[Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate thistext as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variantspellings and other inconsistencies. Text that has been changed tocorrect an obvious error by the publisher is noted at the end of thisebook. ]

 AMERIGO VESPUCCI

 BY

 FREDERICK A. OBER

 HEROES OF AMERICAN HISTORY

 _ILLUSTRATED_

 [Illustration]

 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON 1907

 Copyright, 1907, by HARPER & BROTHERS. 

 _All rights reserved. _

 Published February, 1907. 

 [Illustration: AMERIGO VESPUCCI]

CONTENTS

 CHAP. PAGE

 I. YOUNG AMERIGO AND HIS FAMILY 1

 II. AMERIGO'S FRIENDS AND TEACHERS 15

 III. VESPUCCI'S FAVORITE AUTHORS 32

 IV. IN THE SERVICE OF SPAIN 45

 V. CONVERSATIONS WITH COLUMBUS 59

 VI. VESPUCCI'S DEBATABLE VOYAGE 76

 VII. VESPUCCI'S "SECOND" VOYAGE 101

 VIII. WITH OJEDA THE FIGHTER 126

 IX. CANNIBALS, GIANTS, AND PEARLS 138

 X. FAMOUS FELLOW-VOYAGERS 148

 XI. ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL 165

 XII. THE "FOURTH PART OF THE EARTH" 179

 XIII. THE FOURTH GREAT VOYAGE 194

 XIV. KING FERDINAND'S FRIEND 209

 XV. PILOT-MAJOR OF SPAIN 221

 XVI. HOW AMERICA WAS NAMED 237

ILLUSTRATIONS

 AMERIGO VESPUCCI _Frontispiece_

 A CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF TOSCANELLI'S MAP _Facing p. _ 20

 MARCO POLO " 40

 OJEDA'S FIRST VOYAGE " 130

 ROUTES OF THE DISCOVERERS " 166

 NORTH AMERICA FROM THE GLOBE OF JOHANN SCHÖNER " 244

AUTHORITIES ON AMERIGO VESPUCCI

XVIth CENTURY. Vespucci's letters to Soderini and L. P. F. De' Medici, reproduced in this volume. 

XVIIth CENTURY. Herrera, in his _Historia General_ (etc. ), Madrid, 1601; "probably followed Las Casas, whose MSS. He had. "

XVIIIth CENTURY. Dandini, A. M. , _Vita e Lettere di Amerigo Vespucci_, Florence, 1745. 

Canovai, Stanislac, _Elogia di Amerigo Vespucci_, 1778. 

XIXth CENTURY. Navarrete, M. F. De, _Noticias Exactas de AmericoVespucio_, contained in his Coleccion, Madrid, 1825-1837. 

Humboldt, Alexander von, _Examen Critique de l'Histoire de laGéographie de Nouveau Continent_, Paris, 1836-1839. 

Lester, C. Edwards, _The Life and Voyages of Americus Vespucius_, NewYork, 1846; reprinted, in de luxe edition, New York, 1903. 

Varnhagen, F. A. , Baron de Porto Seguro, _Amerigo Vespucci, sonCaractère, ses Écrits_ (etc. ), Lima, 1865; Vienna, 1874. A collectionof monographs called by Fiske "the only intelligent modern treatise onthe life and voyages of this navigator. "

Fiske, John, _The Discovery of America_, Boston, 1899; contains anexhaustive critical examination of Vespucci's voyages to which thereader should refer for more extended information. 

AMERIGO VESPUCCI[1]

I

YOUNG AMERIGO AND HIS FAMILY

1451-1470

Cradled in the valley of the Arno, its noble architecture fitlysupplementing its numerous natural charms, lies the Tuscan city ofFlorence, the birthplace of immortal Dante, the early home of MichaelAngelo, the seat of the Florentine Medici, the scene of Savonarola'striumphs and his tragic end. Fame has come to many sons of Florence, as poets, statesmen, sculptors, painters, travellers; but perhaps nonehas achieved a distinction so unique, apart, and high as the subjectof this volume, after whom the continents of the western hemispherewere named. 

Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, March 9, 1451, just one hundredand fifty years after Dante was banished from the city in which bothfirst saw the light. The Vespucci family had then resided in that citymore than two hundred years, having come from Peretola, a little townadjacent, where the name was highly regarded, as attached to the mostrespected of the Italian nobility. Following the custom of thatnobility, during the period of unrest in Italy, the Vespuccisestablished themselves in a stately mansion near one of the citygates, which is known as the Porta del Prato. Thus they were withintouch of the gay society of Florence, and could enjoy its advantages, while at the same time in a position, in the event of an uprising, toflee to their estates and stronghold in the country. 

While the house in which Christopher Columbus was born remainsunidentified, and the year of his birth undecided, no such ambiguityattaches to the place and year of Vespucci's nativity. Above thedoorway of the mansion which "for centuries before the discovery ofAmerica was the dwelling-place of the ancestors of Amerigo Vespucci, and his own birthplace, " a marble tablet was placed, in the seconddecade of the eighteenth century, bearing the following inscription:

 "_To AMERICO VESPUCCIO, a noble Florentine, Who, by the discovery of AMERICA, Rendered his own and his Country's name illustrious, [As] the AMPLIFIER OF THE WORLD. Upon this ancient mansion of the VESPUCCI, Inhabited by so great a man, The holy fathers of Saint John of God Have placed this Tablet, sacred to his memory. _ A. D. 1719. "

At that time, about midway between the date of Vespucci's death andthe present, the evidence was strong and continuous as to theresidence in that building (which was then used as a hospital) of thefamily whose name it commemorates. Here was born, in 1451, the thirdson of Anastasio and Elizabetta Vespucci, whose name, whether rightlyor not, was to be bestowed upon a part of the world at that timeunknown. 

The Vespuccis were then aristocrats, with a long and boasted lineage, but without great wealth to support their pretensions. They wererelatively poor; they were proud; but they were not ashamed to engagein trade. Some of their ancestors had filled the highest officeswithin the gift of the state, such as _prioris_ and _gonfalonieres_, or magistrates and chief magistrates, while the first of the Vespuccisknown to have borne the prænomen Amerigo was a secretary of therepublic in 1336. 

It is incontestable that Amerigo Vespucci was well-born, and in hisyouth received the advantages of an education more thorough than wasusually enjoyed by the sons of families which had "the respectabilityof wealth acquired in trade, " and even the prestige of nobleconnections. No argument is needed to show that the position of aFlorentine merchant was perfectly compatible with greatrespectability, for the Medici themselves, with the history of whosehouse that of Florence is bound up most intimately, were merchantprinces. The vast wealth they acquired in their mercantile operationsin various parts of Europe enabled them to pose as patrons of art andliterature, and supported their pretensions to sovereign power. TheFlorentine Medici attained to greatest eminence during the latterhalf of the century in which Amerigo Vespucci was born, and he wasacquainted both with Cosimo, that "Pater Patriæ, who began theglorious epoch of the family, " and with "Lorenzo the Magnificent, " whodied in 1492. 

