A fact which indicates that this map could not have existed as late as 1536, in the form in which it is now presented, if it existed then at all, is that the western sea is delineated upon a map of the world, made in that year, by Baptista Agnese, an Italian cosmographer, without any reference to the Verrazzano discoveries, under circumstances which would have led him to have recognized them if he knew of them, and which would have required him to have done so if this map were his authority. This sea is laid down by Agnese in the same manner as it is shown on the Verrazzano map, approaching the Atlantic, from the north, along a narrow isthmus terminating at latitude 40 Degrees, with the coast turning abruptly to the west; the ocean being thus represented open thence from the isthmus to Cathay. A track of French navigation, not a single voyage, expressed by the words: el viages de France, is designated upon it, leading from the north of France to this isthmus, referring obviously to the voyages of the fishermen of Brittany and Normandy, to the coasts of Nova Scotia and New England. No allusion is made to the voyage of Verrazzano, or to the discoveries attributed to him by the Verrazano map. The Atlantic coast on the contrary, is plainly delineated after the Spanish map of Ribero, as is shown by the form, peculiar to that map, of the coast, at latitude 40 Degrees, returning to the west. It is apparent, therefore, that the two maps of Agnese and Verrazano, both representing the western sea in the same form, must have been derived from a common source, or else one was taken from the other; and that the map of Agnese could not, in either case, have been derived from a map showing the Verrazzano discovery, and must consequently have been anterior to the Verrazano map in its present form.

It militates against the authenticity of the Verrazano map and the early date which it would have inferred for itself, that there is not a single known map or chart, either published or unpublished, before the great map of Mercator in 1569, that refers to the Verrazzano discoveries, or recognizes this map in any respect before that of Michael Lok, published by Hakluyt, in 1582; or any before Lok, that applies the name of the sea of Verrazano to the western sea. The unauthenticated and until recently unnoticed globe of Euphrosynus Ulpius, purporting to have been constructed in 1542, of which we will speak presently, is the only evidence yet presented of the existence of the Verrazano map, as it now appears, beyond the map itself. The whole theory of the early influence of the Verrazzano discovery, or of the Verrazano map, upon the cartography of the period to which they relate, and its consequently proving their authenticity, as advanced by some learned writers, is therefore incorrect and is founded in a misconception of fact.

This mistake relates to a map which is found in several editions of the geography of Ptolemy printed at Basle, supposed to represent the western sea shortly after the Verrazzano discovery, and consequently as derived from that source. Mr. Kohl, [Footnote: We are indebted entirely to Mr. Kohl for our knowledge of the map of Agnese, which he produces, on a reduced scale, in the Discovery of Maine, (chart XIV), with an account of the map and its author (p. 292).] in a chapter specially devoted to the consideration of charts from Verrazzano, reproduces one (No. XV, a) which he describes as a sketch of North America, from a map of the new world, in an edition of Ptolemy printed in Basle, 1530. And he adds: "the map was drawn and engraved A FEW YEARS AFTER VERRAZANO'S EXPEDITION. The plate upon which it was engraved, must have been in use for a long time; for the same map appears both, in EARLIER and much later editions of Ptolemy. The same also reappears in the cosmography of Sebastian Munster, published in Basle." Mr. K. finally observes in regard to it: "this map has this particular interest for us, that it is probably the first on which the sea of Verrazano was depicted in the form given to it by Lok, in 1582. I have found no map PRIOR to 1530, on which this delineation appears." [Footnote: Discovery of Maine, pp. 296-7.] There is a little confusion of dates in this statement. Mr. K. states, however, that he had not seen the map of Hieronimo de Verrazano, and evidently derives his information, in regard to the sea of Verrazano, from the map of Lok, who alone gives the western sea the name of Mare de Verrazana, no doubt because he found the sea laid down on the map presented by Verrazzano to Henry VIII, to which reference will presently be made. Had Mr. K. seen the Verrazano map with the absurd legend upon it, in effect declaring the western sea to have been observed by Verrazzano, he must have arrived at different conclusions, notwithstanding the map in Ptolemy of the supposed early date. Mr. Brevoort, in his notes on the Verrazano map, probably relying on the authority of Mr. Kohl, says, "that the first published map containing traces of Verrazano's explorations, is in the Ptolemy of Basle, 1530, which appeared FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE FRENCH RENEWED THEIR ATTEMPTS AT AMERICAN EXPLORATION. It shows the western sea without a name, and the land north of it is called Francisca." [Footnote: Journal of Am. Geog. Soc. of New York, vol. IV, p. 279.] The inference left to be drawn is that, the presence of the French in this region, as denoted by the name, Francisca, four years before the discoveries in that quarter, by Jacques Cartier, and by the delineation of the western sea upon the Verrazano map, establish the authenticity both of the voyage of Verrazzano and the map.

All this is erroneous. There was no edition of Ptolemy published in 1530 at Basle, or elsewhere, known to bibliographers. The map to which reference is made, and which is reproduced by Mr. Kohl, was first printed in 1540 at Basle, in an edition of Ptolemy with new maps, both of the new and old world, and with new descriptions of the countries embraced in them, printed on the back of each, accompanied by a geographical description of the modern state of the countries of the old world by Sebastian Munster. [Footnote: Geographia Universalis, vetus et nova, complectens Claudii Ptolemai Alexandrini enarrationis libros VIII. * * * Succedunt tabulos Ptolemaice, opera Sebastiani Munsteri nto paratos. His adjectos sunt plurime novae tabulae, moderna orbis faciem literis & pictura explicantes, inter quas quaedam antehac Ptolemao non fuerunt additae. Sm. fol. Basiteae apud Henricum Petrum Meuse Martio Anno MDXI.] In all the editions of Ptolemy, containing maps of the new world, before the year 1540, North America was represented according to the mistaken ideas of Waltzemuller on that subject in 1513, and without regard to the discoveries which took place after his edition. The maps of Munster constituted a new departure of the Ptolemies in this respect, and were intended to represent the later discoveries in the new world. They were reprinted several times at Basle by the same printer, Henri Pierre (Lelewell II. 176, 208). In the first edition, which is now lying before us, the map in question, number 45, bears the title of Novae Insalae XVII. Nova Tabula. It is an enlarged representation of the portion relating to the new world of another map, No. 1, in the same volume, called Typas Universalis, a map of the whole world, which appears here also as a new map, and represents, for the first time in the Ptolemaic series, the straits of Magellan in the south, New France in the north, and the coast running continuously, north and NORTHEAST, from Florida to Newfoundland.

Upon this map a deep gulf is shown, indenting America from a strait in the north, which leads from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in the region of Hudson's straits, in latitude 60 Degrees N. This gulf runs southerly into the continent as far as latitude 40 Degrees N., approaching the Atlantic coast, and in that respect, alone, conforms to the representation of the western sea on the maps of Verrazano and Lok. It differs materially, however, from that sea, and indicates an entirely different meaning and origin. It is simply a gulf, or deep bay, like Hudson's bay, but reaching further south, being land-locked on all sides, except the north, as high as latitude 60 Degrees N.; whereas the western sea, on the other maps, is, as already observed, an open sea, extending westerly from the isthmus in latitude 40 Degrees, without intervening land, uninterruptedly to India. The intention of the delineation of this portion of the map, is not equivocal. For the first time, on any map, there is found upon it the name of Francisca, which is placed above the parallel of 50 Degrees N. latitude and above that of C. Britonum, designated thus by name, in the proper position of Cape Breton. It is placed between the river St. Lawrence, which also is represented but not named, and the gulf before mentioned. This name, Francisca, [Footnote: Called Francese in the discourse of the French captain of Dieppe.] or the FRENCH LAND, and the position, indicate the then recent discoveries in that region, which were due to the French under Jacques Cartier, and which could properly belong to no other exploration of the French. The gulf, no doubt, relates to the great lakes or fresh water sea of which Cartier had heard from the natives, as he himself mentions. (Hakluyt, III. 225.)

