 
 " For convenience of administration, but controlled by 
 geologic considerations, the area of the United States is 
 divided into seven districts, as follows : '' 
 
 I. District of the North Atlantic, comprising Maine, New 
 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connec- 
 ticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- 
 land, and the District of Columbia. 
 
 II. District of the South Atlantic, comprising Virginia, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 
 Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. 
 
 III. District of the North Mississippi, comprising Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota, 
 Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri. 
 
 IV. District of the South Mississippi, comprising Indian 
 Territory, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. 
 
 V. District of the Rocky Mountains, comprising Montana, 
 Wyoming, Colorado, part of Utah, New Mexico, and part of 
 Arizona. 
 
 VI. District of the Great Basin, comprising parts of Wash- 
 ington Territory, Oregon, California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, 
 and Idaho. 
 
 VII. District of the Pacific, comprising part of Washing- 
 ton Territory, part of Oregon, and the greater portion of 
 California.^ 
 
 The entire work of the survey is divided into four main 
 classes, topographic, geologic, paleontologic, and chemic, — to 
 use the expressions of the official reports. Though the whole 
 is subordinated to the geological work, from which the organi- 
 zation takes its name, the topographical work must precede 
 the rest as a foundation on which all that follows is built ; for 
 it is evident that you must have an idea of the lay of the land 
 before you can represent the geological formations of the 
 country in their true relations. With the great extent of the 
 country, it is manifest that it is not possible to be surveying 
 
 * Fourth Annual Report of the U. S. Geolog. Survey, Introduction. 
 
134 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 in all parts of it at the same time, and the work was accord- 
 ingly commenced in those regions where valuable deposits of 
 minerals enforced the demand for a knowledge of the same. 
 Originally the survey was intended only for the public 
 domain of the general government; but since 1871 Congress 
 has authorized work to be done in the older states as well ; 
 and in the case of Massachusetts and other states which were 
 interested in having an exceptionally good survey of their 
 territory, the work has been done under the direction of the 
 Geological Survey, the interested state, however, paying the 
 extra cost thereby incurred. On the topographical maps 
 which are made from these surveys, are represented the 
 natural characteristics of the country, " its mountains, hills, 
 valleys, streams, bodies of water, etc., — together with certain 
 cultural features, such as highways, boundary lines of town- 
 ships, counties, states, etc.^' ^ 
 
 When this work is done the maps are given into the hands 
 of the geologists, for their additions. Major Powell informs 
 us that " In later years topographic methods and plans of 
 mapping have been changed, and these changes are radical, 
 and are due to the influence of geologists, who have demanded 
 better maps than those of the old military engineers.'^ ^ With 
 these improved maps the geologists wander hither and thither 
 over the ground, correcting the topography where necessary, 
 and noting the geological formations to a very minute degree, 
 establishing "millions of points" where the geodetic survey 
 establishes but hundreds. 
 
 There are also subdivisions of the work of geology, which 
 are of sufficient importance to be ranked practically as 
 separate sciences ; this is especially true of paleontology, the 
 " science which treats of the structure, affinities, classification, 
 and distribution in time of the forms of plant and animal life 
 embedded in the rocks of the earth's crust." ^ And for this 
 
 ^ Testimony before the Joint Commission, p. 184. 
 
 2 Ibid., 168. 8 Encyc. Brit., X, 319. 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 135 
 
 work there is a division of the Geological Survey ; as there is 
 also for the study of the chemical properties of the rocks and 
 minerals which form our portion of the earth's surface. 
 
 In the work of triangulation which forms the basis of the 
 topographical survey of this as of the Coast and Geodetic 
 Survey, the margin of error here allowed is greater, and 
 accordingly, the extreme delicacy of work that is so character- 
 istic of the former is not here required. The difference in 
 the degree of accuracy reached by the two organizations is thus 
 summarized by Major Powell : " Just what degree of refine- 
 ment is actually attained by the two organizations can be set 
 forth better by a few illustrations. In the Coast Survey work 
 the probable error in the length of the Kent Island base, in 
 Chesapeake Bay, is ^^^V^TT^th part of its length ; of the Peach 
 Tree base, near Atlanta, ^^xV^xrth part of its length. In the 
 Geological Survey the probable error of the Wingate base is 
 T^TnTTTiyth part of its length ; of the Malvern base in Arkansas, 
 TTFiTTyirth part of its length. Errors in triangulation are 
 defined in terms of arc, and relate to the closure of triangles. 
 The errors in the triangulation of the Coast Survey from the 
 Peach Tree base are not more than half a second for each 
 angle. In the Geological Survey the average error in the 
 closure of triangles, in all of that work in the Appalachian 
 Mountains, executed in 1882, 1883, and 1884, is less than 8 
 seconds for each angle. The probable average error of lengths 
 of lines measured by the Coast Survey from the Kent Island 
 base is stated to be about one-half an inch in a mile. The 
 probable average error in the lines measured by the Geological 
 Survey in the triangulation in the Southern Appalachians is 
 about 6 inches to the mile, i. e., in a line 20 miles in length 
 the error would probably be 10 feet.'' ^ 
 
 Exclusive of Alaska, the United States cover an area of 
 about 3,000,000 square miles, of which territory more than 
 900,000 square miles have already been surveyed. Of this 
 
 1 J. W. Powell, Testimony J etc., 205-6. 
 
136 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 area there were surveyed before the present organization 
 384,890 square miles, to which the U. S. Geological Survey 
 added by the end of June, 1891, 392,584 square miles ; and 
 a letter of Nov. 3d, 1889, from Mr. Henry Gannett says: 
 ^^The area surveyed by the Geological Survey up to the 
 present date is approximately 537,000 square miles." This 
 work produces vast results outside of the field of geography, 
 and hence outside the range of our discussion ; but we cannot 
 refrain from calling attention to the scientific value of the 
 products of this branch of our governmental activity. For 
 instance, mineral deposits of great extent and untold worth 
 have been thereby brought to light ; in the chemical depart- 
 ment, the difference between iron and steel, which so long 
 eluded the keen eye of the investigator, was discovered ; and 
 even the occult processes, by which Nature forms her mineral 
 deposits, have been largely revealed. 
 
 One of the most important fields of activity of this bureau 
 is that of publishing the results of its extensive and multi- 
 farious labors. According to the statute approved March 3, 
 1879, "The publications of the Geological Survey shall 
 consist of the annual report of operations, geological and 
 economic maps illustrating the resources and classification of 
 the lands, and reports upon general and economic geology and 
 and paleontology." ^ Of these publications, those which interest 
 us especially are the maps ; and in this direction, our govern- 
 ment stands second to none in the beauty and practicability 
 of its cartographical productions. Many experiments have 
 been tried as to the best methods of engraving and printing 
 these maps, which have resulted in the adoption of a 
 system at once artistic, practical and economical. The topog- 
 raphical maps are constructed on " varying scales, but 
 chiefly the three following, viz. : one two hundred and fifty 
 thousandth, or about four miles to the inch ; one one hundred 
 and twenty-five thousandth, or about two miles to the inch ; " 
 
 ^Powell, Testimony, etc., 674. 
 
Geographical Work of the National Government. 137 
 
 '^ one sixty-two thousand five hundredth, or about one mile to 
 the inch ; " ^ and some are constructed on larger scales, when 
 the nature of the territory requires it. Most of the territory 
 will be represented on the scale first mentioned, on sheets 20 
 by 16 J inches, so that each sheet will represent one degree of 
 latitude and longitude. In December, 1884, Major Powell 
 calculated that it would take about twenty-four years to finish 
 the work, and the map of the entire country, when complete, 
 would require about 2,600 sheets. A member of the survey- 
 ing corps told me that since that statement of the head of the 
 Survey, the plan of work had been somewhat changed, and 
 the methods refined, so that although the appropriations of 
 the last few years have been enormous, thus greatly facilitating 
 the work, and rendering greater speed possible, that the work 
 will doubtless require still twenty years to come for its 
 completion. 
 
 The uses of these topographical maps are various ; but one 
 chief use will scarcely occur to those living on the Atlantic 
 seaboard, namely, the solution of the great problem of irri- 
 gating our almost limitless western plains. We are told that 
 almost two-fifths of the soil of the United States requires 
 irrigation before it will produce crops ; and furthermore, that 
 these maps convey the information on which can be based the 
 necessary plans for the construction of the necessary works of 
 irrigation. It is somewhat surprising to hear that quite a 
 number of towns in the west have been moved twice or oftener 
 on account of error in selecting their sites ; and that this might 
 have been obviated by acquaintance with such information 
 as these maps with their contour lines contain. Of equal im- 
 portance is perhaps the fact that thereby the only feasible 
 method of obviating the destructive floods of the lower Mis- 
 sissippi has been discovered ; at least, such is the claim of 
 Major Powell. He believes that the survey has revealed a 
 method by which the waters sent down the Missouri and its 
 
 1 Ihid., 205. 
 
138 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 branches from the melting snows of the Rocky Mountains, 
 can be collected and stored up for the irrigation of a vast 
 territory now arid, by want of water ; and that the same pro- 
 cess would relieve the lower Mississippi of its over-abundance 
 of water and render this great flood-plain "one of the most 
 fertile districts in the United States, on which corn, cotton 
 and sugar could be produced in vast quantities/' 
 
 The other publications of the Geological Survey are 
 doubtless in their several fields as important as those just 
 mentioned ; but they do not belong to our theme. Enough 
 has been said, it is hoped, to show that in its geog;raphical 
 work, our government is fully abreast of the best perform- 
 ances of the times; Major Powell goes even further and 
 affirms that " the practice of European governments is steadily 
 following the precedents established in the United States/' 
 
SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 It has been generally assumed by modern historians that 
 the Mississippi river was the stream known among the Span- 
 iards by the name Rio del Espiritu Santo, or some modification 
 thereof. Some writers add that it was discovered and so 
 named in 1519 by Alonso Alvarez Pineda, who was sent out 
 that year on an exploring expedition by Francisco de Garay, 
 Governor of Jamaica. Accordingly, it was a matter of great 
 surprise to me, as the idea gradually assumed form, in ex- 
 amining the Kohl Collection of maps, in the State Depart- 
 ment at Washington, that the usual interpretation was at least 
 open to doubt. Hence the subject seemed worthy of a more 
 careful consideration than has heretofore been given it ; and 
 an Examination of many maps and writings leads me to the 
 conviction that in all probability the Mississippi was not dis- 
 covered by Pineda, and that the early Spaniards did not 
 know that river under the name of Espiritu Santo ; but that, 
 on the contrary, they applied this name generally, if not ex- 
 clusively, to the stream which now bears, in its different parts, 
 the names Coosa, Alibama, and Mobile. 
 