The Florentines, in fact, were known as great European traders ormerchants as early as the eleventh century, while their bankers andcapitalists not only controlled the financial affairs of severalstates, or nations, but exerted a powerful influence in the realm ofstatesmanship and diplomacy. The little wealth the Vespucci enjoyed atthe time of Amerigo's advent was derived from an ancestor of thecentury previous, who, besides providing endowments for churches andhospitals, left a large fortune to his heirs. His monument may be seenwithin the chapel built by himself and his wife, and it bears thisinscription, in old Gothic characters: "The tomb of Simone PieroVespucci, a merchant, and of his children and descendants, and of hiswife, who caused this chapel to be erected and decorated--for thesalvation of her soul. Anno Dom. 1383. "

The immediate ancestors, then, of Amerigo Vespucci were highlyrespectable, and they were honorable, having held many positions oftrust, with credit to themselves and profit to the state. At the timeof Amerigo's birth his father, Anastasio Vespucci, was secretary ofthe Signori, or senate of the republic; an uncle, Juliano, wasFlorentine ambassador at Genoa; and a cousin, Piero Vespucci, so ablycommanded a fleet of galleys despatched against the corsairs of theBarbary coast that he was sent as ambassador to the King of Naples, bywhom he was specially honored. 

Another member of the family, one Guido Antonio, became locally famousas an expounder of the law and a diplomat. Respecting him an epitaphwas composed, the last two lines of which might, if applied toAmerigo, have seemed almost prophetic:

 "_Here lies GUIDO ANTONIO, in this sepulchre-- HE WHO SHOULD LIVE FOREVER, Or else never have seen the light. _"

This epitaph was written of the lawyer, who departed unknown andunwept by the world, while his then obscure kinsman, Amerigo, subsequently achieved a fame that filled the four quarters of theearth. 

The youth of Amerigo is enshrouded in the obscurity which envelopsthat of the average boy in whatever age, for no one divined that hewould become great or famous, and hence he was not provided with abiographer. This is unfortunate, of course, but we must consoleourselves with the thought that he was not unusually precocious, andprobably said little that would be considered worth preserving. Ithappened that after he became world-large in importance, tales andtraditions respecting his earliest years crept out in abundance; butthese may well be looked upon with suspicion. We know scarcely morethan that his early years were happy, for he had a loving mother, anda father wise enough to direct him in the way he should travel. 

It does not always follow that the course the father prescribes is thebest one in the end, for sometimes a boy develops in unsurmiseddirections; and this was the case with Amerigo Vespucci. The fortunesof the family being on the wane, he was selected as the one toretrieve them, and of four sons was the only one who did not receive acollege education. The other three were sent to the University ofPisa, whence they returned with their "honors" thick upon them, andsoon lapsed into obscurity, from which they never emerged. That is, they never "made a mark" in the world; save one brother, Girolamo, whomade a pilgrimage to Palestine, where he lived nine years, sufferedmuch, and lost what little fortune he carried with him. 

He may have thought, perhaps, in after years, that if he had notbelonged to a family containing the world-famed navigator his exploitswould have brought him reputation; but it is more probable that if hehad not written a letter to his younger brother, Amerigo, the worldwould never have heard from him at all. However, he was the firsttraveller in the family, and with his university education he shouldhave produced a good account of his adventures; but if he ever did soit has not been preserved from oblivion. 

Amerigo was not given a college education, but something--as iteventuated--vastly better. His father had a brother, a man oferudition for his time, who had studied for the Church. This learneduncle, Georgio Antonio Vespucci, was then a Dominican friar, respectedin Florence for his piety and for his learning. About the year 1450, or not long before Amerigo was born, he opened a school for the sonsof nobles, and in the garb of a monk pursued the calling of thepreceptor. His fame was such that the school was always full, yet whenhis brother's child, Amerigo, desired to attend, having arrived at theage for receiving the rudiments of an education, he was greetedcordially and given a place in one of the lower classes. It may beimagined that he would have been favored by his uncle; but such seemsnot to have been the case, for the worthy friar was a disciplinarianfirst of all. He had ever in mind, however, the kind of educationdesired by his brother for Amerigo, which was to be commercial, andgrounded him well in mathematics, languages, cosmography, andastronomy. His curriculum even embraced, it is said, statesmanship andthe finesse of diplomacy, for the merchants of Vespucci's days were, like the Venetian consuls, "very important factors in developingfriendly international relations. "

There was then a great rivalry between Venice, Florence, Genoa, andPisa for the control of trading-posts in the Levant, which carriedwith them the vast commerce of the Orient, then conducted by way ofthe Mediterranean, the Black, and the Caspian seas, and overland bycaravans with India and China. At the time our hero was growing intomanhood, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, Florence, "underthe brilliant leadership of the Medici and other shrewd merchantprinces, gained control of strategic trading-posts in all parts of the[then known] world, and secured a practical monopoly in the tradethrough Armenia and Rhodes. .. . It was from banking, however, thatFlorence derived most of her wealth. For some time her bankerscontrolled the financial markets of the world. Most of the great loansmade by sovereigns during this period, for carrying on wars or forother purposes, were made through the agency of Florentine bankers. Even Venetian merchants were glad to appeal to her banks for loans. Inthe fifteenth century Florence had eighty great banking-houses, manyof which had branches in every part of the world. "[2]

It is evident, therefore, that the sagacious Anastasio Vespucci hadmapped out a great career for the son whom he had chosen to recreatethe fortunes of his house. He was to be a banker, a diplomat;eventually he might attain, like the greatest of the Medici, to thestation and dignities of a merchant prince. To this end the worthyGeorgio Antonio ever strove, and as he found his nephew a tractableand studious pupil, he congratulated himself and his family that inAmerigo they had the individual who was to restore the prestige oftheir ancient name. 

But alas! the sequel proved that Friar Georgio was too ambitious, andhad overshot the mark. In his desire to turn out a finished product, ascholar that should be a credit to his school and an ornament to hisfamily, he not only inculcated the essentials for a commercialeducation, but, as has already been mentioned, led his eager followerinto the wider fields of astronomy and cosmography. All he knew--andthat included all the ancients knew--of these abstruse sciences heimparted to Amerigo, and in the end, so far as we can judge, the youngman became more proficient in them than any other person of his ageand time. So it eventuated that those studies, which were intendedmerely as subsidiary to the more serious pursuit, became the primefactors in shaping his career. They were his stepping-stones togreatness, as were his mercantile transactions; but, anticipatingsomewhat the events of his later life, we shall find that they did notconduce to the acquisition of wealth. 

"In Florence, " says the author previously quoted, "more than in anyother Italian city during the Middle Ages, was displayed the directinfluence of commerce upon the developments of all the finer elementsof material and immaterial civilization. She was the Athens of Italy, and her art, literature, and science was the brightest gleam ofintellectual light that was seen in Europe during that age. It wasfrom Florence, more than from any other source, that came theawakening influence known as the Renaissance. "

This truth we see exemplified in the formative period of AmerigoVespucci's life, for, in order to become qualified to adorn the highposition of a prince of commerce, he was as carefully trained as if tofill a prelate's chair or grasp the helm of state. So reluctant washis uncle, the good old monk Georgio, to relinquish his talentednephew to the world, that we find them in company as late as 1471, asattested by this letter, written in Latin by Amerigo to his father, inOctober of that year:

 "_To the Excellent and Honorable Signor Anastasio Vespucci. _

 "HONORED FATHER, --Do not wonder that I have not written to you within the last few days. I thought that my uncle would have satisfied you concerning me, and in his absence I scarcely dare to address you in the Latin tongue, blushing even at my deficiencies in my own language. I have, besides, been industriously occupied of late in studying the rules of Latin composition, and will show you my book on my return. Whatever else I have accomplished, and how I have conducted myself, you will have been able to learn from my uncle, whose return I ardently desire, that, under his and your own joint directions, I may follow with greater facility both my studies and your kind precepts. 