With the correction, therefore, of the date of the Munster map, the argument in favor of the authenticity either of the Verrazzano discovery or of the Verrazano map, based upon the recognition by the Munster map, of that discovery immediately after it is alleged to have taken place, or after the alleged construction of the Verrazano map, in 1529, and before any other voyages were made by the French to that region, falls entirely to the ground. And with the actual representation upon it of the discoveries of Cartier, without any allusion to the alleged discoveries of Verrazzano or the pretensions of the Verrazano map, while giving the latest discoveries in America, it is fairly to be concluded that both were unheard of, or utterly discredited by the author of the Munster map.

The map of Agnese stands, therefore, as the earliest chart of an acknowledged date showing the western sea, and that is independently of the Verrazzano discovery, or the Verrazano map. The hitherto unpublished maps produced by Mr. Kohl, also for the purpose of proving the influence of the Verrazzano discovery, fail entirely of that object. The first of them, in point of date, the sketch (No. XV. c) from the portolano of 1536, preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford, shows a track of navigation from the north of France, across the Atlantic, RUNNING BETWEEN THE BACALAOS AND THE LAND OF THE BRETONS, THROUGH THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE, TO THE PACIFIC, AND THENCE TO CATHAY. There is no representation of the western sea, as shown on the Verrazano map, but on the contrary, the whole of the western coast of North America is shown conjecturally in a different form, by dotted lines. So far as this map affords any indication on the subject, it refers to the route of Cartier, and delineates the Atlantic coast according to the Spanish map of Ribero, that is, with a trending of the coast in a more northerly direction than the Verrazano map, and with the peculiar return of that coast westerly, in latitude 40 Degrees N., given on that map. The next chart (No. XV. d) from a map made by Diego Homem in 1540, shows the western sea nearly the same as on the map of Agnese, but conjecturally only; while the representation of the Atlantic coast has the same characteristics as the Bodleian and Agnese maps, showing its derivation from Ribero and not the Verrazano map. The remaining sketch given by Mr. Kohl (No. XV. b) from a map made by G. Ruscelli in 1544, presenting the same features, as do the two others, in regard to the Atlantic coast, puts beyond all question that the map of Ribero is its authority, by adopting from it the name of Montagne Verde which is applied by Ribero to the hills at the mouth of the river San Antonio, in latitude 41 Degrees N., thereby certainly excluding any recognition of the Verrazzano discovery or the Verrazano map.

The first published map which refers to the Verrazzano discoveries, that of Mercator in 1569, makes no reference to the Verrazano map, and does not recognize it in any manner. Mercator was the first to give the name of Claudia to the island of Louise, evidently mistaking the name of the wife of Francis for that of his mother, after whom the island was called, according to the letter, without stating her name. Mercator gives a legend in which he mentions that Verrazzano arrived on the coast on the 17th of March 1524, which is the day according to the version of Ramusio, following our mode of computation, as before explained. It is evident, therefore, that Mercator had the Ramusio version before him, and not the Verrazano map, as his authority on the subject. His delineation of the Atlantic coast, moreover, is according to the plan of Ribero, and he gives no indication of the western sea of the Verrazano map, but mentions in a legend the fresh water inland sea spoken of by Cartier, of the extent of which the Indians were ignorant.

The existence of the Verrazano map, much less its date, is obviously not proven by any of the maps or charts to which reference has here been made, and which are supposed to reflect some of its features, or indicate the verity of the Verrazzano discovery. There is, however, some evidence of a positive character, both historical and cartographical, which points to the existence of this map in two different forms, one originally not representing the Verrazzano discovery, and the other subsequently, as now presented.

The existence of a Verrazano map in some form or other, as early as 1537, seems to be established by a letter of the commendatory, Annibal Caro, written in that year. Caro, who became distinguished among his countrymen for his polite learning, was, in early life, secretary to the cardinal, M. de Gaddi, a Florentine, residing in Rome. While thus engaged, he accompanied his patron on a journey to the mines of Sicily, and there, from Castro, addressed a playful letter to the members generally of the cardinal's household, remaining at Rome. In this letter, which is dated the 13th of October in that year, he writes to them: "I will address sometimes one and sometimes another of you, as matters come into my mind. To you, Verrazzano, a seeker of NEW WORLDS and their marvels, I cannot yet say anything worthy of YOUR MAP, because we have not passed through any country which has not been discovered by you or your brother." [Footnote: "De le lettre familiari des commendatore Annibal Caro," vol. 1. P. 6-7. Venetia, 1581.] This passage was supposed by Tiraboschi to have been addressed to the navigator, and as proving that he was alive at the time the letter was written. But we now know that Verrazzano had then been dead ten years; besides, it is not probable, inasmuch as the person addressed was one of the servants of the prelate, that the navigator would have occupied that position. M. Arcangeli suggests that the name is used by Caro merely as a nom de guerre; [Footnote: "Discorso sopra Giovanni da Verrazzano," p. 27, in "Archivio Storico Italiano," Appendice vol. IX.] but in either case, whether borrowed or not, the remark plainly enough refers to a Verrazzano map, which may POSSIBLY have been the map of Hieronimo.

Hakluyt furnishes testimony which, if correct, shows the probable existence of this map before 1529, BUT NOT IN ITS PRESENT FORM. In the dedication to Phillip Sydney of his "Divers voyages touching the discoveries of America, &c.," printed in 1582, he refers to the probabilities of the existence of a northwest passage, and remarks that, "Master John Verarzanus which had been THRISE ON THAT COAST in an olde excellent mappe, which HE GAVE to King Henry the eight, and is yet in custodie of Master Locke, doth so lay it out as is to bee seene in the mappe annexed to the end of this boke, being made according to Verarzanus plat." Hakluyt thus positively affirms that the old map to which he refers was given by Verrazzano himself to the king. What evidence he had of that fact he does not mention, but he speaks of the map as if it had been seen by him, and probably that was his authority. The map he declares of his own knowledge was transferred, so far as regards the western strait, to the map of Lok, which he himself publishes. Lok's map represents the northwest passage as attempted by Frobisher in his several voyages, and as continued from the termination of the English exploration, to a western sea, a portion of which lying between the parallels of 40 Degrees N. and 50 Degrees N. latitude is laid down the same as it appears on the Verrazano map, and bears the inscription of Mare de Verrazana, 1524. The map of Lok is the first one upon which the western sea is so called. The designation was undoubtedly the work of Lok himself, as it is in conformity with his practice in other parts of the map, where he denotes the discoveries of others in the same way, that is, by their names with the dates of their voyages annexed. He no doubt applied the name of Verrazzano to this ocean from finding it represented on the old map given by Verrazzano to the king, and obtained the date from the letter, of which Hakluyt printed in the same volume a translation from the version in Ramusio. It is certain that Verrazzano could not have been accessory to declaring it a DISCOVERY by himself for the reason already mentioned that no such sea, as there laid down, existed to have been discovered.

Lok's map represents on the Atlantic coast, in latitude 41 Degrees N., the island alleged in the Verrazzano letter to have been named after the king's mother, and gives it the name of Claudia. That it is the same island is proven by note to the translation of the letter given in the volume in which this map is found. Hakluyt puts in the margin, opposite the passage where mention of the island occurs in the letter, the words "Claudia Ilande." From whatever source this name was derived by them, whether from Mercator or by their own mistake, both Lok and Hakluyt here indirectly bear their testimony to the fact, that the name of Luisia was not upon the old map given to Henry VIII, which Lok consulted, and Hakluyt described. It is thus to be concluded that the map delivered to the king showed the western sea, but not any discoveries of Verrazzano on the Atlantic coast.