 That the old idea still obtains currency is shown by the fact 
 that the very latest work on American history, which treats of 
 the matter, namely, that by Professor John Fiske, The Dis- 
 covery of America, gives it place in the following passage : — 
 " Pineda then turned back, and after a while entered the 
 mouth of the Mississippi, which he called the Rio de Santo 
 Espiritu. . . . How far he ascended it is not clear, but he" 
 
 139 
 
140 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 "spent six weeks upon itp waters and its banks, trading with 
 the Indians, who seemed friendly and doubtless labored under 
 the usual first impression as to the supernatural character of 
 the white men." [II, 487.] Mr. Winsor, in his recent work 
 on Columbus, is not so positive in his statement as Professor 
 Fiske, but he does not express any doubt on the subject. He 
 speaks in reference to Pineda's and other early expeditions to 
 the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico as follows : — " In 
 1519 Pineda had made the circuit of the northern shores of 
 the Gulf of Mexico, and at the river Panuco he had been 
 challenged by Cortes as trenching on his government. Turn- 
 ing again eastward, Pineda found the mouth of the river 
 named by him Del Espiritu Santo, which passes with many 
 modern students as the first indication in history of the great 
 Mississippi, while others trace the first signs of that river to 
 Cabe9a de Vaca in 1528, or to the passage higher up its cur- 
 rent by De Soto in 1541. Believing it at first the long- 
 looked-for strait to pass to the Indies, Pineda entered it, only 
 to be satisfied that it must gather the watershed of a continent, 
 which in this part was now named Amichel.'' [p. 560.] In 
 his Narrative and Critical History, however, Mr. Winsor 
 admits that the subject is at least open to doubt ; for in a note 
 to page 292, volume II, he uses the expression, " even if we 
 do not accept the view that Alonzo de Pineda found its mouth 
 in 1519 and called it Rio del Espiritu Santo." But his doubt 
 is rather as to whom the first discovery of the Mississipi is to 
 be attributed than as to the identity of the Rio del Espiritu 
 Santo with the Mississippi. That Mr. Winsor is not opposed 
 to the idea of accepting them as identical is shown by the fact 
 that he accepted and printed statements to that effect in the 
 contribution of Mr. John Gilmary Shea to his Narrative and 
 Critical History. In volume second of that work we find the 
 statement of their identity made at least four times by that 
 author, namely, twice on page 237, and once each on pages 
 247 and 282. One quotation will be sufficient to show that 
 Mr. Shea did not share the editor's doubt as to the discovery 
 
Supplement. 141 
 
 of Pineda ; for in reference to it he makes the assertion that 
 he "discovered a river of very great volume, evidently the 
 Mississippi.'^ [p. 237.] In his earlier work on the Dis- 
 covery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, Mr. Shea 
 goes further, and actually substitutes the name Mississippi for 
 Espiritu Santo where the latter is used by the Spanish writers. 
 On page xi of the Introduction, referring to the expedition of 
 De Soto, he says : — " The Mississippi, under the name of 
 Espiritu Santo, was not unknown to him [i. e. De Soto] ; 
 for . . . he sent Maldonado back to Havana, with orders to 
 meet him in six months at the mouth of the Mississippi." 
 As the name Mississippi seems never to have been used by 
 the Spaniards until after its adoption by the French, the order 
 of De Soto could not possibly have read thus. 
 
 In the last revision of the great work of George Bancroft, 
 I do not find that he says just in so many words that the 
 Mississippi and the Rio del Espiritu Santo are one and the 
 same river, but he does so by implication. For, in describing 
 the territory known as the Quivira of Coronado, which lay 
 between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, he tells us, 
 " It was well watered by brooks and rivers, which flowed to 
 what the Spaniards then called the Espiritu Santo." [I. 36.] 
 
 To Mr. B. F. French, we owe the publication of many 
 valuable documents relating to the exploration and settlement 
 of Louisiana, who has even taken the trouble to print English 
 translations of some of the valuable old French and Spanish 
 papers. In one of his foot-notes there occurs this statement : 
 " Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda was ordered by Francisco de 
 Garay, Governor of Jamaica, in 1519, to explore the coast of 
 the Gulf of Mexico, and in sailing along the coast he discov- 
 ered the mouths of the Mississippi." \^CoU.j 2d Ser., p. 242.] 
 
 A third of a century ago, the greatest authority on American 
 historical geography was unquestionably Dr. J. G. Kohl, to 
 whose industry and talent we owe the valuable collection of 
 historical maps in the Department of State at Washington, 
 and who in 1860 published fac-similes of the two famous 
 
142 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529 now preserved at Weimar. 
 Accompanying the fac-si miles is an elaborate dissertation on 
 the contents and history of the maps. On several occasions 
 he gives voice to his belief in the identity of the Mississippi 
 and the Espiritu Santo, but on none more unequivocally than 
 in the following passage, translated from page 79 : — "And it 
 is also without doubt, that all following Spanish geographers 
 and historians applied the name Rio del Espiritu Santo, 
 introduced by Pineda, to the E,io Grande de Florida, discov- 
 ered in the interior by De Soto in 1542 {sic'], which is our 
 Mississippi.'' 
 
 Although the consensus of opinion among modern his- 
 torians is, as we have seen, in favor of considering the E-io del 
 Espiritu Santo identical with the Mississippi, it is true that 
 Mr. Winsor has in one place expressed a doubt, at least as to 
 the identity of the Bay of Espiritu Santo, where he says, 
 " Beaujeu steered, as he thought, for the Baye du St. Esprit 
 (Mobile Bay [?])'' [IV. 237.] Mr. Shea in his work on the 
 Discovery of the Mississippi Valley, referring to the same 
 expedition, that of La Salle trying to reach the Mississippi by 
 sea, makes another guess as to the bay then sought under the 
 name of Espiritu Santo, and thinks it the " Appalachee.'' 
 [p. 190.] 
 
 Both Professor Fiske and Mr. Winsor make the statement 
 that Pineda named the river he discovered the Rio del Espiritu 
 Santo ; and the latter even refers to his authority for the 
 description in which the statement occurs, namely, Navarrete, 
 III. 64. Professor Fiske, however, does not here indulge his 
 readers' curiosity as to his sources of information. What 
 shall we say, then, to the fact that Navarrete, in his descrip- 
 tion of the expedition of Pineda, entirely fails to name the 
 Rio del Espiritu Santo, or give any other name to the river at 
 whose mouth Pineda made so long a stay. He merely de- 
 scribes it as "a river of very great volume," then proceeds 
 with the history of the expedition. As there are several 
 other points which are of value in determining whether or not 
 
Supplement. 143 
 
 Pineda was on the Mississippi, a literal translation of the 
 passage that contains the pith of the matter in question is 
 here given. 
 
 The expedition, having gone east and west, and taken posses- 
 sion of the country in the name of the King, " they turned back 
 and entered a river of very great volume, at the mouth of 
 which there was a large town where they stayed more than 
 forty days, repairing the ships and trading with the natives, 
 in the most friendly and amicable manner. They travelled 
 six leagues up the river and saw forty towns on the shores. 
 This was called the province of Amichel : good land, quiet, 
 healthy, well stored with provisions and fruits : its inhabitants 
 wore many ornaments of gold in their noses and ears." 
 [Navarrete, III. 65.] It will be observed that a river is here 
 mentioned and described, but not named. The description 
 furnishes, moreover, an argument tending to show that this 
 river was not the Mississippi. 
 
 As to the river being " of very great volume," that is a 
 characteristic too general to fix the river where Pineda made 
 his long halt ; for we must remember that the Spaniards of 
 that day were not familiar with such great rivers as the 
 Amazon and the Mississippi ; and accordingly used such ex- 
 pressions as the above, in describing much smaller streams. 
 For instance, Cortes called the Panuco, a " great river," the 
 very term that was applied to the Mississippi when its true 
 greatness was known, although we should consider the Panuco 
 but a small stream. However, the second statement, namely, 
 that at the mouth of this river there was a ^' large town " 
 [un gran pueblo], should be of itself sufficient evidence 
 that the river was not the Mississippi ; for all the other 
 accounts from the early period go to show that the land about 
 the mouths of the Mississippi was practically uninhabited, 
 one may say, uninhabitable. Furthermore, Pineda is said to 
 have ascended the river for six leagues,^ and found forty 
 
 ^ Professor Fiske, in spite of the fact that a number of authorities give 
 this limit, says: — "How far he ascended it is not clear." 
 
144 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 pueblos on its banks. Twenty-four years later the remnant of 
 De Soto's expedition apparently found no towns on the lower 
 Mississippi. At least Biedma speaks of none, and says the 
 Indians followed them from the place of the last victory 
 " almost until we arrived at the sea, so that we tarried nine- 
 teen days on the journey.^' [Biedma's Relacion, in Doc. Ined., 
 III. p. 440.] When in 1699 the French under d'Iberville 
 sought a place for a settlement on the Mississippi, they were 
 unable to enter the mouth in their ships, and had to provide 
 small boats for the ascent of the river. They had to travel 
 for several days before finding the first Indian settlement, 
 instead of seeing forty towns within six leagues ; and, more- 
 over, they could find no place fit for a settlement of their own 
 nearer the mouth of the river than the site chosen for the city 
 of New Orleans, which is about 100 miles from the mouth. 
 Then too the description of the fertility of the soil, the health- 
 fulness of the climate, and the riches of the inhabitants, points 
 with much greater probability to another region than to the 
 one about the mouths of the Mississippi, which was found by 
 later explorers to be swampy and unattractive. From these 
 considerations it will be seen how very small is the basis on 
 which modern historians have founded their conjecture as to 
 the first discovery of the Mississippi. 
 