 "George Antonio, three or four days ago, gave a number of letters to you to a good priest, Signor Nerotto, to which he desires your answer. There is nothing else that is new to relate, unless that we all desire greatly to return to the city. The day of our return is not yet fixed, but soon will be, unless the pestilence should increase and occasion greater alarm, which may God avert!

 "He, George Antonio, commends to your consideration a poor and wretched neighbor of his, whose only reliance and means are in our house, concerning which he addresses you in full. He asks you, therefore, that you would attend to his affairs, so that they may suffer as little as possible in his absence. 

 "Farewell, then, honored father. Salute all the family in my behalf, and commend me to my mother and all my elder relatives. 

 "Your son, with due obedience, "AMERIGO VESPUCCI. "[3]

The cause of Amerigo's absence from Florence was, it is said, theterrible plague which swept over that city and for a time paralyzedits activities. All who were able fled to the country, and, FriarGeorgio's school having been broken up by the scattering of hispupils, he and Amerigo retired to their family estate, at or nearPeretola, there to await the subsidence of the epidemic. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This name is variously spelled, as, for example: Albericus, Alberico, Almerigo, Americo, Americus, Amerigo; Despuche, Vespuche, Vespuchy, Vespuccio, Vespucius, Vespucci. The best writers use eitherthe Italian, Amerigo Vespucci, or the Latinized, Americus Vespucius, with good authority for both. 

[2] From the _General History of Commerce_, by W. C. Webster, Ph. D. 

[3] This letter was discovered by Signor Bandini, author of the _Vitae Lettre di Amerigo Vespucci_, 1745, in the Strozzi Library. Harrissesays, "This, and two or three signatures added to receipts, which werebrought to light by Navarrete, constitute the only autographs ofVespucius known. "

In the original paper he uses the Latin form, Vespucius; but in aletter written in 1508, when he was pilot-major of Spain, he signshimself "Amerigo Vespucci. "

II

AMERIGO'S FRIENDS AND TEACHERS

1470-1482

Florence, in Vespucci's day, was the home of genius, of culture, andof art. Amerigo, doubtless, was acquainted with some of her sons whosefame, like his own, has endured to the present day, and will last forall time. The great Michael Angelo, who was born at or near Florencein 1475, and whose patron was Lorenzo the Magnificent, was hiscontemporary, although the artist and sculptor survived the discoverermore than fifty years. Savonarola, who came to Florence in 1482, wasjust a year the junior of Amerigo, and is said to have been anintimate friend of his uncle, who, like himself, belonged to theDominican order. The young man may not have been touched byBuonarroti's art, nor have been moved by Savonarola's preaching, but, like the former, he possessed an artistic temperament, and, like thelatter, he was an enthusiast. 

The man, however, who, next to his uncle, shaped Amerigo's career andturned him from trade to exploration, was a learned Florentine namedToscanelli. If you have followed the fortunes of Christopher Columbus, reader, you have seen this name before, for it was Toscanelli who, inthe year 1474, sent a letter and a chart to the so-called discovererof America, which confirmed him in the impression that a route toIndia lay westward from Europe across the "Sea of Darkness. "

It is not known just when Amerigo first met "Paul the Physicist, " asToscanelli was called in Florence; but it may have been in youth orearly manhood, for aside from the fact that "all the world" knew andreverenced the famous _savant_, there was the inclination arising froma mutual interest in cosmography and astronomy. Toscanelli was theforemost scientist of his age, and as he was born in 1397, at the timeAmerigo met him he must have been a venerable man. He lived, however, until the year 1482, and as the younger man was in Florence during thefirst forty years of his life, and the last thirty of Toscanelli's, itis more than probable that their intercourse was long and friendly. 

It is known, at least, that they were acquainted at the time thelearned doctor wrote Columbus, in 1474, and it does not require astretch of the imagination to fancy them together, and wondering whateffect that letter would have upon a man who entertained views similarto their own. Columbus, it is thought, had then been pondering severalyears over the possible discovery of land, presumably the easterncoast of India, by sailing westward. "It was in the year 1474, " writesa modern historian, "that he had some correspondence with the Italiansavant, Toscanelli, regarding this discovery of land. A belief in sucha discovery was a natural corollary to the object which Prince Henryof Portugal had in view by circumnavigating Africa, in order to find away to the countries of which Marco Polo had given golden accounts. Itwas, in brief, to substitute for the tedious indirection of theAfrican route a direct western passage--a belief in the practicabilityof which was drawn from a confidence in the sphericity of theearth. "[4]

Later in life Columbus seems to have forgotten his indebtedness toToscanelli, and "grew to imagine that he had been independent of theinfluences of his time, " ascribing his great discovery to theinspiration of one chosen to accomplish the prophecy of Isaiah. Butthe venerable Florentine had pondered the problem many years beforeColumbus thought of it. "Some Italian writers even go to the extent ofasserting that the idea of a western passage to India originated withToscanelli, before it entered the mind of Columbus; and it is highlyprobable that this was the case. "

There is this in favor of Toscanelli: He was a learned man, whileColumbus was comparatively ignorant. He was then advanced in years, and had given the greater portion of his life to the consideration ofjust such questions, having had his attention called to them byreading the travels of Marco Polo and comparing the informationtherein contained with that derived from Eastern merchants who hadtraded for many years in the Orient. He was not a sailor, nor acorsair--though Columbus had been both, and had followed the sea foryears--but he was an astronomer, and he knew more of the starryheavens, as well as of the earth beneath them, than any otherscientist alive. "It was Toscanelli who erected the famous solstitialgnomon at the cathedral of Florence. " For his learning he was honored, when but thirty years of age, with the curatorship of the greatFlorentine library, and for nearly sixty years thereafter he passedhis days amid books, charts, maps, and globes. 

As a speculative philosopher, he had arrived at a correct conclusionrespecting the sphericity of the earth, and, with all the generosityof a humanitarian, he freely communicated his ideas to others. Columbus would have excluded every other human being fromparticipating in his thoughts, and arrogated to himself alone theright to navigate westerly. This was the difference between thebroad-minded philosopher and the narrow-minded sailor who by accidenthad stumbled upon a theory. The philosopher said, "It belongs to theworld!" The ignorant sailor cried, "It is mine!"