In another work, as yet unpublished, Hakluyt affords some additional information in regard to the old map, which though brief, is quite significant. He remarks that it is "a mightie large olde mappe in parchment, made AS IT WOULD SEEM by Verrazanus, now in the custodie of Mr. Michael Locke;" and he speaks also of an "olde excellent GLOBE in the Queen's privie gallery, at Westm'r, w'h ALSO SEEMETH to be of Verrazanus making." [Footnote: MS. in possession of the Maine Historical Society, cited in Mr. Kohl's Discovery of Maine, p. 291, note.] Both the map and the globe are thus mentioned as the PROBABLE workmanship of Verrazzano, from which it is probable that there was no name upon them to determine that question positively. The great size of the chart, the material upon which it was made, and the authorship of the map and globe by the same person, are circumstances which go to prove that they were both the work of a professed cosmographer, and embraced the whole world; and consequently that the map was not a chart made by the navigator, showing his discoveries, but possibly the map of Hieronimo in its original form. The construction of this old map, whoever was the author, is fixed certainly BEFORE 1529, by the statement of Hakluyt, that it was presented to Henry VIII by Verrazzano, the navigator, inasmuch as Verrazzano came to his death in 1527. The Verrazzano map, in its present phase, not claiming to have been made before the year 1529, could not, therefore, have furnished the original representation of the western sea, or have been the one used by Lok.

Hakluyt adds to his statement that Verrazzano had been three times on the coast of America, which, if true, would disprove the discovery set up in the letter. That document alleges that the coast explored by him was entirely unknown and HAD NEVER BEFORE BEEN SEEN BY ANY ONE before that voyage, and consequently not by him; and that, as regards the residue of the coast north of 50 Degrees N., the Portuguese had sailed along it as far as the Arctic circle, without finding any termination to the land, thus giving the Portuguese as his authority for the continuity of the northern part of the coast, and excluding himself from it. It is thus clearly stated in the letter, that he had not been there before. It was impossible that he could have, consummated two voyages to America, and another to England, and made his court to the king, after 1524, and before his last and fatal cruize along the coast of Spain, as would have been necessary to have been done. In asserting that Verrazzano made other voyages to America, Hakluyt is corroborated by the ancient manuscripts, to which the author of the memoirs of Dieppe refers, as mentioning that one Jean Verassen commanded a ship which accompanied that of Aubert to Newfoundland in 1508. [Footnote: Desmarquets. "Memoires chronologiques pour servir a l'histoire de Dieppe," I. 100. (2 Vols. Paris, 1785.) It is worthy of remark that this annalist seems to regard Verasseu and Verrazzano as different persons, which proves, at least, that his authority was independent of any matter connected with the Verrazzano claim. That these names really relate, however, to the same individual, appears from the agreement with Chabot] It is possible, therefore, that Verrazzano made three voyages to Newfoundland, and was well acquainted with that portion of the coast, before hostilities broke out between Francis I. and the emperor, in 1522; at which time, as will be seen, he entered upon his course of privateering; and that during the time Francis was a prisoner at Madrid, in 1525-6, and the state of war accordingly suspended, and Verrazzano thrown out of employment, he visited England, and laid before the king a scheme of searching for the northwest passage; a project which Henry had been long meditating, as may be gathered from the proposition of Wolsey to Sebastian Cabot in 1519, and the expedition actually sent out for that purpose by that monarch under John Rut, in 1527. [Footnote: Letter of Contarini, the Venetian ambassador in Spain, to the Council of Ten. See "Calendar of State Papers &c. in Venice," 1520- 6. Edited by Rawdon Brown. No. 697, London, 1869. Purchas, III. p. 809.] It is evident that the representation of the western sea, upon the map given to the king, was merely conjectural of its existence in connection with the supposed strait, laid down upon the map, according to Hakluyt. This explanation will serve also to account most readily for the partial knowledge which the letter exhibits, in regard to the customs and characteristics of the Indians of Cape Breton, which might have been collected by the writer, from the journals of those early voyages or other notes of Verrazzano in relation to them; although the same information was obtainable from others who had made similar voyages to that region, from Normandy and Brittany.

It is thus established by the same testimony which furnishes the map of Lok, taken in conjunction with its own teachings, that it was not derived from the Verrazano map in its present shape, and does not represent the Verrazzano discovery.

The only evidence of the existence of the Verrazano map in any cosmographical production whatever, book, chart or globe, so far as known, independently of its history in the Borgian collection, is a copper globe, found by the late Buckingham Smith in Spain, a few years ago, and now in the possession of the New York Historical Society. This globe purports to have been constructed by Euphrosynus Ulpios in 1542. Inscribed upon it, in a separate scroll, is a dedication, in these words; "Marcello Cervino S. R. E. Presbitero Cardinali D.D. Rome." Cervinus had been archbishop of Florence and was afterwards raised from the cardinalate to the pontificate under the title of Marcellus II. This globe represents the western sea in the same form as it is on the Verrazano map, and contains a legend on the country lying between the isthmus and Cape Breton, in these words: "Verrazana sive Nova Gallia a Verrazano Florentino Comperta anno sal. M.D." In all other respects it differs essentially from the map in its description of the coast. Florida and Cape Breton are laid down in their true positions, and the isthmus occurs at the parallel of 33 degrees N. latitude, instead of 41 degrees. The direction of the coast, between the two points just mentioned, is more northerly, and the length of it consequently much reduced. The names along the coast, so far as the photograph of the map furnishes the means of comparison, are entirely different, except that Piaggia de Calami appears north of the isthmus. Dieppa and Livorno are not found upon it. But the legend affords indubitable evidence that the Maker had consulted the map. The name of Verrazana applied to the land is found no where else no applied, except on the map. But the incompleteness in which the date of the discovery is left, us if written 15—, proves that the maker was unable to ascertain it fully from his authority; the map, therefore, must have been his sole authority.

As to the authenticity of this globe there is no other evidence than that it has the appearance of an old instrument, and its representations generally correspond with the state of geographical knowledge of the period of its date. [Footnote: It measures forty- two inches in circumference. Hist. Mag. (New York) 1862, p. 202. A map showing so much of it as relates to North America, was lithographed for the dissertation of Mr. Smith, and is here reproduced.] Adopting its own story of its construction, it proves the existence of the Verrazano map, with the Verrazzano discoveries upon it, and consequently the existence of the claim as early as the year 1542.

The other references to a Verrazzano map, prove nothing on the subject of the discoveries, unless the letter of Annibal Caro, which alludes to discoveries by the brothers Verrazzani, in connection with a map, he deemed as referring to them. In that case, 1537 would be the earliest mention of them, in any known publication. Lok and Hakluyt, as has been already seen, clearly do not refer to any map showing the Verrazzano discoveries. The period of the fabrication of the letter may therefore, possibly, be fixed between 1536 and 1542. But whether this period be properly deduced or not, is immaterial; since in no event can an earlier date than 1529 be assigned by any evidence outside of the letter, for the existence of the Verrazzano claim; which year, as is now to be shown, was long after the coast had been discovered and made known to the world by another.



IX.