 We are told by Mr. Winsor that " at the river Panuco," 
 Pineda " had been challenged by Cortes as trenching on his 
 government." Now it so happens that Cortes himself wrote 
 a long letter to the king, during this very year, 1519, in 
 which he gives a detailed description of this visit, without, 
 however, naming the leader of the expedition. But as he calls 
 him the captain of Francisco de Garay, and as we find no 
 other meeting of Cortes with a more important subject of 
 Garay's during that year, there can be little doubt as to the 
 identity of the expedition described by Cortes and that of our 
 modern historians, to which the discovery of the Mississippi 
 under the name of Rio del Espiritu Santo is ascribed. Some 
 of Cortes' letters are printed in the original in Barcia, Histo- 
 
Supplement. 145 
 
 riadores Primitivos ; and an English translation is given by 
 George Fulsom, published in New York in 1843 ; so that the 
 material is accessible to the public. Instead of meeting at 
 Panuco, as Mr. Winsor says, the interview between Cortes 
 and these explorers of Garay took place at Vera Cruz, 
 according to Cortes' own account, who may be supposed to 
 have known. At the *'* City of Cempoal," four leagues from 
 Vera Cruz, Cortes heard of the arrival of the ships of Garay 
 in the harbor of Vera Cruz, and returned hither for the pur- 
 pose of learning their mission. He di^ not see Pineda, or 
 whoever was the captain of the fleet ; but his first interview 
 was with a notary and two witnesses, who came in Garay's 
 name to demand a division of the territory. By strategy, 
 Cortes later made prisoners of four others from the fleet, two 
 cross-bowmen and two musketeers ; which fact being observed 
 from the vessels of Garay they put to sea at once. These men 
 told Cortes, as he relates to the king, that this expedition had 
 been sent out by Francisco de Garay, Governor of the Island 
 of Jamaica, and had come for purposes of discovery ; that they 
 had arrived at a river, '' thirty leagues along the coast, after 
 passing Almeria,'' where they had traded with the Indians, 
 and had bartered for 3000 " Castellanos '' of gold; that they 
 had not landed, but had seen certain villages on the shore; 
 that the lord of this river was — PANUCO ! 
 
 It is a well known fact that the rivers and regions of 
 America often received from the Spaniards the names of the 
 chiefs whom they found in power there. That Cortes so 
 applied the name of the chief in this case is shown by the fact 
 that in paragraph LV of the same letter, when referring again 
 to this expedition, he speaks of the " Rio de Panuco." In 
 paragraph XLVii he says further that the expedition returned 
 to Panuco, after having been at Vera Cruz. Letter IV, 
 written October 15th, 1524, makes further mention of this 
 river as follows : — '^ I have already given your Majesty an 
 account of the river Panuco, fifty or sixty leagues distant 
 from Vera Cruz along the coast, to which the ships of Fran- " 
 10 
 
146 Ame^nca: Its Geographical History. 
 
 " CISCO de Garay had made several visits, when they met with a 
 rude reception from the natives, on account of the bad manage- 
 ment of the captains in trading with them. Subsequently, 
 when I saw that there was a deficiency of harbors along the 
 whole coast of the North Sea, and no one equal to that 
 afforded by the river in question, — I determined to send there/^ 
 Garay himself actually came afterwards to Mexico, and offered 
 to arrange with Cortes, by a marriage connection, the division 
 of that part of the country. In a later paragraph of the same 
 letter, Cortes remarks : — " Nothing seems to remain but to 
 explore the coast lying between the river Panuco and Florida, 
 the latter being the country discovered by the Adelantado 
 Juan Ponce de Leon ; and then the northern coast of Florida 
 as far' as the Baccallaos." Now as five years had passed since 
 Pineda's voyage, on which he is said to have discovered the 
 Kio del Espiritu Santo, which is believed by so many to have 
 been the Mississippi, and as Cortes was now in friendly 
 relations with Garay, in whose employ Pineda had been ; if 
 that discovery had been the Mississippi, with all the accom- 
 paniments of fertility, fine climate, and wealth, with which 
 modern writers adorn it ; then why did Garay so much desire 
 possession of the region of the Panuco ? why had he taken so 
 much pains to conciliate Cortes for it, when he might have 
 gone to the Mississippi in perfect freedom, even more so 
 than the French did nearly two centuries later, when the 
 Spaniards were in possession of all Mexico ? why did Cortes 
 say that the coast between the river Panuco and Florida had 
 not been explored, if Pineda had been all along it and had 
 ascended the Mississippi an indefinite distance, as Professor 
 Fiske would have us believe ? If the Mississippi were found 
 and ascended on that occasion, why is there no mention what- 
 ever of it, while the Panuco is so frequently the subject of 
 Cortes' theme, and the ground of dispute with Garay ? 
 
 There is preserved to us a proclamation of the Spanish king, 
 dated 1521, which recites the facts of the expedition of 1519, 
 the meeting with Cortes, etc., and is published in volume II. 
 
Supplement, 147 
 
 of the Colleecionde Doeu7nentos In6ditos^ . . . del Real Archivo 
 de Indias, Madrid, 1864. This informs us that more than 
 three hundred leagues of the coast had been explored, after 
 which they turned and entered a river, which was very large 
 and of great volume, at whose entrance there was a great 
 pueblo ; that they remained here more than forty days, repair- 
 ing their ships, and trading with the natives; furthermore, 
 that the ships went up the said river six leagues, and found 
 forty villages on either bank ; and, to clinch the matter, and 
 prove the identity of this river with that mentioned by our 
 modern historians, it is also recited that this province is called 
 Amichel. [p. 560.] We are further informed that it was a 
 good land, peaceful and healthy, with plenty of provisions and 
 fruits, and other things of commerce; that there was fine gold, 
 and that the inhabitants wore many ornaments of gold in their 
 noses, ears, and on other parts of their bodies. Here we have 
 evidently the original authority used by Navarrete himself. 
 We possess also the evidence of still another contemporary 
 writer, who lived in Spain from 1487 almost all the time until 
 his death in Granada in 1526, and who was personally ac- 
 quainted with many of the leading explorers of that age. It 
 is scarcely necessary to add that we refer to Peter Martyr. 
 He goes somewhat into detail in relating this matter, and 
 makes Garay himself the principal actor, although we know 
 from Cortes, and from the king's proclamation that this was 
 not the case. From Lok's translation, we extract the follow- 
 ing passage, as containing the substance of the whole matter. 
 " Garaius sayling to those shores, light upon a riuer, flowing 
 into the Ocean with a broade mouth, and from his ships, dis- 
 cryed many villages couercd with reedes. A king whose name 
 is Panuchus possesseth both sides of that ryuer, from which 
 the country also is called Panucha." [Decade Y. Chap. I. p. 
 176.] In the VIII. decade, Chapter II. we find the following 
 account of the River Panuco. " Yppon the banks of this 
 great riuer Panucus, not far from ye mouth, which conueyeth 
 the waters thereof into the sea, stoode a great towne of the'* 
 
148 Amei^ca: Its Geographical History. 
 
 "same name, consisting of 14000. houses of stone for the most 
 part. . . . Shippes of burden may come vppe the channell of 
 this ryuer for many myles together. The people of this Pro- 
 vince overthrewe Garaius twice." [p. 285.] 
 
 We have the evidence of still another to prove that the 
 great river discovered by Pineda was not the Mississippi, who, 
 though not a contemporary, had such unusual facilities for 
 arriving at the truth of what he wrote, that his evidence 
 on any such point is of value. In the General History of 
 America by Antonio de Herrera, translated by Captain John 
 Stevens, we find that word was brought Cortes that there 
 " w^as a Ship come from the Northward, having run along the 
 Coast of Panuco, and bartered for Provisions, and about the 
 Value of three thousand Pieces of Eight in Gold ; that the 
 Men did not like that Country ; that they were sent by Francis 
 de Garay, from Jamaica, under the Command of Captain Alonso 
 Alvarez Pineda." ..." The seven Men belonging to Garay 
 informed him [Cortes] that they had saiFd far along the Shore 
 in Quest of Florida, and touched at a River, and Province 
 whose Lord was calPd Panuco, where they found some Gold, 
 but little, and bartered, without going ashore, for the Value 
 of three thousand Pieces of Eight, and a considerable Quantity 
 of Provisions." [Book IV. chap. I. vol. 2, p. 238-39.] 
 
 This account of Herrera is really the cement which serves to 
 bind the varying contemporary accounts together ; for we have 
 the expedition described in such a manner as to show that it must 
 be the same as the one of which Cortes speaks ; and we have 
 the captain named whom Garay had placed at its head, Pineda, 
 the man who is said to have discovered the Mississippi this 
 same year ; here too we find the terms " coast of Panuco " and 
 " Panuco the lord of the country " ; we have the interview of 
 Cortes with seven men, which agrees with Cortes' own recital, 
 of the notary with two witnesses, and the four afterwards 
 taken prisoners ; then too the " 3000 Castellanos " for which 
 they traded with the Indians in the one case are evidently the 
 same as the "3000 Pieces of Eight" for which they bartered 
 
Supplement 149 
 
 in the other. The name " Araichel " seems to be known only 
 to the king, of all the contemporary authorities; but if 
 Amichel were other than the region about the Panuco, or in 
 other words, if it were the country of the Mississippi, why did 
 Garay never seek it, instead of returning so many times to 
 the Panuco ? 
 
 Now in all these early authorities on the voyage of Pineda, 
 I entirely fail to find mentioned his discovery and naming of 
 the Rio del Espiritu Santo. They all agree as to one fact, 
 namely, that he discovered a large river ; but when that river 
 is named, the name is Panuco, and not Espiritu Santo. It is 
 true that the royal proclamation calls the territory Amichel ; 
 but the description of the great town at the mouth, and other 
 villages on its banks, with the fine climate, the gold of the 
 country, etc., tallies so well with others^ description of the 
 region about the Panuco, that it is scarcely to be supposed that 
 two different countries were meant. 
 
 As to the name Rio del Espiritu Santo, I have found it 
 mentioned but once by any of these contemporary authorities, 
 namely, by Peter Martyr, in the VIII. Decade, Chapter III. 
 as follows : — ^' This Alguazill [an intimate of Garay's] addeth 
 many things, not to be omitted. That Panucus and the riuer 
 of Palmes breake forth into the Ocean almost with the like 
 fall, and that the mariners get fresh & potable waters of both, 
 nine myles within the sea. The third riuer, which our men 
 call the riuer of the Holy Ghost [Espiritu Santo] neerer to 
 ye country of Florida, hath a more streight & narrowe chan- 
 nell, yet very rich & fruitfull countryes lying round about it, 
 & well replenished with people.^^ One would scarcely inter- 
 pret this description as showing the first indication of the great 
 Mississippi. Its " more streight & narrowe channell " does 
 not agree well with the " vast serpentine channel " of Elysee 
 Reclus ; any more than the " rich & fruitfull countryes lying 
 round about it " do, with the " sterile land " reached by de 
 Vaca, or the '^ unpeopled island " found by the remnant of 
 De Soto's followers at the mouth of the Mississippi. Peter 
 
160 ATnerica: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Martyr evidently did not confound the River Panuco with the 
 Rio del Espiritu Santo ; but he seems to have regarded the 
 former as of the greater importance. Even supposing, then, 
 for the sake of argument, that the river of " Amichel " of the 
 royal proclamation were the Rio del Espiritu Santo of Peter 
 Martyr, there is no good ground for thinking that it was our 
 Mississippi. Furthermore, both the Panuco and the River of 
 Palmes are mentioned as keeping the water fresh far out to 
 sea, a characteristic usually ascribed only to the Mississippi, of 
 the rivers flowing into the gulf; while of the Espiritu Santo, 
 no such remark is made. 
 