Toscanelli advanced the theory, but it was Columbus who put it to thetest, and reaped all the rewards, as well as suffered for themistakes. For mistakes there were, and the chief error lay insupposing the country "discovered" by Columbus pertained to theIndies. He died in that belief, and also Toscanelli, who passed awayten years before the first voyage made to that land, subsequentlyknown as America. In one sense, perhaps, the Florentine doctor was themeans of that first voyage of Columbus having been accomplished, forthe chart he sent him made the distance between Europe and the westerncountry seem so short that it was undertaken with less reluctance, andpersisted in more stubbornly, than it might otherwise have been. Butthis was a mistake in detail only, and not in theory. A line wasprojected from about the latitude of Lisbon, on the western coast ofEurope, to the "great city of Quinsai, " as described by Marco Polo, onthe opposite shores of Asia. This line was divided into twenty-sixspaces, of two hundred and fifty miles each, making the total distancebetween the two points sixty-five hundred miles, which Toscanellisupposed to be one-third of the earth's circumference. 

[Illustration: A CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF TOSCANELLI'S MAP]

In short, Toscanelli calculated the distance, made a conjectural chartembodying the results of his readings of Aristotle, Strabo, andPtolemy, of his conversations during many years with Orientaltravellers, and his own observations. He sent this chart to Columbus;the latter adopted it as his guide, and by means of it, faulty as itwas, achieved his great "discovery. " Whose, then, is the merit of thisachievement? Does it not belong as much to Toscanelli as to Columbus?

To whomsoever the credit may be given--whether to the man whoconceived the idea, or to him who developed it, and whether or notColumbus intentionally appropriated the honor and gloryexclusively--by the irony of fate, there stood a man at Toscanelli'selbow, as it were, when he wrote to the Genoese, who was destined torob him of his great discovery's richest reward. This man was AmerigoVespucci, after whom--though unsuggested by him and unknown tohim--the continents of America were named, by strangers, beforeChristopher Columbus had lain a year in his grave!

It is not at all improbable that Vespucci was aware of thecorrespondence between Toscanelli and Columbus, as he was thenacquainted with the former, and at the age of twenty-three wasintensely interested in the pursuits of the learned physician. Nextto Toscanelli, in fact, he was probably the best-informed man thenliving in Florence as to the studies to which his friend had devotedthe better part of his life, and it is not unreasonable to supposethat he saw the letters before they were sent to Columbus. 

But this is a trivial matter compared with the importance of theseletters, in a consideration of the effect they produced upon the mindof Columbus, for, if they did not suggest to him the idea of voyagingwesterly to discover the Indies, they certainly confirmed him in theopinion that such a voyage could be successfully made. By a strangefreak of fate these letters were preserved in the _Life of Columbus_, written by his son Fernando, and there can be no question of theirauthenticity. They breathe the spirit of benevolence for whichToscanelli was noted, and indicate the greatness of the man--agreatness decidedly in contrast to the mean and petty nature of hiscorrespondent, who would have perished sooner than allow informationso precious to escape from him to the world. 

Toscanelli's first letter was written in Florence, June 25, 1474, andis as follows:

 "_To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physicist wishes health. _

 "I perceive your noble and earnest desire to sail to those parts where the spice is produced, and therefore, in answer to a letter of yours, I send you another letter which, some days since, I wrote to a friend of mine, a servant of the King of Portugal before the wars of Castile, in answer to another that he wrote me by his highness's order, upon this same account. And I also _send you another sea-chart_, like the one I sent to him, which will satisfy your demands. This is a copy of the letter:

 "_'To Ferdinand Martinez, Canon of Lisbon, Paul the Physicist wishes health. _

 "'I am very glad to hear of the familiarity you enjoy with your most serene and magnificent king, and though I have very often discoursed concerning _the short way there is from hence to the Indies_, where the spice is produced, by sea (which I look upon to be shorter than that you take by the coast of Guinea), yet you now tell me that his highness would have me make out and demonstrate it, so that it may be understood and put in practice. 

 "'Therefore, though I could better show it to him with a globe in my hand, and make him sensible of the figure of the world, yet I have resolved, to make it more easy and intelligible, to show the way on a chart, such as is used in navigation, and therefore I send one to his majesty, made and drawn with my own hand, wherein is set down the _utmost bounds of the earth, from Ireland in the west to the farthest parts of Guinea_, with all the islands that lie in the way; opposite to which western coast is described the beginning of the Indies, with the islands and places whither you may go, and how far you may bend from the North Pole towards the Equinoctial, and for how long a time--that is, how many leagues you may sail before you come to those places most fruitful in spices, jewels, and precious stones. 

 "'Do not wonder if I term that country where the spice grows, _West_, that product being generally ascribed to the _East_, because those who sail westward will always find those countries in the west, and those who travel by land eastward will always find those countries in the east! The straight lines that lie lengthways in the chart show the distance there is from west to east; the others, which cross them, show the distance from north to south. I have also marked down in the chart several places in India where ships might put in, upon any storms or contrary winds, or other unforeseen accident. 

 "'Moreover, to give you full information of all those places which you are very desirous to know about, you must understand that none but traders live and reside in all those islands, and that there is as great a number of ships and seafaring people, with merchandise, as in any other part of the world, particularly in a most noble port called Zaitun, where there are every year a hundred large ships of pepper loaded and unloaded, besides many other ships that take in other spices. This country is mighty populous, and there are many provinces and kingdoms, and innumerable cities, under the dominion of _a prince called the Grand Khan_, which name signifies king of kings, who for the most part resides in the province of Cathay. His predecessors were very desirous to have commerce and be in amity with Christians, and two hundred years since sent ambassadors to the Pope, desiring him to send them many learned men and doctors, to teach them our faith; but by reason of some obstacles the ambassadors met with they returned back, without coming to Rome. Besides, there came an ambassador to Pope Eugenius IV. , who told him of the great friendship there was between those princes and their people, and the Christians. _I discoursed with him a long while_ upon the several matters of the grandeur of their royal structures, and of the greatness, length, and breadth of their rivers, and he told me many wonderful things of the multitude of towns and cities along the banks of the rivers, upon a single one of which there were two hundred cities, with marble bridges of great length and breadth, adorned with numerous pillars. 

 "'This country deserves as well as any other to be discovered; and there may not only be great profit made there, and many things of value found, but also gold, silver, many sorts of precious stones, and spices in abundance, which are not brought into our ports. And it is certain that many wise men, philosophers, astrologers, and other persons skilled in all arts and very ingenious, govern that mighty province and command their armies. From Lisbon directly westward there are in the chart twenty-six spaces, each of which contains two hundred and fifty miles, to the most noble and vast city of Quinsai, which is one hundred miles in compass--that is, thirty-five leagues. In it there are ten marble bridges. The name signifies a heavenly city, of which wonderful things are reported, as to the ingenuity of the people, the buildings, and the revenues. 

 "'This space above mentioned is _almost the third part of the globe_. The city is in the province of Mangi, bordering on that of _Cathay_, where the king for the most part resides. From the island of Antilla, which you call the Island of the Seven Cities, and whereof you have some knowledge, to the most noble island of _Cipango_ are ten spaces, which make two thousand five hundred miles. This island abounds in gold, pearls, and precious stones; and, you must understand, they cover their temples and palaces with plates of pure gold; so that, for want of knowing the way, all these things are concealed and hidden--and yet may be gone to with safety. 