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

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

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

The success of Magellan served the more to stimulate the purpose of Gomez to undertake a search for the same object. It was supposed at that time, by Sebastian Cabot and others, that the northern parts of America were broken up into islands, but nothing positively was known in relation to them, except in the region of Newfoundland. Between that country and South Carolina, then recently discovered by the joint expedition of the licentiates, all was unknown; and it was considered not improbable that a passage might be found between those points, through to Cathay and the Moluccas, the same as had been discovered in the south, by Magellan. Gomez, released from his disabilities, renewed his application to the emperor for permission to prosecute his search, proposing now to make it through the northern seas; and on the 27th of August 1523 a cedule was made to that effect authorizing him to go with a caravel of fifty toneles burden on the discovery of eastern Cathay. [Footnote: Herrera, III. Iv. 20. The cedule is still extant in the archives at Seville.] In consequence, however, of the remonstrance of the king of Portugal against any interference with his rights to the Moluccas, Charles suspended the prosecution of further voyages in that quarter until the question should be determined to which of the two crowns those islands belonged by virtue of the pope's demarcation. The voyage of Gomez, and also that of Cabot to the La Plata, were delayed until the decision of the junta convened at Badajos by the two monarchs for the purpose of making this determination. To this body Gomez, in conjunction with Sebastian Cabot and Juan Vespucci as pilots, and Diego Ribero as cartographer, was attached,—a circumstance which shows the high estimation in which his nautical knowledge was held. The proceedings closed in May 1524, too late for Gomez to make his arrangements to leave in that year. These were completed, however, in February 1525, in which month he set sail from Coruna, in the north of Spain, in a single caravel, on his voyage of discovery, [Footnote: Navarrete III. 179. Peter Martyr, Dec. VII. 8.] Peter Martyr, after mentioning the proposed expedition of Sebastian Cabot to the south, thus refers in July 1524, to that of Gomez and its destination. "It is also decreed that one Stephanus Gomez, who also himselfe is a skillful navigator, shal goe another way, whereby, betweene the Baccalaos and Florida, long since our countries, he saith he will finde out a waye to Cataia: one onely shippe, called a Carvell, is furnished for him, and he shall have no other thing in charge then to search out whether any passage to the great Chan, from out the diuers windings and vast compassings of this our Ocean, were to be founde." [Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. VI. 10. Eden's trans.]

Gomez commenced his exploration on the coast of South Carolina, and proceeding thence northwardly, reached the Rio de la buelta, where, as that name denotes, he commenced his return, on the island of Cape Breton. He carefully observed the rivers, capes and bays, which occur within those limits, entering the Chesapeake, Delaware, Hudson and Penobscot, to which he gave appropriate names, derived from the church calendar, or from some characteristic of the locality. He was for a while encouraged to believe, in consequence of the great flood of water which he found issuing from the Penobscot, or Rio de Gamos, (Stag river), that he had there fallen upon the desired strait. Though unsuccessful in the object of his search, he nevertheless accomplished an important service for geographical science, in determining that no such passage existed within the region he had sailed. Taking in a cargo of Indians from the islands of the great bay, he continued his course to the south, and running along the coast of Florida, returned to Spain by way of Cuba. [Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. VI. c. 10. Herrera, III, VIII. S. Cespedes, Yslario General, in MS. Cespedes was cosmographer major of the Indies in Seville and wrote many geographical works early in the seventeenth century. His Yslario General, embracing a history of the islands of the world, exists in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid.]

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

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

"Shortly after that yowr Maiestie came to the citie of Toledo, there arryved in the moneth of November, Stephen Gomes the pylot who the yeare before of 1524 by the commandement of yowre maiestie sayled to the Northe partes and founde a greate parte of lande continuate from that which is cauled Baccaleos discoursynge towarde the West to the XL and XLI degree, fro whense he brought certeyne Indians, of the whiche he brought sum with hym from thense who are yet in Toledo at this present, and of greater stature than other of the firme land as they are commonlye. Theyr coloure is much like the other of the firme lande. They are great archers, and go couered with the skinnes of dyuers beastes both wylde and tame. In this lande are many excellent furres, as marterns, sables and such other rych furres, of the which the sayde pilot brought summe with hym into Spayne. They have sylver and copper and certeyne other metalles. They are Idolaters and honoure the soonne and moone, and are seduced with suche superstitions and errours as are they of the firme." [Footnote: Oviedo de la natural hystoria de las Indias. (Toledo, 15 Feby. 1526), fol. 14; and under the title of Relucion Sumaria, p. 16, in Barcia's Historiadores primitivas, tome 1. Translated in Eden's Decades of the new worlde, fol. 213-14.]

The details of the exploration appear more distinctly upon the charts which the royal cosmographers at Seville prepared, with the names given to the prominent points of the coast. Two of these maps are still extant, bearing the respective dates of 1527 and 1529, the first by an anonymous cartographer, and the last by Ribero. [Footnote: Both these maps, so far as they relate to America, have been reproduced, with very valuable notes and illustrations, by Mr. Kohl in Die beiden altesten general karten von Amerika. Weimar 1860.] The whole line of coast from the river Jordan, in latitude 33 degrees 10', visited by both the expeditions of Ayllon, to Cape Breton, is laid down upon them with sufficient exactitude. The names indicate the exploration to have been made by Gomez the whole distance between those points; for no other navigator of Spain, in the language of which they are given, had sailed within those limits up to the time these maps bear date. The only question which has been raised in this regard relates to the expeditions of Ayllon; but the first of these, a joint descent upon the coast to carry off Indians in 1520 by two vessels belonging to the licentiates Ayllon and Matienzo of St. Domingo, proceeded no further than the Jordan, as we learn from the testimony of Pedro de Quejo, the pilot of Matienzo. [Footnote: Proceedings before the Auditors at St Domingo, by virtues of a royal decree of Nov. 1525, in relation to the dispute between Ayllon and Matienzo concerning their discovery, preserved in MS. at Seville.] The expedition which Ayllon made afterwards in 1526, in person, to the same coast, proceeded directly to the river Jordan, and after remaining there a few days, ran southwesterly along the coast to Gualdape or St Helena, where Ayllon died, and from whence it thereupon immediately returned home to St Domingo, without any further attempt at exploration. [Footnote: tom. III. p 624. (Madrid 1853.) Mr. Kohl states (Discovery of Mains, 397) that the ships of Ayllon made an extensive survey of the coast, NORTH of the Jordan, soon after their arrival in the country. In this he is in error; into which he appears to have been misled by Navarrete, a part of whose language he quotes in a note, as that of Oviedo. Navarret, referring to the portion of Oviedo's history, not then (1899) published, as his authority, says on this point that after leaving the river Jordan the ships of Ayllon proceeded to Gualdape, "distante cuarenta o cicuenta leguas mas al norte" distant forty or fifty leagues more to the north; whereas the language of Oviedo, as contained in the recently published edition of his work, is, "acordaron de yrse a pohlar la costa delante hacia la costa accidental, e fueron a un grand rio (quarenta o quarenta e cico leguas de alli, pocas mas o menos) que si dice Gualdape," (ut supra, p. 628) they agreed to go and settle the coast further on towards the west coast, and sent to a large river (forty or fifty-five leagues from that place, a little more or less) which is called Gualdape. The course of the coast at these points is northeast and southwest. A westerly course was therefore to the SOUTH and not to the north. Besides, Oviedo states that the Jordan was in latitude 33 degrees 40' and that Gualdape was the country through which the river St. Helena ran, which he also calls the river of Gualdape, and which in another part of his history he places in latitude 33 degrees N., and expressly stating that the Jordan was north of the St. Helena, towards Cape Trafalgar, or Cape Fear (tom. II p. 144.) Ayllon, therefore did not sail north of the Jordan, and the names on the Ribero map, north of that river, are not attributed to his expedition.]