 Both on the maps and in the later histories and relations, 
 there is to be found frequently the name of the bay of Espiritu 
 Santo. A natural supposition seems to be that the Rio del 
 Espiritu Santo would flow into that bay. Pineda's halting 
 place does not appear to have been on a bay, certainly not on 
 a prominent one. On the other hand, the bay w^here De Soto 
 landed was named Espiritu Santo ; but that was probably the 
 present Tampa Bay, and could therefore have no possible 
 connection with the Mississippi River. The same name was 
 given to the bay where La Salle landed in 1685, supposing 
 himself to have found one of the mouths of the Mississippi, 
 while he was actually on the coast of what is now Texas. In 
 the memoir of Daniel Coxe, an English explorer of the early 
 part of the eighteenth century, and published by French in 
 his Louisiana Collections, the Espiritu Santo Bay is mentioned 
 several times ; and from the context, it is quite certain that 
 the writer does not always mean the same body of water. In 
 one place he says : " There falls out of the Meschacebe [Mis- 
 sissippi] a branch which after a course of one hundred and 
 sixty miles empties itself into the N. E. end of the great Bay 
 of Spirito Santo.'' [Pt. 11. p. 233.] This is probably the 
 Amate, which leaves the Mississippi and, flowing through 
 lakes Maurepas, Ponchartrain, and Borgne, empties into the 
 St. Louis Bay. He then goes on to say that there are only 
 two large rivers between the peninsula of Florida and the 
 
Supplement 151 
 
 Mississippi : — " the first, that of Palache, the true Indian name, 
 by the Spaniards called the river of Spirito Santo, or of 
 Apalache, adding an A, after the Arabian manner, from 
 which a great part of their language is derived ; . . . This 
 river enters the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles from the Cod 
 of the Bay of Palache, at the northwest end of the Peninsula 
 of Florida." Now as it is 350 miles or more in a straight 
 line from the Mississippi to the Apalache Bay, it is not to be 
 presumed that Coxe meant the same body of water in these 
 two descriptions. He informs us in another passage that the 
 Coussa [Coosa] River, a branch of the Mobile, " enters the 
 Gulf of Mexico, about fifteen leagues to the west of the great 
 Bay of Nassau or Spirito Santo. . . . The river runs into a kind 
 of lagoon or bay. . . . Near the mouth of this river the French 
 have lately made a new settlement, called Fort Louis. . . . 
 The distance between this river and that of Palache or Spirito 
 Santo to the east is about 190 miles.'' [Ibid., 235-236.] 
 " The Bay of Nassau or Spirito Santo is made by four islands, 
 which run almost due south, a little inclining to the west." 
 [p. 237.] This last description points rather to Apalachicola 
 Bay, than to Apalache Bay ; and as the former receives the 
 waters of a much larger river than any flowing into Apalache 
 Bay, it is possible that the Apalachicola River was sometimes 
 known by the name Espiritu Santo. The nature of the 
 stream and of the country about its mouth agrees much better 
 with Peter Martyr's description of the Rio del Espiritu Santo 
 than that of either the Mobile or the Mississippi. Further- 
 more, Apalachicola Bay is one that would be very noticeable to 
 an explorer, feeling his way, without a chart, along the shores 
 of the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 In describing the Coosa River Captain Coxe writes : — 
 " Many rivulets uniting, after a course of eighty miles, form 
 a river bigger than the Thames at Kingston, making several 
 delicious isles, some three or four miles long, and half a mile 
 broad ; . . . The first considerable town or province is Chiaha, 
 famous for its pearl fishing." [French, ColL, Pt. II. p. 234.] 
 
152 America: Its Geographical Histo7^y, 
 
 Mr. Buckingham Smith's translation of the " Relation of the 
 conquest of Florida, presented by Luys Hernandez de Biedma 
 in the year 1544 to the King of Spain in Council/' mentions a 
 town of " Chiha " which the De Soto exploring company 
 reached in four days' march from the ridges where were found 
 the head waters of the Espiritu Santo. " From there we 
 marched four days, and arrived at a town called Chiha, which 
 is very plentiful in food. It is secluded on an island of this 
 river of Espiritu Santo, which, all the way from the place of 
 its rise, forms very large islands." [JM., p. 241.]^ Both 
 authors agree that the place mentioned (Chiha or Chiaha) was 
 near the province of Coosa. If we consider that Biedma 
 specially calls attention to the ^^ Apalache, a river dividing 
 the one from the other Province," the probability seems to be 
 very strong that Captain Coxe was in error in applying the 
 name Santo Spirito to the Apalache [Apalachicola]. In the 
 great work of Garcilaso de la Vega on De Soto's conquest of 
 Florida, I have been unable to find that he ever mentions the 
 Rio del Espiritu Santo, though he often makes reference to 
 the bay where the company landed, and where the ships 
 remained for some time awaiting orders, under the name 
 Espiritu Santo. Biedma, on the other hand, makes frequent 
 mention of the river of that name, and among other passages 
 there is one to which especial attention may well be drawn, as 
 it is apparently the authority for the statement generally made 
 that De Soto expected his ships to meet him at the mouth of 
 the Mississippi. De Soto commissioned Francesco Maldonado 
 to return to Cuba for supplies, etc., " and if within six months' 
 time he should hear nothing of us, to come with the brigan- 
 tines, and run the shore as far as the River Espiritu Santo, to 
 which we should have to resort." [p. 236.] ^ Previous to this, 
 Maldonado had been sent on a two months' cruise along the 
 coast, and, according to Biedma, continued " until he arrived " 
 
 1 See the original Spanish, Doc. Ined., III. 422-423. 
 
 2 Original in Doc. Ined., III. p. 418. 
 
Supplement. 153 
 
 "at a river which had a good entrance, a good harbor, and an 
 Indian village on the borders of the sea." [Ibid.^ Garcilaso 
 de la Yega goes into this whole subject much more in detail 
 than Biedma, and as a careful historian and a contemporary 
 of De Soto, his testimony is probably as trustworthy as that 
 of Biedma. He gives the details of the coasting of Maldonado 
 in search of a fine harbor, the latter's report of his success, the 
 orders of De Soto as to his return [in about eight months 
 instead of six, February to October], the account of that 
 return, and the disappointment felt at not finding De Soto, 
 the reasons for De Soto not carrying out his original plan and 
 meeting Maldonado there, and the searches for the missing 
 explorers in the two years following, until at last the fate of 
 the expedition was heard of in Mexico. In all these instances 
 the name Espiritu Santo does not occur a single time as the 
 place of proposed meeting, but another name is mentioned, 
 and always the same name which is Achusi. This is always 
 spoken of as a " Puerto '^ or port, and is described in a 
 manner to remind one much more of a broad river mouth or 
 bay than of any of the mouths of the Mississippi. 
 
 That Achusi was not unknown to Biedma, who was one of 
 the explorers, is shown by the fact that he mentions, on the 
 way to Mavila, coming " to a river, a copious flood, which we 
 considered to be that which empties into the Bay of Chuse." 
 [p. 242.] On this river was Mavila [Mobile] forty leagues 
 from the sea, according to the Indian story, [p. 242.] As 
 Mavila was on the river emptying into the Chuse (Achusi), 
 according to one author, and as Maldonado was to return to 
 Rio del Espiritu Santo, according to the same author, or to 
 Achusi, according to the other writer, is it not reasonable to 
 suppose that they were using different names for the mouth of 
 the same river, especially as one name, Mavila, a city on that 
 river, remains fixed? Here, I believe, we have the river 
 generally known as the Rio del Espiritu Santo among the 
 Spaniards. That there was at times confusion, even among 
 them, there is little doubt ; but that in general the present 
 
164 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Alabama and Mobile rivers were called by the name Rio del 
 Espiritu Santo, seems extremely probable, if not absolutely 
 certain. 
 
 If the reader is not yet convinced, there are many other evi- 
 dences pointing to the same solution of the difficulty. Having 
 shown what river was probably intended under the name 
 Espiritu Santo, it remains to point out why the Mississippi 
 was not the river thus designated ; for he who contends against 
 a generally accepted thesis must be prepared to show sufficient 
 cause for his non-belief. It has been already shown that the 
 river which Pineda entered and which is said to have been 
 named by him the Espiritu Santo, could be taken for the Missis- 
 sippi only by doing violence to the best evidence on the matter 
 which we can find. Chronologically, Cabeza de Vaca is the next 
 in order who is said to have discovered the mouth of the Mis- 
 sissippi ; but if he did, he fails to give us the name Espiritu 
 Santo, or any other for it ; ^ so does not need to detain us. 
 Following him, came De Soto, whose name is indellibly en- 
 rolled in the annals of the mighty stream, in whose waters his 
 earthly remains were sunk to their last rest. That he did not 
 know the Mississippi under the name Espiritu Santo, at any 
 rate during the early part of his wanderings, has been shown 
 to be very probable, by the fact that the latter name was often 
 applied by him and his followers to a much smaller stream, far 
 to the east of the Mississippi. According to the work of his 
 great historian, he never knew it at any time under that name ; 
 but there is a passage in the memoir of Biedma which gives some 
 ground for assuming that these two names were applied to one 
 and the same river by the men of that ill-fated expedition. 
 Relating their arrival at the town of Quizquiz, he says : " The 
 town was near the banks of the River Espiritu Santo." [p. 
 249.] However, from that time on, we do not find that he 
 makes any mention of the Espiritu Santo ; but he speaks ofteu 
 
 ^ Shea's Miss. Valley, p. x. 
 
Supplement 155 
 
 of the Rio Grande, though without any connection which 
 makes it probable that he intends the same river. On page 
 256, however, he mentions "the Rio Grande, from whence 
 we came," in a manner implying strongly that he thereby 
 intended the river near which was situated the town of 
 Quizquiz. From the contemporary relation of the same 
 expedition by a Gentleman of Elvas, we learn that Quiz- 
 quiz was near the Rio Grande. [Buckingham Smith's 
 Translation, p. 101.] 
 
 When we call to mind that Biedma in his memoir never 
 afterwards refers to the Rio del Espiritu Santo, and constantly 
 mentions the Rio Grande ; and when we consider that De Soto 
 knowingly went farther west than the place of meeting Mal- 
 donado, agreed upon, i. e. according to Biedma the Espiritu 
 Santo, is it not reasonable to suppose that in this one instance 
 there was a slip of the pen? since his statement does not seem 
 to be supported by any other assertion either of himself or of 
 other contemporary chroniclers. 
 