 "'Much more might be said; but having told you what is most material, and you being wise and judicious, I am satisfied there is nothing of it but what you understand, and therefore will not be more prolix. Thus much may serve to satisfy your curiosity, it being as much as the shortness of time and my business would permit me to say. So, I remain most ready to satisfy and serve his Highness to the utmost, in all the commands he shall lay upon me. '"

A second communication followed the reply of Columbus, in whichToscanelli wrote:

 "I received your letters with the things you sent me, which I take as a great favor, and commend your noble and ardent desire of sailing from east to west, _as it is marked out in the chart I sent you_, which would demonstrate itself better in the form of a globe. I am glad it is well understood, and that the voyage laid down is not only possible, but certain, honorable, very advantageous, and most glorious among all Christians. You cannot be perfect in the knowledge of it but by experience and practice, as I have had in great measure, and by the solid and true information of worthy and wise men, who are come from those parts to this court of Rome, and from merchants who have traded long in those parts and who are persons of good reputation. So that, when the said voyage is performed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, and to most noble cities and provinces, rich, and abounding in all things we stand in need of, particularly all sorts of spice in great quantities, and stores of jewels. This will, moreover, be grateful to those kings and princes who are very desirous to converse and trade with Christians, or else have communication with the wise and ingenious men in these parts, as well in point of religion as in all sciences, because of the extraordinary account they have of the kingdoms and government of these parts. For which reasons, and many more that might be alleged, I do not at all wonder that you, who have a great heart, and all the Portuguese nation, which has ever had notable men in all undertakings, be eagerly bent upon performing this voyage. "

In these letters we have outlined by Toscanelli the very voyage thatColumbus took in 1492, eighteen years after he had received thisprecious information. In his journal of that voyage he makes mentionof "_the islands marked on the chart_"; he was constantly seeking theisland of Atlantis, and hoped eventually to arrive at the great andnoble city of Quinsai, as well as at Cipango and Cathay. As for the"Grand Khan"--of whom he had been informed by Toscanelli, who obtainedhis information from Marco Polo's works--he not only sent an embassyin search of him, when in Cuba, but was looking for him throughout allhis voyages. 

It is well known that Columbus was not aware that he had reallydiscovered a new world, but to the end of his days believed he hadmerely arrived at the eastern coast of India. So persistent was he inthis belief that he falsified documents, and forced his crew to swearto what they did not know--namely, that Cuba was a continent, and notan island! He believed he had arrived at Cipango, when he heard theIndian word, _cibao_, on the coast of Hispaniola; and he says, in aletter written to Luis Santangel in 1493, "In Española there aregold-mines, and thence to terra firma, as well as thence to the GrandKhan, everything is on a splendid scale. " Also, "When I arrived atJuana [Cuba], I followed the coast to the westward, and found it soextensive that I considered it must be a continent and a _province ofCathay_!"

Columbus, it has been said by some investigators, was a man of oneidea--and that idea not his own! "It is impossible, " says WashingtonIrving, in his _Life of Columbus_--which is, throughout, an elegantbut labored apology for its hero--"to determine the precise time whenColumbus first conceived the design of seeking a western route toIndia. It is certain, however, that he meditated it as early as theyear 1474, though as yet it lay crude and unmatured in his mind. "

The year 1474, as we know, was that in which Toscanelli sent him theletter and the chart. In that letter the route to India was laid down, and on that chart it was made clear to any seafaring man how Cathaymight be reached, by merely sailing westward! By setting his helm, andpersisting in a westerly course, any one might reach the coast thatwas supposed to lie opposite to Europe and Africa. Columbus did that, according to directions received from Toscanelli eighteen yearsbefore. He did nothing more, and he reached, not the coast of India, but the outlying islands of a new world since called America. 

The idea, then, which Columbus claimed as exclusively his own wasconveyed to him by Toscanelli--or, at least, it so appears--andToscanelli obtained it from the ancients. For, says one havingauthority, "Eratosthenes, accepting the spherical theory, had advancedthe identical notion which nearly seventeen hundred years laterimpelled Columbus to his voyage. He held the known world to spanone-third of the circuit of the globe, as Strabo did at a later day, leaving an unknown two-thirds of sea; and if it were not that the vastextent of the Atlantic Sea rendered it impossible, one might even sailfrom the coast of Spain to that of India, along the same parallel. "

And again: "An important element in the problem was the statement ofMarco Polo regarding a large island, which he called Cipango, andwhich he represented as lying in the ocean off the eastern coast ofAsia. This carried the eastern verge of the Asiatic world fartherthan the ancients had known, and, on the spherical theory, broughtland nearer westward from Europe than could earlier have beensupposed. .. . Humboldt has pointed out that neither ChristopherColumbus nor his son Ferdinand mentions Marco Polo; still, we knowthat the former had read his book. "[5]

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Justin Winsor, in _The Narrative and Critical History of America_. 

[5] _Narrative and Critical History of America. _

III

VESPUCCI'S FAVORITE AUTHORS

1485-1490

Books of any sort were few and precious during the youthful period ofAmerigo Vespucci's life, for the art of printing by the use of movabletype was invented about the time he was born, and most of the greatdiscoverers, including himself and Columbus, were to pass away beforethe printing-press was introduced into America. [6]

In the library of Paul the Physicist, however, the ardent scholar, Vespucci, must have seen many manuscripts which he was permitted toread, and among them, doubtless, the account of Marco Polo'swonderful journeys. It is thought that Toscanelli may have possessed, indeed, one of the first copies of _Marco Polo_ ever printed, as itissued from a German press in 1477; or at least of the second edition, which appeared in 1481, the year before he died. A copy of the firstLatin edition was once owned by Fernando Columbus, and has marginalmarks ascribed to his father. This edition was printed in 1485, theyear in which Hernando Cortés was born, and when Vespucci wasthirty-four years old. Another Latin edition was brought out in 1490, an Italian in 1496, and a Portuguese in 1502, followed by many others. 

Marco Polo, the Venetian, exercised a strong and lasting influenceupon the minds of Toscanelli, Columbus, Vespucci, and, through them, upon others, although he died in the first quarter of the century inwhich the first-named of this distinguished triad was born. All thesehad this birthright in common: they were Italians; and, moreover, itwas in Genoa, the reputed birthplace of Columbus, that Marco Polo'sadventures were first shaped into coherent narrative and given to theworld. 

These adventures have been stigmatized as romances; but surelynothing could be more romantic than the manner in which they came tobe published, finally, after existing many years in the crude form ofnotes and journals made by the traveller during his journeyings. Inthe year 1298, three years after he had returned from his wanderingsand settled down in Venice, Polo was called upon to assist in thedefence of Curzola, during the hostilities which existed between hisown republic and that of Genoa. To oppose the Genoese admiral, Doria, who had invaded their seas with seventy galleys, the Venetians fittedout a fleet under Andrea Dandolo, and a great battle was fought offthe island of Curzola. Marco Polo commanded a galley of his own, andfought with valor; but, in common with the commanders of more thaneighty Venetian vessels, he was defeated, the Genoese winning anoverwhelming victory. 