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

These maps passed at once into Italy; and that of Ribero, bearing the date of 1529 and the arms of the then reigning pontiff, Clement VII, and his successors, the most finished of the three copies known to exist, is still to be found at Rome, and is reasonably supposed to have been the original; and like the last decade of Peter Martyr in 1526, which mentions the discoveries of Gomez, to have been sent to the Holy Father at his desire, in order to keep him informed of the latest discoveries. [Footnote: Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Nouvelle series, tome xxxv. Annee 1853. Tome troisieme. Paris. Les Papes geographes et la cartographic du Vatican. Par R. M. Thomassey. Appendix p. 275.] Other copies of the Spanish charts showing the exploration of Gomez, found their way in to Italy about the same time, proving that there was then no interdict against their exportation from Spain to that country, at least. [Footnote: In regard to the freedom which the charts of the Spanish navigators so enjoyed there is confirmatory proof in Ramusio. In the preface to his third volume, dedicated to his friend Fracastor of Florence, he writes: "All the literary men daily inform you of any discovery made known to them by captain or pilot coming from those parts, and among others the aforesaid Sig. Gonzalo (Oviedo) from the island of Hispaniola, who every year visits you once or twice with some new made chart."] This appears by a volume which was published in Venice in 1534 under the auspices of Ramusio, [Footnote: M. d'Avezac in Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic for July and August, 1872.] embracing a summary of the general history of the West Indies by Peter Martyr and a translation of Oviedo's natural history of the Indies of 1526, containing the account of Gomez' voyage, with a map of America upon which the discoveries of Gomez are laid down the same as upon the Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529, before mentioned. The following colophon, giving the origin of this map, is to be found at the end of the translation of Oviedo: "Printed at Venice, in the month of December 1534. For the explanation of these books there has been made an universal map of the countries of all the West Indies, together with a special map, taken from two marine charts of the Spaniards, one of which belonged to Don Pietro Martire, Councillor of the Royal Council of the said Indies, and was made by the pilot and master of marine charts, Nino Garzia de Loreno, in Seville. The other was made also by a pilot of the majesty, the emperor, in Seville. With which maps the reader can inform himself of the whole of this new world, place by place, the same as if he had been there himself." [Footnote: This volume has no general title, but contains three books, primo, secondo & ultimo della historia de l'India Occidentali. It is very rarely found with the large map of America. We are indebted to the kindness of James Lonox, Esq. of New York, for the use of a perfect copy in this respect.] The special map here referred to is one of Hispaniola, in the same volume, and was undoubtedly taken from that of Nuno Garcia, in the possession of Peter Martyr. It was therefore made in or before the year 1526, since Martyr died in that year. The map of America, by the pilot of the emperor at Seville, was probably the anonymous map of 1527 before mentioned, as it appears not to have had the name of the author upon it. These facts prove at least that the map of Ribero was in Italy in the year 1529, and that the map of 1527 may have been there before that year.

It was from the delineation of the coast on one or other of these two maps, which are in that respect almost identically the same, that the description of it in the Verrazzano letter was derived. This will now be made manifest by the application of that description to the map of Ribero, so much of which as is necessary, is here reproduced for that purpose.

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

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

The several courses and distances run are described in the letter, from point to point, as follows: [Footnote: The translation of Dr. Cogswell, in N.Y. Hist. Collections, is here used, somewhat condensed.]

First. "We perceived that it (the land) stretched to the SOUTH and L. coasted along in that direction in search of some port in which we might come to anchor, and examine into the nature of the country, but for FIFTY LEAGUES we could find none in which we could lie 50 securely."

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

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

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

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

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

SEVENTH. "And FIFTY LEAGUES beyond, MORE TO the NORTH, where we found a MORE ELEVATED COUNTRY. The people were entirely different from the others we had seen, so rude and barbarous that we were unable by any signs we could make, to hold communication with them. Against their will WE PENETRATED TWO OR THREE LEAGUES INTO THE 50 INTERIOR with twenty-five men."

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

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

Now let the reader trace for himself, these courses and distances, as shown on the accompanying sketch of the map of Ribero. according to the following scale, [Proofreaders Note: scale omitted] representing the measurements in the letter; which are calculated on the basis of 15.625 leagues to a degree, while those on the map are 17 1/2 leagues; and he will find, that not only is the whole littoral distance between the parallels of 34 degrees and 50 degrees on the map about seven hundred leagues, but that the several courses and distances, of which this entire distance is composed according to the letter, correspond with similar divisions on the map, proving to a certainty that this map was the source from which the line of coast described in the letter was derived, or the reverse.

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

The first course being retraced, the SECOND, also of fifty leagues, starting from the landfall near C. Traffalgar, extends to C. de S. Juan of the map, the well known point of Hatteras.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of these documents must, therefore, have been the source of the other. In determining between them, there can be no mistake in adopting as the original, that one which has a certain and indisputable authenticity, and rejecting that which is unsupported by any other testimony. The voyage of Gomez was long the subject of consideration and preparation, and was heralded to the world for months before it was undertaken. The order of the king of Spain under which it was made, still exists in the archives of that kingdom. The results of the expedition were announced by credible historians of the country, immediately after its return; and the nautical information which it brought back, and in regard to which alone it possessed any interest at the time, was transferred at once to the marine charts of the nation, imperfectly it is true, and spread before the world. These charts still remain in their original form, as they were then prepared. With these incontrovertible facts to sustain it, the discovery of Gomez must stand as established in history and, consequently, the claim of Verrazzano must fall. [Footnote: The map of Ribero is not a faithful representation of the exploration of Gomez, in many respects. The tierra de Ayllon is made to embrace a large portion of the country the coast of which was discovered by Gomez. The bay of Santa Maria, or the Chesapeake, is placed two degrees further south than it should he, that is, in latitude 35 degrees, instead of 37 degrees N. The R. de los Gamos, or Penobscot, mentioned by Cespedes, is not named at all. The question, however, of its greater or less correctness is of no importance on the present occasion; it is sufficient that it was followed by the writer of the letter, erroneous as it was.]



X.

THE CAREER OF VERRAZZANO. AN ADVENTUROUS LIFE AND AN IGNOMINIOUS DEATH. CONCLUSION.

The true history of Verrazzano, so far as known, is now to be given, in order to make a final disposition of this story. Nothing is preserved in relation to his early life. Even the year of his birth is matter of conjecture. He is called by Ramusio, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Florentine; and according to Pelli, was born about the year 1485, His father was Piero Andrea, son of Bernardo, the son of Bernardo of Verrazzano, a little town situated in the Val di Greve, near Florence,—the latter Bernardo having belonged to the magistracy of the priors in 1406. All that his eulogist was enabled to gather concerning him, beyond this brief genealogy, is taken from the Verrazzano letter and the discourse of Ramusio, relating how he was killed, roasted and devoured by the savages in a second voyage to America; [Footnote: The account which Ramusio gives of Verrazzano, and the manner of his death, occurs in his Discourse on Labrador, the Baccalaos and New France (vol. III fol. 41), in which, after reffering to the Cortereaes and Sebastian Cabot, he adds:

"There also sailed along the said land, in the year 1524, a great captain of the most Christian king in France, called Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine; and he ran along all the coast, as far as Florida, as will be particularly seen by a letter of his, written to the said king, which alone we have been able to have, because the others have got astray in the troubles of the unfortunate city of Florence. And in the last voyage which he made, having wished to descend on the land with some companions, they were all put to death by those people, and in the presence of those who remained on board of the ship, were roasted and devoured. Such a wretched end had this valiant gentleman, who, had not this misfortune intervened, would, by the great knowledge and intelligence which he had of maritime affairs, and of navigation, accompanied and favoured by the immense liberality of King Francis, have discovered and made known to the world, all that part of the earth, up to the north pole, and would not have been contented with the Coast merely, but would have sought to penetrate far inland, and as far as he could go; and many, who have known and conversed with him, have told me, that he declared it was his intention to seek to persuade the most Christian King to send from these parts, a good number of people to settle in some places of said coast which are of temperate climate, and very fertile soil, with very beautiful rivers and harbors capable of holding any fleets. The settlers in these places would be the occasion of producing many good results, and among others of bringing those rude and ignorant tribes to divine worship, and to our most holy faith, and to show them how to cultivate the land, transporting some of the animals of our Europe to those vast plains; and finally, in time, having discovered the inland parts, and seen whether among the many islands existing there, any passage to the south sea exists, or whether the main land of Florida or the West Indies continues up to the pole. This and so much is what has been related of this so brave a gentleman, of whose toil and sweat, in order that his memory may not remain buried, and his name pass into oblivion, we have desired to give to the light the little that has come into our hands."