 For nearly a century and a half after De Soto's unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to conquer the valley of the Mississippi, 
 this vast stretch of country received but little attention 
 from Europeans ; and when, toward the close of the seven- 
 teenth century, it again came into prominence, it was first 
 approached from the land side, and not from the Gulf of 
 Mexico. » In following the narrative of the explorations and 
 early settlements of the French in this quarter, it will be found 
 that they identified the Mississippi with a number of names of 
 rivers which appear on old Spanish maps, but very rarely 
 with the Rio del Espiritu Santo. Through these men we 
 learn that a number of names were given to the Mississippi, 
 even by the Indians living upon its banks ; but the one which 
 has taken precedence of all others is that which De Soto 
 seems to have found in use on the part which he touched, and 
 which the Spaniards translated into the Rio Grande of their 
 native tongue, but which the French retained in what they 
 
156 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 understood to be its original form, Mississippi/ The first of 
 Frenchmen to learn of the existence of this mighty stream 
 and call the attention of his fellow-countrymen to it was 
 Claude Allouez, founder of a number of missions, and the 
 first of missionaries to meet the Sioux Indians. [ Winsor, Nar. 
 and Crit. Hist, TV. 286.] This was toward the close of the 
 third quarter of the seventeenth century. The announcement 
 of this news inspired the expedition of Joliet and Marquette, 
 who, however, did not reach the mouth of the river. By Mr. 
 Neill we are told that Joliet called the river Buade, [^yinsor, 
 IV. 178], while Mr. Winsor himself says he called it Colbert 
 [IV. 206] ; but neither of them affirms or intimates that he 
 took it for the Rio del Espiritu Santo of the Spaniards. To 
 the intrepid de La Salle we owe the first descent of the Mis- 
 sissippi to its mouth, together with trustworthy scientific 
 observations ; and he makes the statement in a letter which 
 has been preserved to us that "this [River] Escondido^ is 
 certainly [the] Mississippi.'^ [Margry, Memoir es et Docu- 
 mentSj II. 198.] (Cet Escondido est assurement Mississippi.) 
 Thomassy, in his G6ologie de la Louisiane, quotes the Relation 
 of Pere Zenobe as authority for the statement to the effect 
 that they found the mouth of the Mississippi " at the place 
 where the maps show the Rio Escondido.'' [p. 18.] The 
 
 ^According to Shea's Mississippi Valley, p. xxiii-xxiv, the word first 
 appeared in Father Allouez's Relation, 1666-67, in the form Messipi ; from 
 which it was afterwards lengthened, though often spelled with only one p 
 by the French. Another form not unfrequent was Meschacebe. We are 
 told the word comes from the Algonquin language, and is composed of 
 Missi (great) and sepe (river). {Ibid., p. 6.) From a letter of a Recollect, 
 it appears that the name Mississipy was that in use among the Ontaonas 
 [Algonquin ?] Indians. [Margry, 11. p. 245.] Other Indian names attrib- 
 uted to parts of the Mississippi are Gustacha, Chucagua, Malabouchia, 
 Namese-Sipon, Tapata, and Ri. Among the French it received not only 
 Mississippi, but also Grande Riviere, Colbert, St. Louis, and Buade. 
 
 ^ As the word Escondido means hidden or concealed, this name is appli- 
 cable to the Mississippi, which though so great was so diflScult to find from 
 the ocean side. 
 
Supplement. 157 
 
 same author cites also an anonymous relation of La Salle's 
 voyage, which gives us not only negative evidence that the 
 Mississippi was not identified with the Espiritu Santo, but also 
 positive evidence, by calling attention to the fact of their being 
 distant from each other ; or to be exact, to the fact that the 
 Mississippi reached the Gulf of Mexico at some distance from 
 the Bay of Espiritu Santo ; for this author affirms : ^' It [the 
 Mississippi] falls into the Gulf of Mexico on the other side of 
 the Bay of Espiritu Santo, between the 27th and 28th degrees 
 of latitude, and at the place where some maps show the Rio 
 de la Madalena, and others the Rio Escondido." [p. 14.] 
 Furthermore, in a letter describing his second voyage, La 
 Salle himself seems to mention expressly what bay he means 
 by the Espiritu Santo, namely the Mobile. [Thomassy, p. 20.] ^ 
 
 La Salle's attempt to found a colony on the banks of the 
 Mississippi was a failure, as his pilots missed the mouths of 
 that stream and sailed on to a bay on the coast of the present 
 Texas, into which. La Salle persuaded himself, flowed one of 
 the branches of the mighty river to which he had given the 
 name of his patron, Colbert. But the project of establishing 
 a colony on the Mississippi was not lost sight of in France, 
 and in 1699 the attempt was renewed with better success by 
 Lemoyne d'Iberville. In the account of this expedition, Mr. 
 Davis, another of the contributors to the Narrative and 
 Critical History, identifies the Mississippi with the '^ Palisado 
 of the Spaniards'' [V. p. 17], which was the idea of d'lber- 
 ville himself, who was struck, on entering the river, by the 
 appropriateness of the name. [Margry, IV. p. 159.] 
 
 Captain Coxe, whose acquaintance we have already made, 
 informs us that the Spaniards called the Mississippi the " Rio 
 Grande del Norte." [French, Hist. Coll, Pt. II. p. 224.] 
 Bernard de la Harpe, who wrote a " Historical Journal of the 
 Establishment of the French in Louisiana," and who headed a 
 
 ^ It is possible that the parenthesis (celle de la Mobile) may be inserted 
 by Thomassy. 
 
158 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 French colony in 1718, refers to the building in 1562 of " the 
 fortress of Charlesfort, at the mouth of the river Cahouitas 
 [Chattahoochee ?], or St. Esprit, to the east of St. Joseph's 
 Bay." [French, Hist. Coll., Pt. III. p. 10.] As the Chat- 
 tahoochee River flows into the Apalachicola, which in turn 
 empties its waters into the bay of the same name ; and as the 
 latter is east of and near St. Joseph's Bay, we have here one 
 more line of evidence tending to prove the Rio del Espiritu 
 Santo distant from the Mississippi. 
 
 Reference has been made several times to the French inter- 
 pretation of the Spanish maps, or rather to the river on those 
 maps whose position most nearly corresponded with the place 
 where they found the mouths of the Mississippi. We turn 
 now to an examination of the representations of the Rio del 
 Espiritu Santo on some old maps, and of the Mississippi on 
 some of the earliest maps on which it occurs, to see what light 
 they will throw on the subject in hand. 
 
 Probably the oldest map on which the name Rio del 
 Espiritu Santo is found is that reproduced for us by Mr. 
 Winsor in volume II. of his Narrative and Critical History, 
 page 218, and which he entitles " Gulf of Mexico, 1520." On 
 it is represented a river flowing into a broad bay very unlike 
 our conception of what the Mississippi mouth could ever have 
 been in historical times. From the head of the bay, extending 
 into the gulf, is the name " Rio del Espiritu Santo." The 
 editor informs us that this map " probably embodies the results 
 of Pinedo's [m'c] expedition to the northern shores of the 
 Gulf in 1519. This was the map sent to Spain by Garay, the 
 governor of Jamaica. What seems to be the mouth of the 
 Mississippi will be noted as the Rio del Espiritu Santo." On 
 page 404 of the same volume, there is represented what is 
 supposed to be Cortes' map of even date ; and on this map the 
 " Rio del spiritu sancto" appears between two rivers that flow 
 into a prominent bay which has a great offset to the east, 
 similar to the form of the Mobile Bay of to-day. Mr. Shea, 
 in his Discovery of the Mississippi Valley, p. viii, speaks of a 
 
Supplement 159 
 
 map of 1521 on which the name occurs, but does not repro- 
 duce it for us or tell where it is to be found. On the great 
 Weimar map of 1 527 the " R : del spirito sancto " flows into 
 a great double bay which is by far the most prominent body 
 of water emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. Ribero's map of 
 1529 represents this body of water in practically the same 
 manner and abbreviates the name. Furthermore, both of these 
 maps call this bay " mar pequena " or little sea, which indicates 
 that the water was salt; whereas a distinguishing characteristic 
 of the region about the mouths of the Mississippi, mentioned 
 and emphasized by a number of modern writers on the subject, 
 is supposed to be that the water is for a long distance into the 
 sea, sweet. On Ribero^s map the form of this mar pequena is 
 not only strikingly like that of Mobile Bay, but it is repre- 
 sented as receiving water flowing through several channels 
 into its northern extremity. An examination of a good map 
 of Mobile Bay reveals the fact that it receives the waters of 
 the Mobile River through quite a number of channels. As 
 the map of 1529 pictures only the mouths of these channels 
 and does not follow them into the interior, some later cartog- 
 raphers were probably led thereby into the error of representing 
 several large separate rivers flowing into this bay, they not 
 knowing that all these channels were united in one, a short 
 distance inland. In Winsor, II. 219, there is a sketch of 
 Maiollo's map of 1527, according to which the Rio del 
 Espiritu Santo flows into a large bay with a narrow opening 
 into the sea, which is so characteristic of Mobile Bay. On a 
 map of about 1530, preserved in the British Museum, and 
 copied for the Kohl Collection, the Rio del Espiritu Santo 
 flows through about ten degrees of latitude and empties into 
 an immense bay. On the other hand, there is a map of the 
 following year by Grynaeus, on which the only indication of 
 the Rio del Espiritu Santo is a " Rio de Spu,^' to which no 
 prominence is given, and which may or may not be intended 
 for the same stream. 
 