Taken as a prisoner to Genoa, he was cast into prison, where heremained immured for a year. That was the year in which his wonderfultravels were woven into a story, for the entertainment of the youngGenoese nobility, who, when they learned that the famous Marco Polowas a prisoner, flocked to his cell to see and converse with him. Yielding to their solicitations, he sent to Venice for his notes oftravel, and during the days of his captivity dictated an account ofhis experiences to a fellow-captive, one Rusticiano, of Pisa. 

The delighted young nobles devoured his wonderful story with avidity, and they could scarcely wait its unfolding from day to day, for it wasto them a veritable tale of the _Arabian Nights_. From the Italian, inwhich the traveller dictated his story, it was translated into Latinand French, and scattered over Europe for others to enjoy. Thus MarcoPolo acquired fame through the misfortune which befell him whenfighting for Venice, and long before printing was invented his namebecame almost a household word in Europe. As one who, thoughindirectly, stimulated by his Oriental researches the first greatventures into the Occident, Marco Polo deserves a monument, or, atleast, should not be omitted from a memorial group that contains suchfamous Italians as Columbus, Vespucci, Toscanelli, and Verrazano. Admittedly, he deserves a chapter in this biography, and we cannot dobetter, perhaps, than glance at his history. 

If Marco had been consulted in the choice of his immediate ancestry, he could not have done better than fortune served him in the person ofhis father, Nicolo Polo, who was a nobleman and a merchant of Venice. He was a traveller prior to the birth of his son, for just previous tothat event, which occurred nearly two hundred years before AmerigoVespucci was born, he and his brother set out for Constantinople. Thence they went into Armenia, and around the south coast of theCaspian Sea to Bokhara, where they met some Persian envoys who werebound for Cathay, or China, and who persuaded them to go along. 

At Peking, it is supposed, they met the great and powerful KublaiKhan, Emperor of the Mongols, and Tartars, who received them kindlyand at whose court they remained a year. They were the first Europeanshe had ever seen, and such was his interest in their stories ofstrange peoples and governments that he commissioned them as envoys tothe pope, giving them letters in which he expressed his desire thatEuropeans learned in the arts and sciences should be sent for theinstruction of his people. Then they were reluctantly dismissed, withgifts of gold and spices, and after many perilous adventures finallyreached their home in Venice. They had been gone almost ten years, andwhen Nicolo Polo first saw his son, on his return to Venice, Marco wasa youth at school, well advanced in his studies. 

Two years later, when Marco was about twelve, the three Polos set outon their return to Cathay, accompanied by two friars, who were"endowed with ample powers and privileges, the authority to ordainpriests and bishops, and to grant absolution in all cases, as fully asif the pope were personally present. " They took with them richpresents for the khan, including a bottle of precious oil from theholy sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was supposed to possess miraculousvirtues. The journey was commenced in or about the year 1271, but, owing to innumerable and vexatious delays on the way, the Polos didnot reach the court of the grand khan until the spring of 1275. Theywere more than three years in making the journey, but in spite ofdifficulties and dangers these remarkable men persisted until theobject of their travels was accomplished. The friars had becomealarmed at the prospect of peril to themselves, and early in theundertaking beat a retreat to Acre, so the three Venetians alonearrived at Chambalu, and delivered to the grand khan the letters andpresents from the pope. They were received with extreme cordiality bythe khan, who was especially pleased with young Marco, and acceptedthe presents with delight, the holy oil from Jerusalem beingreverently cherished. 

Marco was introduced to the khan by Nicolo, as "your majesty's servantand my son"; but had he been a son of the ruler himself he could nothave received greater honors than were bestowed upon him by theemperor. Having a natural aptitude for acquiring languages, he sooncould read and write four different dialects, and being possessed ofgreat intelligence and shrewdness withal, he was sent by the khan onimportant missions to various parts of his kingdom. He acquittedhimself so well on these embassies, some of which required his absencefrom the capital for many months, and he brought back such interestingaccounts of the people he met and their customs, that he wasconstantly employed. 

In this manner he acquired, during many years of service in highpositions, a most intimate acquaintance with the khan's dominions, andbecame immensely rich. His father and uncle shared wealth and honorswith him, for they likewise were congenially employed; but the timecame at last when their desire to revisit Venice became too strong toresist. They craved the khan's permission to depart; but when the oldmonarch heard their request he flew into a passion, declaring that hewould never allow them to go. They should remain with him and becomethe richest men in the world. 

Marco was sent off on another mission, this time by sea, and, discovering that there was direct communication between Cathay and theIndies, he entreated the khan to allow the Polos to go on a voyage, promising faithfully that they would return after a short stay withtheir friends in Venice. The old khan gave his consent reluctantly, overwhelming them with gifts at their departure, among other thingsgiving them a tablet of gold, on which were engraved his orders to allthe subjects in his vast dominions to provide guides, escorts, pilots--every convenience for their voyage and journey--without cost. He also authorized them to serve as his ambassadors to the pope andother European potentates, presented them with many precious stones, including rubies of great value, and money enough to defray theirexpenses for at least two years. From all this it will be seen thatthe grand khan was a very munificent prince, whose deeds must havemade a lasting impression upon the minds of the generation in which helived. 

Fourteen large vessels were contained in the fleet he furnished thePolos, for with them was embarked, with a train of ambassadors, anoble maiden of Cathay who was to become the bride of a "king of theIndies" known as Argon. The voyage was so protracted that the king haddied before she reached her destination, and whose bride she becamewas never known to the Polos, though they faithfully acquittedthemselves of their charge, and then continued on towards thefrontiers of Persia. Two years had been consumed in voyaging to Java, Sumatra, and along the coast of southern India. Three more elapsedbefore they finally reached their native city, in 1295, after anabsence of nearly twenty-five years. Nobody in Venice knew them then, except by name, for Niccolo and his brother were advanced in age, and Marco had grown from a boy to manhood, while in their dress andmanners they were more like Tartars than Venetians, and had almostcompletely lost their native speech. 

[Illustration: MARCO POLO]

Many of their former friends and relations were dead, and thesurvivors were at first inclined to denounce them as impostors, untilthe fertile imagination of Marco hit upon an expedient. They wereinvited to a magnificent banquet, at which the three Polos appearedarrayed in robes of crimson velvet, which, after their guests hadarrived, they threw off and gave to their attendants. Then, after thelast course was served, they produced from their queer Tartariangarments, which they ripped open for the purpose, precious gems by thehandful, and displayed them to the astonished guests as theircredentials. 

They were promptly received into the best Venetian society, Maffei, the uncle, being appointed a magistrate, and Niccolo, the father, espousing a beautiful young lady. Such Polos as still bear thename--if there are any--must have descended from the children born ofthis second marriage, for though Marco himself took a wife, severalyears later, he left no male children to inherit the vast wealth thatgave him the title, in Venice, of "Marco Millioni. "

It was about three years after his return to Venice that Marco fellinto the hands of the Genoese, and a little later that, as narrated, he wrote the story of his travels. His books abound in romanticadventures, and many, probably, that are fabulous; but that it stampeditself upon the times in which he lived and those of succeedinggenerations, has been shown already. Nearly two hundred years afterthe story was written, we find the Spaniards seeking the great islandof Cipango, of which the following is Marco Polo's description:

 "This is a very large island, fifteen hundred miles from the continent [of Asia]. The people are fair, handsome, and of agreeable manners. They are idolaters, and live quite separate from all other nations. Gold is very abundant, and no man being allowed to export it, while no merchant goes thence to the main-land, the people accumulate a vast amount. But I, Marco Polo, will give you a wonderful account of a very large palace all covered with that metal, as our churches are with lead. The pavements of its court, the halls, windows, and every other part, have it laid on two inches thick, so that the riches of this palace are incalculable. Here are also pearls, large and of equal value with the white, with many other precious stones. 

