Part 7

Some importance, however, attaches to this map in its assisting us to fix approximately the time of the fabrication of the Verrazzano letter. If it were constructed in 1529, as some would infer, with the portions relating to the discovery upon it, then it is the earliest recognition of the CLAIM to this discovery yet produced, irrespective of the letter. But it is by no means certain that it was originally made in that year. Nothing appears on the map itself giving that date in terms; but it is left to be inferred exclusively from the language of the legend, which states that the discovery was made FIVE YEARS AGO, without any indication, either in the legend itself or elsewhere on the map, to what time that period relates; and leaving the discovery, therefore, to be ascertained from extraneous sources. If the discovery be assumed to have been made in 1524, then indeed the map, according to the legend, would have been constructed in 1529. But no person, unacquainted with the letter, can determine from this inscription, or any other part of the map, the date either of the discovery or map; and this precise difficulty Euphrosynus Ulpius apparently encountered in attempting to fix the time of the discovery for his globe, as will hereafter be seen. Why the time of the discovery should have been left in such an ambiguous state, compatibly with fair intentions, it is difficult to understand. The year itself could and should, in the absence of any date on the map, have been stated directly in the legend, without compelling a resort to other authorities. It is not unusual, it is true, for valuable maps and charts of this period to be left without the dates of their construction upon them; but when, as in this case, a date is called for, there seems to be no reason why it should not have been given. This circumstance creates the suspicion that the legend did not belong to the map originally, but was added afterwards, as it now appears on the copy in the Vatican; or if it were upon it then, that it was intended to mislead and conceal the true date of the map. But whatever may be the secret of its origin, this legend furnishes no positive evidence as to the time when the map was made, or pretended to have been made; and we are left to find its date, if possible, by other means.

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.]