160 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Mercator, the greatest geographer of the sixteenth century, 
 who may be supposed to have been possessed of a fair knowl- 
 edge of ^vhat he tried to depict, gives us on his map of 1741 
 the Rio del Espiritu Santo flowing into a very prominent bay, 
 which is broader at the north than at the south where it 
 empties into the Gulf of Mexico. An early French map, 
 dating probably from the first half of the same century, 
 shows two rivers flowing into a bay of similar form, and 
 names the more westerly of them " R. de St. Esprit." [See 
 Winsor, II. 224.] On the next page Mr. Wiusor gives a map 
 copied from one in the British Museum, of the year 1536, which 
 represents the river of the same name flowing into a bay of like 
 form. Jomard gives the fac-simile of a very large and beauti- 
 ful map of the world, made for Henry II., King of France. 
 On this also the " R de St esprit " is represented as flowing 
 into the northwest corner of a very large bay which is much 
 broader at the north than at the south. As Henry II. reigned 
 from 1547 to 1559, this map must have been drawn about 
 the middle of the century ; and as we see, agrees in its repre- 
 sentation of the Rio del Espiritu Santo with the best Spanish 
 maps of that period. The celebrated Homem map of 1558 
 gives the same representation of this river and bay ; as does also 
 practically Sebastian Cabot, on his official map of the world. 
 Again, in his great map of 1569, Mercator depicts the Rio del 
 Espiritu Santo in the same manner. The following year saw 
 the publication of the celebrated work of Ortelius, which 
 became the model of so many modern atlases ; and on the 
 American map of this work the Rio del Espiritu Santo emp- 
 ties into the " Baia de culata," or Muddy Bay. John Dee's 
 map of 1580 is of the same character so far as it has regard to 
 the Rio del Espiritu Santo. In the Royal Library of Munich 
 there is a fine parchment map bound into the end of the third 
 volume of the original edition of the works of Robert Dudley, 
 on which the Rio del Espiritu Santo flows into a prominent 
 bay which receives the waters from several channels ; and 
 in this it strongly resembles the Mobile Bay of to-day. This 
 
Supplement 161 
 
 map was evidently in use by some navigator ; for it bears an 
 inscription to the effect that the whole territory should be 
 moved 20 minutes toward the north and 25 minutes in the 
 direction of Mexico. In a hand-writing different from that of 
 the body of the map, is an inscription which informs us that 
 "Thomas Hood made this platte, 1592/^ As this is one of 
 the oldest maps of English make that has been preserved to 
 us, and although a fine production, seems but little known, it 
 seemed to the author worthy of reproduction here for American 
 readers. Likewise the Judaeus map of 1593 represents the 
 Rio del Espiritu Santo as a large river flowing from the north 
 into a great bay, which in turn discharges its waters into the 
 Gulf of Mexico.' The latest map of the sixteenth century 
 known to us is that of" Wytfliet," dated 1597 ; and on this 
 also there is drawn a " Mer qurno " which receives at its 
 north-west corner the waters of the Rio del Espiritu Santo, 
 and a little to the east, the waters from three channels of 
 minor importance. The same idea is followed on the map of 
 America in the Purchas of 1625, vol. III. page 853 ; also on 
 the de Laet map of the same date, where the rivers, however, 
 are not named, but the bay is called " Bahia del Spiritu Santo." 
 Into this bay flow four rivers ; and the same are shown on the 
 map of 1656 by Sanson d^ Abbeville, where the westernmost 
 bears the name " Rio del Spiritu Santo." 
 
 We have thus seen that for more than a century and a 
 quarter the best maps have with a wonderful uniformity 
 shown the Rio del Espiritu Santo emptying into a great bay. 
 We would not maintain that there may not be in existence 
 maps of this period on which this river is otherwise depicted ; 
 but we have consulted those of that time which are universally 
 acknowledged to be the best, and have found them showing a 
 practical unanimity among the geographers of the age in repre- 
 senting the river del Espiritu Santo as discharging itself into 
 a prominent bay and not directly into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 And that bay we believe to be the Mobile ; although it is 
 possible that the Apalachicola may have been sometimes 
 11 
 
162 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 intended. As the latter is formed by islands, and really pro- 
 jects into the gulf, while the maps show the Bay of Espiritu 
 Santo stretching far inland, and with its mouth at the same 
 latitude with the general coast-line, it seems clear to us that 
 the Mobile was the bay thus represented. 
 
 We now approach the period when the French began their 
 memorable explorations of the Mississippi, coming first from 
 the inland, where they had heard of the ^^ Great River " from 
 the Indians ; and, following that mighty stream to its mouth, 
 found that it divided itself before reaching the gulf; and instead 
 of entering through a great bay, its waters flowed into the gulf 
 directly, through a number of channels, all of which were of 
 such a nature as to obstruct entrance from the sea in ships, 
 rather than to invite it, as did the Rio del Espiritu Santo. 
 On approaching later from the sea, the French were compelled 
 to anchor at a distance from the mouth, under the shelter of 
 some islands, and carry on their exploration of the river in 
 small boats. As to the character of the region surrounding 
 the mouths of the river, we shall later let these explorers 
 speak for themselves. In the meantime we will follow some- 
 what further the story of the maps. 
 
 On the Franquelin map of 1684 (1688 according to Kohl), 
 we have definitely the Mississippi discharging itself directly 
 into the gulf ; while the Rio del Espiritu Santo is to the east, 
 and empties into a bay. However, we are informed by 
 Thomassy [p. 207] that in 1681 Franquelin had made another 
 map of this region on which he represented the Mississippi as 
 emptying into the Bay of St. Esprit ; but that the expedition 
 of La Salle in 1682 showed this view to be false, and that he 
 accordingly corrected the error in the later and better known 
 map. In Winsor, V. 22, there is reproduced a map of the 
 environs of the Mississippi, which is said to have been sent to 
 France in the year 1700, according to which that river empties 
 into the gulf through a number of channels, and there is no 
 sign of the presence of such a bay as that in which the Rio 
 del Espiritu Santo had been heretofore represented as flowing. 
 
Supplement. 163 
 
 On Delisle's map of about the year 1707, the Mississippi 
 Eiver is represented very much as we find it now on our 
 maps, while to the east of its mouths is drawn a bay very 
 similar to that which we have seen on earlier maps receiving 
 the waters of the Rio del Espiritu Santo ; but here the bay is 
 provided with its modern name. Mobile, This is as it is 
 given in Winsor, II. 294-95. Kohl reproduces also a map 
 of the same cartographer, to which he ascribes the date 
 1717-1720. On this we find for the first time, so far as I 
 know, the " R. des Alibamons," whose waters later mingle 
 with those of the " Baye de la Mobile." Here we are on 
 truly modern ground ; the Rio del Espiritu Santo has dis- 
 appeared, and the Alibama, not the Mississippi, taken its 
 place. Of the same date is a map of this region by de 
 Serigny, with the same characteristics. [Thomassy, Plate II.] 
 One map of later date, and only one, has come under our 
 observation on which the name Espiritu Santo occurs in a 
 connection which brings it into notice here ; and that is the 
 map published with the memoir of Captain Coxe, to which 
 attention has already been called. Here we find ^' R. Palance 
 or Spirito Santo.'' From its position on the map, this river 
 is probably the Apalachicola, which seems to be also the river 
 he intended when he wrote of the Apalache. 
 
 What conclusion are we to draw from this accumulated evi- 
 dence of the maps of two centuries? As long as the name 
 Espiritu Santo endures, that river is practically represented as 
 flowing into a large and very prominent bay ; as soon as the 
 Mississippi is known, it is found to flow through several com- 
 paratively unnoticeable channels directly into the Gulf of 
 Mexico. When the name Espiritu Santo disappears, its place 
 is taken by Mobile, which is known to be but a simple modi- 
 fication of that of Mavila, which was the name of the most 
 important Indian town of that region at the time of De Soto's 
 expedition, and situated not far inland from the bay [Achusi, 
 according to Garcilaso de la Vega, and Espiritu Santo, accor- 
 ding to Biedma and most modern writers], where Maldonado 
 
164 America: Its Geographical History, 
 
 was to meet De Soto with arms and provisions brought from 
 Cuba. 
 
 But, it may be answered, is it not possible that, at the time 
 of Pineda, the Mississippi did empty into a bay ? for it is well 
 known that it alters its channels from time to time ; may it 
 not then have altered more or less suddenly the characteristic 
 of its mouth ? Let us now examine the evidence on this point. 
 Geologically considered, we are told that Lyell "makes the 
 probable age of the delta 33,500 years. To this he adds 
 half as much for the age of the river-swamp, making in all 
 50,000 years." [Leconte's Text Book of Geology^ p. 28.] 
 According to the opinion of another well-known geologist, Mr. 
 Geikie, " The area of this vast expanse of alluvium is given at 
 12,300 square miles, advancing at the rate of 262 feet yearly 
 into the Gulf of Mexico at a point which is now 220 miles 
 from the head of the delta." \_Text Book of Geology , p. 389.] 
 At the rate of 262 feet of advancement per year, the delta, in 
 the 373 years since the expedition of Pineda, would have 
 advanced 97,726 feet, or a very little more than 18.5 miles. 
 A glance at any good map of Louisiana will show that cutting 
 off J?. 5 miles of the Mississippi would not by any possibility 
 bring the mouth of that river at the head of a large bay, far 
 inland from the line of the Gulf of Mexico. The fact of the 
 matter is, it would bring us up to a point where the Mississippi 
 unites practically all its waters in one great channel ; and 
 instead of emptying into a bay whose head waters were far 
 north of the east and west coast-line of the Gulf of Mexico, as 
 the Bay of Espiritu Santo is always represented, it would have 
 reached the latter at the end of a long narrow peninsula, jut- 
 ting far out beyond that line. But already in the days of De 
 Soto, the Mississippi had two mouths, if we are to believe Gar- 
 cilaso de la Vega's history of that expedition. [Lib. VI. Cap. 
 X, p. 249.] And that was less than a quarter of a century 
 after Pineda's expedition. When the French came at the end 
 of the seventeenth century, they found the river divided into 
 three channels. 
 
Supplement 165 
 
 Panfilo de Narvaez is supposed to have lost his life near the 
 mouth of the Mississippi, from which fate Cabeza de Yaca was 
 saved, to wander about the continent for years, but finally to 
 make his way to the Spanish settlements of Mexico, and to 
 write a journal of his meanderings. His description is how- 
 ever vague, and he fails to give a name to the river where the 
 tragedy occurred. However, long before that event took place, 
 these wanderers " arrived at a bay which measured one league 
 across, and was deep everywhere ; and, by what it seemed to 
 us, and what we saw, it is the one they call Espiritu Santo/' 
 [Cabeza de Vaca, NaufragioSy Chap, xvi.] As this was 
 within eight years of Pineda's expedition, the Mississippi could 
 not have changed the nature of its mouth very materially dur- 
 ing the interval. Accordingly we must reject either the inter- 
 pretation that the Espiritu Santo and the Mississippi were the 
 same, or that Panfilo de Narvaez was last seen near the mouth 
 of the Mississippi. 
 