Ramusio here distinctly asserts that the only document in relation to the voyage of Verrazzano which he had been able to procure, was the letter which he published; but he informs his readers that he had been told by certain persons who had known and conversed with Verrazzano, that it was the intention of the navigator, as he himself declared, to seek permission from Francis I, his adopted sovereign, in whose service it is claimed he made the discovery, to make another voyage to the new found land for the purposes of colonization and further exploration; and he also states, upon the same or other authority, that Verrazzano on another voyage was killed and eaten, by the natives of the country. Consequently, Verrazzano must have made a second voyage to America and obtained such permission from the king. But there is not a particle of evidence in existence, apart from the declarations of these persons to Ramusio, that any such permission was ever given, or that a second voyage took place. It proved the credulity of Ramusio that he received these naked statements without any examination.] with the suggestion of Coronelli, the Venetian geographer, that the place where he thus met his death was at the entrance of the gulf of St. Lawrence, The spurious letter of Carli adds that he had been in Egypt, Syria and most other parts of the world. The ancient manuscripts of Dieppe, as we have seen, [Footnote: Ante, p. 112, note] speak of one of his name who accompanied Aubert, in his voyage to Newfoundland, in 1508; and the statement of Hakluyt before referred to, gives some ground to believe that he was employed in early voyages to that region, before he engaged in his operations against the commerce of Spain.

What is certainly known of him relates almost exclusively to his career as a French corsair, during the few years which intervened between the breaking out of hostilities between Francis I and Charles V, and his death, in 1527. His cruises, though directed principally against the Spaniards, were not tender of the interests of Portugal; and it is accordingly from Spanish and Portuguese writers and documents of the period, that the little information that exists in relation to him, is derived. He is called by the former, Juan Florin or Florentin, or simply, the Florentine,—the French corsair. He is designated on an occasion to be noted, as Juan Florin of Dieppe. [Footnote: On the capture of the treasure fleet. See Appendix, iv.] They appear to have known him by no other name. They never heard of him as a discoverer, real or pretended, of new countries, until long afterwards. The Verrazzano letter had not been published when Peter Martyr, Oviedo and Gomara wrote; and when Martyr and Gomara make mention of him, they do so only by the title by which he was designated by the Spanish sailors. There was, therefore, no opportunity for his identification by them in the double character of a great discoverer, and a corsair; and it was not until many years after the publication of the Verrazzano letter that this identification was first declared by Barcio [Footnote: Ensayo Chronologico, sub anno, 1524.].

There is no room, however; to doubt its entire correctness. That the occupation of Verrazzano was that of a cruizer on the seas, is not only declared in the letter ascribed to him, [Footnote: Ramusio gives Verrazzano this character more distinctly than it appears in the original version. One of the first alterations of the text, is of the passage previously referred to, relating to the cruise of the Normandy and Dauphiny, after their repairs in Brittany. The Carli version, reads, in connection with the two ships on that occasion: date restaurati ara V. S. M. inteso il discorso facemo con quelle armate in querra per li liti di Spagna, that is, "where being repaired, your serene majesty will have understood we made the cruize with THIS FLEET OF WAR along the coasts of Spain," from which it is to be implied only, that the cruize was for the purpose of depredating on Spanish commerce. But Ramusio, as became his practice, with this document at least, altered this clause into doce poi che furono secondo il bisogno raccociate So ben armeggiate, per i liti di Spagna ce n'andammo in carso, il che V. M. haverd inteso per il profitto che ne facemmo; which Hakluyt fairly renders: "Where, after we had repaired them in all points as was needfull, and armed them very well, we took our course along by the coast of Spain, which your majesty shall understand, BY THE PROFIT WE RECEIVED THEREBY." As this cruize according to the date of the letter must have taken place in 1523, this language, which is Ramusio's own, as to the profit, would seem to refer almost to the capture by Verrazzano of the treasure sent by Cortes, to the emperor which occurred in the summer of that year, as hereafter related: but Verrazzano's fleet consisted of six instead of two ships on that occasion. The words of Ramusio, show, however, that he knew Verazzano was a rover, in search of booty on the seas or at least, that he so regarded him.] but is clearly established by the agreement made by him with Chabot. Besides, there is no other Giovanni, a Florentine, known in the history of the time, sailing in that capacity under the French flag and from the same port of Dieppe; and the references must have therefore been to him alone.

The appellation of corsair, does not necessarily imply a pirate. It was applicable to any one engaged in the capture of vessels on the high seas, whether authorized to do so or not. The state of hostilities between France and Spain, protected Verrazzano under the rules of war, as a subject of Francis, in capturing Spanish vessels, as long as it continued; and the anomalous condition of affairs existing at that time, according to the Portuguese historian, Andrade, of private war between the subjects of the kings of France and Portugal, without any public war between the sovereigns, would seem to have justified him in similar acts in regard to the commerce of the Portuguese, as long as the practice was not forbidden by the kings of the two countries.

The first adventure of the kind, in which we hear of Verrazzano, was in 1521. At this time a valuable commerce had grown up between Spain and her conquests in the West Indies, and large amounts in gold, pearls, sugar, hides and other articles were sent home. A ship, on her way from Hispaniola, was captured by him, in the year just mentioned, having on board eighty thousand ducats in gold, six hundred pounds weight—eight ounces to the pound, of pearls and two thousand arrobas, of twenty-five pounds each, of sugar.

[Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. v. c. 8. Epistola 771 (ed. 1671). In this letter which is dated at Valladolid 19th November 1522, Martyr writes: "Anuo quippe superiore Florinus quidam Gallus pirata navim unam ab Hispaniola venientem, auro ad sommam octoginta millium dragmarum, unionum vero libris octuolibus sexcentis & ruborum saecari duobus millibus rapuit."]

In the following year, he took possession of seven vessels bound from Cadiz to the Canary islands, with emigrants, but being overhauled off the point of Gando, by vessels sent in pursuit, was compelled to relinquish his prizes. [Footnote: Don Bartholome Garcia del Castillo in Noticias de la historia de las islas de Canaria, by Don Joseph de Viera y Clavijo. (Madrid 1772-84).]

He is next found apparently meditating an expedition against the Portuguese possessions in Brazil, upon the pretext of discovering other countries in the east, which that nation had not found. The mention of this project is positive, and becomes curious and interesting in the history of his life, as it affords the only authentic evidence extant of any suggestion of a voyage of discovery, contemplated by him towards Cathay. The design, if really entertained, appears, however, to have fallen through and to have been abandoned; but it may, nevertheless, have been the foundation of the story of the alleged voyage. It is related by Francisco d'Andrade, in his Chronicle of John III, the then reigning king of Portugal. After referring to the death of Magellan, as an event which removed a cause of difference between the crowns of Portugal and Castile, growing out of the famous expedition of that navigator, Andrade thus speaks of the state of affairs between the crowns of France and Portugal.

"At that time, the king was told by some Portuguese, doing business in France, that one Joao Varezano, a Florentine, offered himself to Francis, to discover other kingdoms in the East, which the Portuguese had not found, and that in the ports of Normandy a fleet was being made ready under the favor of the admirals of the coast, and the dissimulation of Francis, to colonize the land of Santa Cruz, called Brazil, discovered and laid down by the Portuguese in the second voyage to India. This, and the complaints every where made of the injuries inflicted by French corsairs, rendered the early attention of the king necessary.