 "Kublai, on hearing of this amazing wealth, desired to conquer the island, and sent two of his barons with a very large fleet containing warriors, both horsemen and on foot. They sailed from Zaitun and Quinsai, reached the isle, landed, and took possession of the plain and of a number of houses; but they were unable to take any city or castle, when a sad misadventure occurred. A storm threatened and some of the troops were embarked; but about thirty thousand were left upon a small and barren island by the sailing of the ships. The sovereign and the people of the larger island rejoiced greatly when they saw the host thus scattered and many of them cast upon the islet. As soon as the sea calmed they assembled a great number of ships, sailed thither and landed, hoping to capture all those refugees. But when the latter saw that their enemies had disembarked, leaving the vessels unguarded, they skilfully retreated to another quarter and continued moving about till they reached the ships, when they went aboard without any opposition. They then sailed direct for the principal island, where they hoisted its own standards and ensigns. 

 "On seeing these, the people believed their own countrymen had returned, and allowed them to enter the city. Finding it defended only by old men, the Tartars soon drove them out, retaining the women as slaves. When the king and his warriors saw themselves thus deceived and their city captured, they were like to die of grief; but they assembled other ships, and invested it so closely as to prevent all communication. The Tartars maintained themselves thus seven months, and planned day and night how they might convey tidings to their master of their condition; but finding this impossible, they agreed with the besiegers to surrender, securing only their lives. This took place in the year 1269. 

 "The grand khan ordered one of the commanders of the host that had returned to lose his head, and the other to be sent to the isle where he had caused the loss of so many men, and there put to death. I have to relate, also, a very wonderful thing: that these two barons took a number of persons in a castle of Cipango, and because they had refused to surrender ordered all their heads to be cut off. But there were eight on whom they could not execute this sentence, because these wore consecrated stones in their arms, between the skin and the flesh, which so enchanted them that they could not die by steel. They were therefore beaten to death with clubs, and the stones, being extracted, were held very precious. But I must leave this matter and go on with the narrative. "

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The first printing-press in America was set up in Mexico in 1535, the first book printed on it was probably _La Escala de San JuanClimaco_, date 1536, and the first printer was Juan Pablos. The oldestexisting example of this first Mexican printing is said to be the_Manual de Adultos_, bearing date 1540. 

IV

IN THE SERVICE OF SPAIN

1490

Before we revert to the real hero of this biography, let us seek toidentify the various names we find in Marco Polo's book, and inToscanelli's letter to Columbus, with the objects to which they wereapplied. We will imagine ourselves with the first-named in far Cathay, with the second in his library at Florence, and with the third as hegropes his way along the shores of islands for the first time thenrevealed to European eyes. 

If Columbus had known--what we now know--that thousands of milesintervened between the places he was seeking and those to which hemisapplied their names, he would not have died in the belief that hehad discovered a new way to the Old World. To anticipate a little whatwill be revealed later in the unfolding of this story: it was AmerigoVespucci, and not Columbus, who first applied to this newly discoveredhemisphere the title _Mundus Novus_, or New World. However, we willnot discuss that question now, but merely remark that _Cathay_ wasidentical with northern China, while _Mangi_ was the southernterritory of that vast empire which, in Marco Polo's time, was inpossession of Kublai Khan. _Chambalu_, or Peking, was its capital, while the "most noble and vast city of _Quinsay_, " or Cansay, is theancient _King-sze_ connected with Peking by the grand canal. 

The large island of _Cipango_, or _Zipangu_, outlying upon the coastof Cathay, was probably Japan, or Formosa; though its golden-tiledtemples may never have been seen by the Polos, nor its red pearls havecome into their hands. Forty years after Columbus began his vainsearch, Pizarro found and plundered the gold-plated temples of Cuzco, which were as rich as any described by Marco Polo in his account ofCipango; and in the Bahamas archipelago, through which the Spaniardspassed in the voyage of 1492, precious pink pearls have beendiscovered in great numbers and of surpassing beauty. 

Vasco da Gama, in 1497, was to open the way by water to the vastOriental seas--to Calicut and Cathay--but until the last quarter ofthe fifteenth century the commerce of the eastern hemisphere dependedmainly upon transportation by land. "Voyages of much extent werealmost unknown, and the mariner confined himself to inland waters, orhovered along the shores of the great Western Ocean, without venturingout of sight of land. .. . The thriving republics of Italy were thecarriers of the world. For many centuries their citizens were almostthe only agents for commercial communication with the countries of theEast. Venice and Genoa maintained establishments on the farthestshores of the Mediterranean and Black seas. 

"Immense caravans crossed the deserts of Arabia and Egypt, theircamels laden with the costly fabrics of the Indies, which werereceived by the Italian traders from the hands of the Mahometans anddistributed over Europe. Here and there upon the deserts a greenoasis, with its bubbling spring or rippling rivulet, served thesemighty trains for a resting-place, where man and beast halted torecover from the fatigues of their weary journeys. Occasionally, onthese spots where the soil was of sufficient fertility to sustain apopulation, villages grew up. In rarer instances and in earlier ages, large cities had been built upon these stopping-places and were forthe time the centres of the traffic. .. . Travellers of the present dayoccasionally visit their sites, and tell wonderful tales of thegigantic ruins of some Baalbec or Palmyra of the wilderness. 

"It was not to be supposed that the shrewd spirit of mercantileenterprise and speculation would remain dormant in this state ofaffairs. Traders in every part of Europe were alive to the advantagesto be derived from the discovery of a new route of transportation. Several efforts were made, and in some cases attended with immenseprofit and success, to communicate with India by the long and arduousjourney round the Black Sea, and through the almost unexplored regionsof Circassia and Georgia. The far-off shores of the Caspian werereached by some travelling traders, and the geographical knowledgethey circulated on their return gave a new impulse to the growingspirit of adventure. Apocryphal as the narratives of Marco Polo andMandeville appeared, there was a sufficient mixture of truth withexaggeration to stimulate the minds of men, ever greedy of gain, andthe endless wealth of the grand khan and his people were the subjectsof many eager and longing anticipations. "[7]

The Polos were merely the forerunners, the pioneers, to the farCathay, and in the fourteenth century missionaries and merchantsfollowed on their trail with varying success. The death of Kublai Khanhad relieved them from their obligation to return; but soon after theyhad reached Venice, in 1295, a Franciscan monk, John of Monte Corvino, penetrated to Chambalu and established missions there. In the year1338 an ambassador arrived at Avignon from the then reigning Khan ofCathay, and in return John de Marignoli, a Florentine, was sent to thecourt at Chambalu, where he remained four years as legate of the holysee. Commercial travellers followed after them, and about 1340 aguide-book was written by another Florentine, Francesco Pelotti, whowas a clerk in the great trading-house of Bardi, or Berardi, withwhich, at a later date, Amerigo Vespucci was connected in Spain. 