 In two contemporary descriptions of the fate which met the 
 survivors of the De Soto expedition, there is mention of the 
 exit from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico. In 
 one* we read : — " After remaining two days, the Christians 
 went to where that branch of the river enters the sea ; and 
 having sounded there, they found forty fathoms of water.'' 
 [Buckingham Smith's translation of a Tk-ue Relation, p. 184.] 
 " With a favorable wind they sailed all that day in fresh water, 
 the next night, and the day following until vespers, at which 
 they were greatly amazed ; for they were very distant from the 
 shore, and so great was the strength of the current of the river, 
 the coast so shallow and gentle, that the fresh water entered 
 far into the sea." [p. 186.] Biedma's account, translated by 
 the same writer, reads as follows, and is of especial interest as 
 containing the assertion that the river empties into a bay : — 
 " We came out by the mouth of the river, and entering into a 
 very large bay made by it, which was so extensive that we 
 passed along it three days and three nights, with fair weather, 
 in all the time not seeing land, so that it appeared to us we " 
 
166 ' America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 " were at sea, although we found the water still so fresh that it 
 could well be drunk, like that of the river. Some small 
 islets were seen westward, to which we went." [p. 261.] 
 Reading this passage carefully, we find that the only reason 
 that Biedma had for saying that from the mouth of the river 
 they entered a bay, was because for so long a time they were 
 in fresh water. Geologically, we know that it was an impos- 
 sibility for the Mississippi to have entered into such an enor- 
 mous bay as that one could have sailed straight ahead therein 
 for three days and nights, even in the most awkward boats, 
 without seeing land. If however we call to mind the fact 
 that Moscoso's party had started on their voyage down the 
 river, taking advantage of a great rise in the stream [Vega, 
 Lib. VI. Chap, xix, p. 263], and knowing also that it takes 
 a long time for those waters to subside when they have once 
 overflown their banks, it is not surprising that they found 
 comparatively fresh water for a long distance from the mouth 
 of the river. But we must not allow ourselves to be deceived 
 by this description into believing that the Mississippi then 
 entered into a fresh water bay. 
 
 When La Salle and his party came down the Mississippi, 
 they were in much better condition to take and record obser- 
 vations ; and from their accounts we derive quite a diiferent 
 impression of the character of the mouths of the " Great 
 River." Before quoting any of the descriptions of that expe- 
 dition, let us remind the reader that La Salle named the Mis- 
 sissippi Colbert, which name was sometimes used by the 
 French, but never gained currency ; as the Indian name, or 
 rather one of the Indian names, Mississippi, seems to have 
 been regarded favorably by the French from the first of their 
 explorations on its waters. Although this name is now often 
 if not usually translated *' Father of Waters," the early explo- 
 rers uniformly translated it '^ Great River," which the 
 Spaniards also did, as their Rio Grande, the name generally 
 used by them in descriptions of the expeditions of De Soto, 
 demonstrates. A good general description of La Sailers dis- 
 
Supplement. 167 
 
 covery of the Mississippi mouths is furnished by an anony- 
 mous narrative of the expedition, extracted from the archives 
 of the French Marine, and translated in French's Collection, 
 2d Ser., I. 23-24. ^' We continued our voyage until the 6th 
 [of April, 1682], when we discovered three channels, by which 
 the River Colbert discharges itself into the sea. We landed 
 on the bank of the most western channel, about three leagues 
 from its mouth. On the 7th, M. de la Salle went to recon- 
 noiter the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonty 
 likewise examined the great middle channel. They found 
 these three outlets beautiful, large and deep.'' In the first 
 volume of Margry's M^moires et Documents [6 vols., Paris, 
 1879-1886], there is the " Narrative made by the young 
 Nicolas de la Salle of the enterprise of Robert, Chevalier, 
 during the year 1682." In this we find the following descrip- 
 tion of the discovery of the mouths of this most important 
 stream of our great territory. " On the following day, M. de 
 La Salle sent M. de Tonty by the left branch, and he himself, 
 with ten men, descended the right, where we had lodged. He 
 left at eight o'clock in the morning. M. de la Salle returned 
 at five o'clock in the afternoon, saying that he had found the 
 mouth of the river, and that the river advanced far into the 
 sea, making a bank on each side ; that he had carried his canoe 
 on the other side of the bank, and that the water which does 
 not communicate with the river was brackish." [p. 562.] 
 " M. de Tonty returned at nine o'clock the next morning, and 
 said that the left branch discharges itself into a large sea, at 
 seven leagues, where they saw an island. . . . They drank 
 of the water, which was sweet and muddy, and full of croco- 
 diles or alligators. M. de Tonty was also in the middle 
 branch ; we ascended the river, and went to pass the night 
 at four leagues [above], on the left as you ascend. Here 
 there were small trees, some of which were cut down, so 
 that the arms of the king might be erected there. — The 
 day following, M. de Tonty returned. He said that the 
 middle channel flows into a great sea of sweet water. ... So " 
 
168 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 " we erected a cross, and below it, buried a disk of lead, on which 
 were written these words : ' In the name of Louis XIY . King 
 of France and of Navarre, the ninth of April, 1682, the Vexilla 
 regis was sung to the setting up of the cross, then the Te Deum, 
 and three shots were fired from the guns. Provisions are fail- 
 ing, and each one has only one handful of maize per day.' " 
 [p. 562-563.] In 1684, M. de Tonty himself drew up an 
 account of the expedition of La Salle, from which we translate 
 the following : — " We did not arrive until the 6th of February 
 at the River Mississippi, which was named Colbert by M. de 
 La Salle.^' [Margry, I. p. 595.] "We continued our route, 
 and, the 6th of April, we arrived at the sea. The 7th, as this 
 river divides itself into three channels, M. de la Salle was to 
 explore that to the right, I, the middle one, and the Sieur 
 d'Autray, the one to the left. We found them very beautiful, 
 broad, and deep. On our return, the 9th of April, M. de 
 La Salle had the arms of the King and a cross set up and the 
 Te Deum sung.'' [p. 605.] The official report of the occa- 
 sion is preserved, and also given in Margry, II. 190-191. 
 Translated, it reads as follows : — ^' We continued the journey 
 until the 6th, when we arrived at three channels by which the 
 River Colbert discharges itself into the sea. We camped on 
 the shore of the western channel, at three leagues or there- 
 abouts from the mouth. On the 7th, M. de La Salle went to 
 reconnoitre and examine the shores of the neighboring sea, and 
 M. de Tonty, the great channel of the middle. Having found 
 these two mouths fine, broad, and deep, the 8th, we reascended 
 a little above the confluence, in order to find a dry place, and 
 one which had not been overflowed. At about the 27th degree 
 of latitude, a column and a cross were prepared, and on the said 
 column the arms of France were painted with this inscrip- 
 tion : — ^ Louis the Great, King of France and of Navarre, 
 reigns the 9th of April, 1682.' " M. Margry has also found 
 and printed part of a letter in the hand-writing of La Salle, 
 from which we translate the following passages : — " The Mis- 
 sissippi, which is scarcely broader than the Loire, even where" 
 
Supplement 169 
 
 *4t empties into the sea.^^ [Margry, II. 198.] "Moreover, 
 all the maps are of no value, on which the mouths of the 
 River Colbert are near to Mexico; 2d, because it has its 
 mouths to the east-south-east and not to the south, where the 
 entire south shore of Florida faces, with the exception of that 
 part which runs between the river called on the maps Escondido 
 and the Panuco. This Escondido is assuredly the Mississippi ; 
 3d, on the entire coast of Florida there is but this one district 
 which has this altitude, the remainder of the coast being almost 
 everywhere on the 30th degree." [p. 198.] Still another ac- 
 count comes to us, from which I excerpt a sentence, because it 
 contains a comparison with another well-known river. It is 
 taken from one of the monkish Relations of the period, from 
 which so much of our knowledge of the French in America is 
 derived. " They arrived happily on the 7th of April at the 
 sea, where the mouth of the stream is very nearly like that of 
 the Saint Lawrence." [II. p. 205.] However, the writer 
 must have meant the similarity as to the breadth of the river 
 as it enters the bay of St. Lawrence, and not with the bay 
 itself; for we shall see presently that the mouths of the Mis- 
 sissippi were not prominent and easily entered from the sea, 
 like the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence. ^ - 
 
 La Salle returned to Canada and thence to France, where 
 he received permission to found a colony in the region he had 
 brought to light. In 1685 he returned to America, seeking 
 by sea the mouths of the great river which he had found from 
 the interior three years previous. We shall translate his own 
 words in reference to this peculiar experience. On the 4th of 
 March, 1685, he wrote a letter to the Marquis of Seignelay, 
 dating it from " The western mouth of the Colbert." He says : 
 " I resolved to remount this channel of the River Colbert rather 
 than return to the more considerable one, distant 25-30 leagues 
 from here, to the north-east, which we had remarked the sixteenth 
 of January, but which we had not been able to reconnoitre, be- 
 lieving on the report of the pilots of His Majesty's vessel and 
 of our own, that we had not yet passed the Bay of Espiritu " 
 
170 Amer^icct: Its Geographical History. 
 
 " Santo (that of Mobile) ; but finally, after having coasted con- 
 tinually very near the land, and with fine weather, the altitude 
 made us remark that they were deceiving themselves, and that 
 the river we had seen the sixteenth of January, was in effect 
 the principal entrance of the river which we were hunting." 
 [Quoted in Thomassy, p. 20.] As we have seen by the 
 descriptions of the mouths of the Mississippi, as they were 
 found by La Salle and his party in 1682, one arm was but 
 three leagues long and another seven. If then the two branches 
 had run in diametrically opposite directions, their mouths could 
 have been but ten leagues apart. La Salle himself tells us that 
 where he landed in 1685 was 25-30 leagues distant from the 
 principal mouth ; and this had proved to be the middle one 
 according to the first exploration. We must admit then, that 
 either La Salle was a great fool or else that he realized that he 
 was not on any one of the three mouths of the river which his 
 party had explored three years before. Furthermore he proved 
 that such was his opinion by starting out later on quite a long 
 journey to discover the stream on whose western branch he 
 thought (?) himself to be. Accordingly, we cannot agree with 
 Mr. Winsor when he writes, " The map in La Potherie's His- 
 toire de I'Amerique 8eptentrionale . . . , called Carte generate 
 de la Nouvelle France, retains the misplacement of the 
 mouths as La Salle had conceived them to be on the western 
 shore of the gulf, giving the name Baye de Spiritu 
 Santo to an inlet more nearly in the true position of its 
 mouths.'^ [V. 81.] For, as we have just seen. La Salle 
 himself wrote *' All the maps are of no value, on which the 
 mouths of the River Colbert are near to Mexico." If, how- 
 ever, we take into consideration that, at a number of points, 
 there are streams which flow out of the Mississippi, some of 
 which it is reasonable to suppose had been remarked by 
 La Salle when descending the river, it does not appear so 
 monstrous that he should have hoped, even if he did not 
 believe, that he had landed on one of the branches of that 
 mighty and wonderful stream. Furthermore, we should call 
 
Supplement, 171 
 
 to mind the fact that mariners then had no good means of 
 reckoning longitude, and that La Salle accordingly was greatly 
 deceived in the distance his ships had sailed after passing the 
 mouths of the Mississippi. 
 