"Accordingly he sent to France an ambassador, Joao da Silveyra, son of Fernao da Silveyra, who delayed his going no longer than was necessary to get ready. The purpose of his mission was to ask Francis, inasmuch as there never had been war between them, but rather an ancient peace and friendship, that he would give orders throughout his kingdom for the many robberies and injuries, perpetrated at sea on each other by the Portuguese and French, to cease, (which tacitly was a private and not an open war, as in general they were friends); that whatever could be found in his ports taken from the Portuguese, should be restored, as what might be found in the harbors of Portugal, taken from the French, should be forthwith given up, and that to all who should ask justice in this particular it should he rendered immediately and fully. The king then required Francis likewise, to prevent his vessels from making outfits to go to parts of the Portuguese conquest, whither it was not lawful for even Portuguese vessels to sail or the people to traffic.

"Joao da Silveyra was well received at the court of France; but as respects the specific matters of negotiation in his charge, he was answered every way indefinitely, with reasons more specious than sound which appeared to be given not so much to conclude the affaire upon which he treated as to procrastinate and consume time.

* * * * * * *

"Joao da Silveyra continued to solicit with much urgency the matters in his keeping at the court of France, and received answers respecting them according as the matters which were proposed in Portugal, [the marriage of Carlota, daughter of Francis, with the prince Dam Joao], gave hopes of advancement. The king said through one Luys Homem that he greatly desired the fostering and increase of ancient friendship. Following upon that in a few days he ordered the vessels in his ports preparing for India to be stopped, stating that he would arrange this in such a way that the king should be satisfied. Measures were adopted for the restoration of all property that was known to have been taken from the king or his vessels, and expectations were entertained of an order making such provision throughout as should put a stop to all the robberies and the evils arising from them. Since this had been the principal object for which the embassador had been sent to France, it appeared to the king of Portugal, that it would be for his service that he should order the return of Joao da Silveyra, and that the licentiate Pedro Gomez Feixeira with Master Diego de Gevoeya, (to whom he likewise wrote of this matter) should demand justice respecting certain matters of his property and assist such of his vessels as were seeking it. But before the order for the return of Silveyra had left this court, information was received by one Jacome Monteyro (who by authority of the king of France sought the restitution of property) that Francis had issued new orders, commanding the general sequestration of all the property of the king of Portugal and of his people, the embargo of all his vessels to be found in the ports of France, without the declaration of any new cause, or the statement of any reason for this order, the opposite of what had before been promulgated. The king in consequence, directed Joao da Silveyra to take truthful information of the particulars and the reasons for this proceeding and commanded his presence before the council, to make them known.

"Following this, hostilities having been declared between the kingdoms and seignories of the emperor and the king of France, they waging cruel strife by land and sea, the French with an armament afloat took a Spanish ship with gold, belonging to the emperor, within the limits of the Portuguese coast, besides much property of individuals, regardless of where she had been found, so little attentive were they in those times, to Portugal and Portuguese; seized her by force as belonging to their enemies, and carried her off, as good prize of war. Pedro Batelho was sailing the while, giving protection to the coast of Portugal, by the royal order, according to the ancient custom of this kingdom, held always to be useful and necessary, the value of which became evident from what occurred afterwards, when it fell into disuse.

"The captain coming out one morning with his fleet, near those who were carrying of the Spanish ship, he obliged them by force to take in sail, as they hesitated to obey for some time, until he informed himself of what had passed. Discovering that there were some doubts and that deliberation would be necessary to do justice, he brought all before him to the port of Lisbon, where the prize was sequestrated and they made prisoners, and the case, by order of the king, was sent to the Casa da Supplicacam where sentence was pronounced the following year. This news, which was directly known in France, made great change in the order of affairs with Portugal, and produced the state they were afterwards in, during the following nine consecutive years that Joao da Silveyra was there, in which time, he accomplished nothing he had in hand, except to EMBARGO THE VOYAGE OF THE FLORENTINE, of which mention is made before, and of some few vessels of corsairs which was but sheer justice to us."[Footnote: Cronica de muyto alto, emuyto poderoso rey destes reynos de Portugal Dom Joao o III deste nome. By Francisco d'Andrade. Part I, c. 13 and 14. (Lisbon 1613.)]

The time when these preparations were being made by Verrazzano is more definitely fixed by a despatch of Silveira to the king, from Paris on the 25th of April 1523, in which he states that "Verazano" had not yet left for Cathay that this whole story of an intended voyage of discovery was proposed for the purpose of concealing the real object of the preparations which were going on in Normandy, of seizing the treasure which had been sent from Mexico, by Cortes to the emperor, of the successful accomplishment of which we have now to speak. [Footnote: Sautarem gives the date of this dispatch as the 23d of April 1522, Quadro Elementar, tom III, sec. XVI, p. 165. But the letter of Silveira will be found in full in the Appendix (III) from the Portuguese archives. Santarem]. It is highly probable, therefore, is evidently mistaken as to the year, inasmuch as the news of Magellan's death, to which Andrade refers as a prior event, did not reach Spain until September 1522 and Silveira's appointment as embassador was after that news was received.]

In November, 1522, a vessel arrived in Spain which had been sent from Mexico, by the conquistador with the emperor's share of the tribute money collected in that country, in the special charge of Alonzo Davila and Antonio Quinones, with other articles of value. Fearing capture by the French corsairs, this vessel had sailed by the way of the Azores, and leaving the treasure, with its custodians, at the island of Santa Maria, proceeded on without it, in order that a proper force might be sent to that island to bring it safely to Spain. Joan Ribera, the secretary of Cortes, came in the ship to Spain. These facts appear to have become notorious immediately. Peter Martyr mentions them in his letter of the 17th of November 1522, and in the fifth of his decades, written while the treasure was still at Santa Maria, speaks of the French having knowledge of its being left there. "I know not," he says, "in reference to the ships sent there for it, what flying report there is that the French pirates have understood of those ships, God grant them good successe." [Footnote: Dec. v. c. 10. (Lok's trans.)] Three caravels were despatched from Seville to Santa Maria, under the command of Captain Domingo Alonzo, arriving there on the 15th of May 1523. Davila and Quinones immediately embarked in them, with the treasure, sailing directly to Spain. Meanwhile, Verrazzano proceeded with six vessels towards Cape St. Vincent, for the purpose of intercepting them, which he succeeded in doing, within ten leagues of that cape. After a sharp encounter, in which Quinones was killed, he captured two of them, in one of which Davila was taken with the gold, and the other most valuable articles. The third caravel escaped, and arrived in Spain, with a tiger and various articles of rich manufacture, which had belonged to Montezuma. Verrazzano took his prizes into Rochelle. The value of the treasure and articles taken was estimated at more than six hundred thousand ducats, or one million and a half of dollars. [Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. v. c. 8. Epist. 771, Nov. 19, 1522, and 779, June 11, 1523 (ed. 1670). Herrera, Dec. III. lib. IV. c. 20. Letter of Davila to the emperor from Rochelle, June 17, 1523, in the archives at Seville, now first published in the Appendix (IV). Martyr says there were two ships, the larger of which only containing the treasure fell into the hands of John Florin, the French pirate, and the others escaped; but Davila must be right.]