 But La Salle perished at the hands of his rebellious fol- 
 lowers, and his settlement was abandoned. Other Frenchmen 
 there were, however, who were willing to undertake the 
 accomplishment of the project in which he had failed ; and in 
 1699 another band of colonists, under the leadership of Le- 
 moyne d^Iberville, sought the mouth of the Mississippi. On 
 the way there, they entered Mobile Bay, where they remained 
 five days. D'Iberville tells us, " This bay is very beautiful 
 for habitation ; and a large river, with muddy waters, empties 
 into it, at about the distance of thirteen leagues from Pensa- 
 cola. At a distance of thirteen or fourteen leagues westward 
 of Mobile, we found a place formed by islands and the main- 
 land, where there is good anchorage and protection to ships 
 against storms. I resolved to leave the ships there, and go 
 with the small vessels to the neighborhood of Lago de Lodo 
 (Muddy Lake), which is the name the Spaniards give to the 
 Bay of St. Esprit." ['' Narrative of the Expedition of M. 
 D'Iberville to Louisiana.'' Dated July 3d, 1699. French, 
 Hist. Coll., New Series, v. I. p. 20-21.] According to this 
 interpretation, the Espiritu Santo Bay of the Spaniards was 
 probably the St. Louis Bay of to-day, which receives the 
 waters of Lakes Ponchartrain and Borgne. There is indeed 
 some ground for this interpretation ; and, from the nature of 
 the case, it is to be expected that mariners feeling their way 
 along the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to 
 the west would find their way into this body of water. St. 
 Louis Bay receives, it is true, a very small portion of the 
 waters of the Mississippi through Lakes Ponchartrain and 
 Borgne ; but it is the Pearl Eiver, flowing into Lake Borgne, 
 which would be much more naturally discovered from this 
 side than the Mississippi ; and accordingly, if the modern Bay 
 of St. Louis is the Bay of Espiritu Santo of the Spaniards, the 
 
172 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 Rio del Espiritu Santo was much more probably the Pearl 
 than the Mississippi River. But this same explorer informs 
 us that into Mobile Bay flows " a large river, with muddy 
 waters ; '' so that we may also interpret the " Muddy Bay " of 
 the Spaniards to have been Mobile Bay. Furthermore, St. 
 Louis Bay is a shapeless body of water, with its longest diam- 
 eter running east and west, and is enclosed on one side, only 
 by a series of islands ; while the Bay of Espiritu Santo, on the 
 great majority of the maps, has its longest diameter running 
 north and south, the body of water is entirely enclosed by the 
 mainland, and moreover, has a form so strikingly like that of 
 Mobile Bay, that it seems impossible to reject the natural, 
 unprejudiced interpretation, — namely that Mobile Bay and the 
 Bay of Espiritu Santo of many Spanish cartographers are one 
 and the same. 
 
 But to continue with M. d'Iberville's description : — " On 
 the 21st, we took our departure for Malabouchia, the name 
 given to the Mississippi by the Indians, and, with two row- 
 boats, some bark canoes, and fifty-three men, we entered this 
 river on the night of the second of March. I found it ob- 
 structed with rafts of petrified wood, of a sufficient hardness 
 to resist the action of the sea. I found there twelve feet of 
 water, and anchored two leagues from the mouth of the river, 
 where the depth is from ten to twelve fathoms, with a breadth 
 of from four to five hundred yards." [pp. 21-22.] " On the 
 7th, at a distance of about thirty-five leagues up the river, I 
 met with some Indians, who told me that it was yet three and 
 a half days' travel before I could reach the Bayagoulas, and 
 that theirs was the first village I should reach. . . . By 
 exact observations, I found its position was sixty-four leagues 
 from the mouth of the river." [p. 23.] This experience has 
 not much similarity to that of Pineda, who found forty villages 
 on his river within six leagues of the coast. To this it might 
 be answered that the inhabitants may have died out or moved 
 elsewhere in the lapse of almost two centuries between the two 
 expeditions; but to that we respond that the banks of the 
 
Supplement 173 
 
 lower Mississippi were not and are not adapted in their natural 
 state to afford sustenance to a large population. Besides the 
 geological evidence, we have very early historical evidence 
 according to Barclays account of the expedition of Narvaez 
 and Cabeza de Vaca, wherein he speaks of " the sterility of 
 the land '^ near which Narvaez was lost. \^Ensayo Oron., p. 10.] 
 Also in Vega we read of " the unpeopled island which stands 
 at the mouth of the Rio Grande " [Mississippi]. [Lib. IV. 
 Cap. XI, p. 250.] Margry, in volume IV, gives us the jour- 
 nal of M. d'Iberville, from December, 1698, to May 3d, 1699, 
 in which the entrance of the Mississippi is described as fol- 
 lows : — " On approaching these rocks for shelter, I perceived 
 that there was a river. I passed between these rocks, with 
 twelve feet of water, the sea running high, where on approach- 
 ing the rocks, I found sweet water with a very strong cur- 
 rent." ... " These rocks are of wood petrified with mud, 
 and become black rocks which resist the sea. They are 
 numberless, rising out of the water, some great, some small, 
 distant from each other twenty paces, a hundred, three hun- 
 dred, five hundred paces, more or less, running toward the 
 south-west, a circumstance that made me recognize that it was 
 the River of the Palisades, which appeared to me well named, 
 because, when one is at its mouth, which is a league and a 
 half from these rocks, it appears entirely barred by them." 
 [p. 159.] .... "At two and a half leagues from the 
 entrance, the river forks into three branches. The middle 
 one is as broad as the one by which I entered, from three 
 hundred and fifty to four hundred toises in breath. The 
 other flows along the land to the south-west, and did not 
 appear to me so large." [pp. 160-161.] 
 
 Without going into so much detail as to later explorations, 
 it may be well to refer to the facts as found by some other 
 explorers. In 1721, the bar was found to be about 900 toises 
 wide, with twelve feet of water, and the current " very slug- 
 gish." [La Harpe's Historical Journal of the establishment 
 of the French in Louisiana; in French, Hist. Coll., Pt. III. 
 
174 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 p. 87.] Charlevoix, writing in the following year, says : ''The 
 bar has scarce any water in the greatest part of those little 
 outlets, which the river has opened for itself ; " also, " The 
 greatest part are only little rivulets, and some are even only 
 separated by sand banks, which are almost level with the 
 water." He adds furthermore, that " it is entirely a fable, 
 which has been reported, that for twenty leagues the Missis- 
 sippi does not mix its waters with those of the sea.'' As to 
 the " only mouth of the river which is navigable," he found 
 its breadth "two hundred and fifty fathom, its depth is 
 eighteen feet in the middle, the bottom soft ooze." [French, 
 Pt. III. pp. 179-1 84.] Sau vole, another of the early explorers, 
 is of the opinion that " The Mississippi River has no cur- 
 rent or very little." [Ibid., III. 230.] And still another 
 found the water at the mouth of the river, at least in summer, 
 " brackish." [Dumont's Memoirs^ in Ibid., V. p. 30.] 
 
 From this mass of evidence it seems to me to be clear that 
 the Mississippi has never, in historical times, flowed into a 
 bay. That the Rio del Espiritu Santo did flow into a bay is 
 established by the almost unanimous evidence of the maps, 
 which is strengthened by the testimony of a number of writers. 
 The origin of the name, before the days of De Soto, we have 
 been unable to discover in any of the ancient authorities which 
 have come to our notice. 
 
 What then is the result of our investigation ? 
 
 1st. Modern historians fail to give us the sources whence 
 they have drawn their information as to the matter in hand, 
 except in one case, that of Mr. Winsor, who cites Navarrete. 
 This Spanish authority does indeed bear out Mr. Winsor in 
 most of his description, and especially in his closing statement 
 that the country was named Amichel ; but he does not give a 
 name to the " river of very great volume," discovered by 
 Pineda. The name of the country Amichel is found else- 
 where only in the king's proclamation, whence Navarrete 
 evidently took it ; but as we have no evidence as to its posi- 
 tion, the name does not assist us in fixing the river of Pineda. 
 
Supplement. 175 
 
 2d. We have been unable to find any authority among the 
 ancient Spaniards for the statement that Pineda gave the name 
 Espiritu Santo to the "river of very great vohime" of his 
 discovery. 
 
 3d. Where we do find a name for the river discovered by 
 Pineda, it is Panuco and not Espiritu Santo. This is the 
 name given by Cortes and by Peter Martyr, contemporaries of 
 Pineda, and by Herrera, one of the earliest Spanish historians 
 of American discoveries. 
 
 4th. The earliest mention that we have found of the Rio del 
 Espiritu Santo occurs in Peter Martyr ; it is not made in con- 
 nection with Pineda^s voyage, and the description contains 
 nothing suggestive of the Mississippi. 
 
 5th. From a comparison of the accounts of De Soto's expe- 
 dition, it appears that the Mobile, and not the Mississippi, was 
 the Rio del Espiritu Santo of those days. One ambiguous 
 statement of Biedma may be interpreted as giving this name 
 to the Mississippi ; but it entirely lacks confirmation either in 
 the other parts of the same account, or in other contemporary 
 chronicles. 
 
 6th. The early French explorers in this region rarely if ever 
 identified the Mississippi with the Rio del Espiritu Santo, 
 while they did identify it with a number of other rivers, whose 
 names appear on the early Spanish maps. 
 
 7th. An examination of a large number of early maps leads 
 to the conviction that the Rio del Espiritu Santo as there 
 drawn was the stream now known in its various parts as the 
 Coosa, Alabama, and Mobile ; while it is possible that the 
 Apalachicola may have been intended by some few of them. 
 
 8th. The geological evidence, and the testimony of the 
 early French explorers, make it impossible to believe that 
 the Mississippi could have been the Rio del Espiritu Santo 
 of the Spaniards. 
 
 Until forced by unsought evidence to doubt the identity of 
 the Rio del Espiritu Santo with our Mississippi, the writer 
 of these pages had accepted without question the usual inter- 
 
176 America: Its Geographical History. 
 
 pretation. Drawn on by ever increasing interest to investi- 
 gate the subject more fully, further study gradually changed 
 doubt to conviction, but conviction that the old interpretation 
 was wrong, and that a new one must be adopted. Whether 
 the evidence and arguments here adduced are strong enough 
 to convince historical students generally as to the justness of 
 the author's conclusion, remains for the future to decide. He 
 has at least done what was in his power to arrive at the truth. 
 
 Walter B. Scaife. 
 
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