These facts at least establish that Joao Verazano mentioned by the Portuguse, Andrade and Silveira, was the same person who made the capture of the treasure ships; for it is not to be supposed that two different Florentines of the name of Giovanni, were in command of French fleets, at the same time, belonging to the ports of Normandy alone; and consequently that Verrazzano, our navigator, and Juan Florin the corsair were one. But how far the seizure of the treasure ships was, as before suggested, the original purpose of the fleet can only be inferred from the circumstances, and is important only in connection with the DESIGN of a voyage of discovery. Between the time of the arrival of Ribera with the information that the treasure had been left at the Azores, and the sending of the caravels to bring it to Spain, nearly six months elapsed. Taking the dates, which are established by the official documents now produced, of the fitting out of the fleet in Normandy by Verrazzano and the actual capture of the two caravels, it is easy to see that the real purpose of those preparations from the first, might have been to effect the capture of the treasure. The transmission of the news to Portugal of an intended voyage to Brazil and the sending of instructions to the embassador at [Footnote: According to the letter of Silveira, he was at Polssy on Christmas, and Andrade was therefore, probably in error in stating that he had his instructions in regard to Varezano before he left Portugal.] the French court could all have taken place after the detention of the treasure at Santa Maria became known in France and the fitting out of the vessels for its capture had begun to be made. It is stated by Andrade that it was at a port in Normandy where the vessels were being made ready; and it is to be presumed, from the connection of Verrazzano with Jean Ango, as shown subsequently by the agreement with Chabot for a like purpose, that it was from Dieppe, and probably a the expense of that rich merchant, who we are told was enabled to entertain his sovereign with princely magnificence and to embargo the port of Lisbon, with a fleet of his own, [Footnote: Mem. Chron. de Dieppe. I. 106-111.] that they sailed on this occasion.

Verrazzano is certainly found at Rochelle on the 16th of June, 1523, two months after the despatch of Silveira was written, with his prizes captured on a different expedition from that mentioned by the ambassador. It is evident, therefore, that the project of a voyage of discovery to Cathay, if ever seriously entertained, had at that time been abandoned; as may also be inferred from the statement of Andrade, that Silveira, in the nine years he was at the court of France, succeeded only in embargoing the voyage of the Florentine, and accomplishing some minor matters.[Footnote: The document accompanying the letter of Davila in the archives, describes Juan Florin as of Dieppe, and thus fixes the seat of his operations in Normandy. See Appendix, (IV. 2.)]

But the question of any such voyage of discovery having been made at the time claimed in the Verrazzano letter is effectually set at rest by the fact that Verrazzano was then actually engaged in a corsairial enterprise elsewhere. Peter Martyr, in an epistle written on the 3d of August 1524, less than a month after the alleged return of Verrazzano to Dieppe from his voyage of discovery, wrote from Valladolid that "a courier of the king of Portugal had arrived (with word) that Florin, the French pirate, had captured a ship of his king on her way from the Indies, with a cargo valued at one hundred and eighty thousand ducats." [Footnote: Epist. 800 (ed. 1670).] It is impossible for Verrazzano to have been on the coast of North America, or on his return from Newfoundland to France, and at the same time to have taken a ship on her way from the Indies to Portugal, coming as she must have done, by the Cape of Good Hope.

The defeat of Francis I at the battle of Pavia and his capture and detention in Spain during the year 1525, seem to have suspended the depredations upon the seas by the French, and nothing more occurs relating to Verrazzano, until after the release of the king, in the following year, and then in an adventure which seems to have cost him his life, unless his probable appearance in England as mentioned by Hakluyt, to which reference has already been made, be an exception. Allusion has also been made several times to an agreement between Chabot, admiral of France, and others, including Verrazzano, which now assumes particular importance. It is the only document yet produced in France, relating to him, and is of recent discovery. [Footnote: Margry, Les Navigations Francaises, p.194 (Paris, 167.) See Appendix (II)] By this agreement it was stipulated that Chabot, as admiral of France, should furnish two galleons, Jean Ango one ship, and Verrazzano two pilots besides himself, and that the three persons here named should with Guillaume Preudhomme, general of Normandy, Pierre Despinolles and Jacques Boursier, in different specified amounts each, make up the sum of twenty thousand pounds in Tours currency for the expenses, on joint account, of a voyage to the Indies for spices,—the admiral and Ango, however, to have one- fourth of all the merchandise returned, for the use of the vessels, and Verrazzano to have one-sixth of the remaining three-fourths, for his compensation and that of his two pilots. The contract contained another provision, that if any booty should be taken on the sea from the Moors, or other enemies of the faith and the king, the admiral should first take a tenth of it and the remainder should be divided as stipulated in regard to the merchandise, except such part as should, upon advisement, be given to the crew. The admiral was to have letters patent expedited from the king for permission to make the voyage. This paper has no date, but as it was made by Chabot, in his official capacity, as admiral of France, it could not have been earlier than March 1526, when, as we have seen, he was so created. It belongs, therefore, either to that or the following year, judging from the fatal consequences which happened to Verrazzano in the latter.

Although a voyage from France to the Indies for spices was not an improbable venture at that time inasmuch as one was actually made from Dieppe, two years afterwards, by Jean Parmentier in the service of Ango, there is every reason to believe that such was not the real object of the parties to this agreement. One of the stipulations between them was for a division, of booty, showing an intention to make captures on the sea. Who were the enemies of the king from whom it was to be taken is not stated. By the treaty of Madrid, in January 1526. peace existed between France and Spain, and any expedition from one of them against the commerce of the other, was clearly piratical. Neither did war exist at this time, between France and Portugal. Yet it appears that both the Spaniards and the Portuguese, were searching for Verrazzano at the time, when the former succeeded in capturing him, in September or October 1527. He had, therefore, not sailed to the Indies and must have made himself obnoxious to those nations, by fresh depredations upon their vessels. Bernal Diaz, who gives an account of his capture and execution, states that he was actually so engaged. [Footnote: Historia verdadera, fol 164.] It appears from the letters of the judge who superintended his execution that he was then encountered by six Biscayan galleons and ships, and after battle, captured and taken by them to Cadiz, with his crew, consisting of one hundred and twenty or thirty persons, besides several gentlemen adventurers, Verrazzano offered his captors thirty thousand ducats to be released, but in vain. He was sent under guard with the adventurers to Madrid, but was overtaken on the way at Colmenar near Puerto del Pico, villages between Salamanca and Toledo, [Footnote: Blaen, Utriusque Castilia nova descripto. Martiniere, Dictionaire Geographique, aub Colmenar et Pico.] by the judge of Cadiz with an order made by the emperor at Lerma on the 13th of October 1527, by virtue of which he was there put to death in November of that year. Such was the termination of the career of this hold man, which was long ago substantially told by Bernal Diaz and Barcia, but so loosely in regard to dates, as to have created doubts as to their correctness, but which is established by the documents existing in the archives at Simancas, now brought to light. [Footnote: See the letter of the judge of Cadiz, in the Appendix (V.L.) Barcia, in his Chronological Essay, mentions the capture and execution of Juan the Florentine as a pirate under the year 1524. He does not state that they took place in that year, but refers to them in connection with the discoveries alleged to have been made in that year by Verrazzano, whom he identifies as the corsair. It has been supposed, consequently, that he meant that year as the time of Verrazzano's death; and hence, inasmuch as Verrazzano was known to have been alive after that year, that the whole story was an error. The letters of Juan de Giles, the resident judge of Cadiz, appended to this memoir, enable us to fix the date of his execution, for although not dated themselves, they contain a reference to the date of the cedule, ordering the execution, by which it can be determined. Giles mentions that this cedule was dated at Lerma, on the 13th of last month, showing that it was made there on the 13th of some month. According to the Itinerary of Charles V, kept by his private secretary, Vandernesse, containing an account of the emperor's journeys from the year 1519 to 1551, Charles went to Lerma, a small town in Old Castile, for the first time on the 9th of May, 1524 and returned thence to Burgos on the 12th of that month, going to Lerma again on the 21st of July of that year and leaving it on the 24th for Vallidesole. He was not there afterwards, until the 12th of October, 1527, where he remained until the 17th of that month when he went to Burgos. He went to Lerma again on the 20th of February 1528, and remained there for two days only. These are all the occasions of his presence at Lerma during the whole period of the Itinerary. These dates prove that the only possible occasion for issuing the order of execution was the 13th of October 1527. The prisoners left under guard, on the 15th of that month for Madrid, and the letter apprising the emperor that the order had been executed upon Verrazzano must have been written in November, the month following.