"When the throne of the degenerate descendants of Ghengis Khan beganto totter to its fall, missions and merchants alike disappeared fromthe field. Islam, with all its jealousies and exclusiveness, hadrecovered its grasp over Central Asia. Night again descended upon thefarther East, covering Cathay, with those cities of which the oldtravellers had told such marvels, Chambalu and Cansay, Zaitun andChinkalan. And when the veil rose before the Portuguese and Spanishexplorers of the sixteenth century those names were heard of nomore. .. . 

"But for a long time all but a sagacious few continued to regardCathay as a region distinct from any of the new-found Indies; whilemap-makers, well on into the seventeenth century, continued torepresent it as a great country lying entirely to the north of Chinaand stretching to the Arctic Sea. It was Cathay, with its outlyingisland of Zipangu, that Columbus sought to reach by sailing westward, penetrated as he was by his intense conviction of the smallness of theearth and of the vast extension of Asia to the eastward. To the day ofhis death he was full of the imagination of the proximity of thedomain of the grand khan to the islands and coasts which he haddiscovered. And such imaginations are curiously embodied in some mapsof the early sixteenth century, which intermingle on the samecoast-line the new discoveries, from Labrador to Brazil, with theprovinces and rivers of Marco Polo's Cathay. "[8]

Having shown the state of European geographical knowledge in thefifteenth century, in the hope thereby of throwing light upon theconditions which surrounded Vespucci at the time, we will now followas closely as possible the career which was then opening before him. He was, as we have stated, keenly alive to what was taking place inthe world around him, and especially interested in geographicaldiscoveries. Although it is not likely that he had an abundance ofready money, having been so many years engaged in preparation for hisgreat pursuit, without immediate recompense of any sort, yet we learnfrom the records of his life that he was already making a collectionof all the charts, maps, and globes that he could find. He hadassembled the best works of the most distinguished projectors, and forone of the finest then available, "a map of sea and land, " made in1439 by one Gabriel de Valesca, he paid the large sum of one hundredand thirty ducats, equivalent to more than five hundred dollars at thepresent day. There was danger then, his parents and friends thought, of the abstruse and unprofitable science of cosmography absorbing himentirely; but, though he may have indulged in the hope of devoting hislife to the studies which had so enriched the mind of his friendToscanelli, he was rudely awakened from his day-dream by a familycatastrophe. 

Mention has been made of one of his brothers, Girolamo, who, about theyear 1480, left home and went to Asia Minor, including in his travelsa trip to Palestine. He finally established himself in one of theGrecian cities, and, being of a hopeful turn, sent for and obtainedthe greater portion of his father's money, with which he engaged intrade. All went well for a time, and the Vespuccis congratulatedthemselves upon having a son of the family finally embarked on thefull tide of commercial prosperity. 

Nine years went by, and nothing but good news came from the absentGirolamo; but one day, in 1489, disastrous tidings arrived. AFlorentine pilgrim, returning from a pious visit to the holy sepulchrein Jerusalem, brought Amerigo a letter from his brother. It was datedJuly 24th, and contained information to the effect that while Girolamowas attending religious services at a convent in his neighborhood hishouse was broken open and robbed. "At one fell swoop, " he wrote, hehad been deprived of all his earnings during those nine years of toil, besides the money his father had sent him, which represented theaccumulations of a lifetime. 

He did not explain how his entire capital was in cash at the time, when he was supposed to be in trade; but even if derelict, he was toofar away to be sought out and his story investigated, so the loss wasaccepted by the family as an indication that Providence was notinclined to smile upon the substitution of the eldest for the youngestson as a retriever of the Vespucci fortunes. All looked now towardsAmerigo to take up the distasteful business of money-making, for whichhe had been so long in training, but which hitherto he had sosuccessfully evaded. In sorrow, it is said, but without a murmur, heturned his back upon his maps, globes, books, and astrolabes and facedthe situation manfully. 

A position had long been open to him with the great trading-house ofLorenzo de Medici, who was own cousin to the world-famous Lorenzo theMagnificent, and he had only to apply in order to receive it. For theMedici well knew the value of men--good and faithful men--trained, asAmerigo was, in the diplomacy as well as the routine of commerciallife in that age. They needed just such a man as he in their foreignagency, and bidding farewell to his family he set sail from Leghornfor the Spanish city of Barcelona. 

The Iberian peninsula afforded at that time a most attractive fieldfor commercial as well as military adventure. The protracted wars withthe Moors, which had been carried on for generations, were drawing toa close, but they had taken thither many a man athirst for glory, andthe demand for supplies gave the merchants great opportunities forprofits. The commerce of that day was, as we have seen, mainly in thehands of Italian merchants, and as early as 1486 the Florentinetrader, Juan Berardi, obtained a safe conduct from Barcelona toSeville, where, a few years later, we find Amerigo busily engaged inoutfitting vessels for the Spanish voyages of discovery. 

It was in the year 1490, or 1491, that Amerigo Vespucci went to Spain, accompanied by his nephew Giovanni, and several other youngFlorentines, who were placed in his charge by their parents that theymight receive the benefit of his experience and the advantages offoreign travel. Giovanni, or Juan, was greatly attached to his uncle, and subsequently went with him on his voyages to America. Many yearslater the historian, Peter Martyr, wrote of him: "Young Vespucius isone to whom Americus, his uncle, left the exact knowledge of themariner's faculties, as it were by inheritance, after his death, forhe is a very expert master in the knowledge of the compass and theelevation of the pole star by the quadrant. He is my particularfriend, a witty young man in whose company I take great pleasure, andtherefore have him often for my guest. "

Whether Giovanni was associated with Amerigo in business is notexactly known, nor can we tell just when the latter removed fromBarcelona into southern Spain; but there is a letter extant, writtenat Cadiz in 1492, signed jointly by himself and a young Florentine, Donato Nicollini, as agents either of the Medici or the house ofBerardi. The following extract was copied by his biographer, Bandidi, from this manuscript in Amerigo's handwriting:

 "As it is necessary for one of us, either Amerigo or Donato, to proceed in a short time to Florence, we shall be able to give you better information on all points by word of mouth than can possibly be done by letter. As yet, it has been impossible to do anything respecting the freight of salt, for want of a vessel, as for some time past, we are sorry to say, no ship has arrived here which was not chartered. Be assured that if one arrives we shall be active for your interests. 

 "You will have learned from the elder Donato the good-fortune which has happened to his highness the king. Assuredly the most high God has given him His aid; but I cannot relate it in full. God preserve him many years--and us with him. 

 "There is nothing new to communicate. Christ preserve you. 

 "DONATO NICOLLINI. "AMERIGO VESPUCCI. 

 "We date this January 30, 1492. "

The last decade of the fifteenth century, which Amerigo was to passchiefly in Spain, has been termed by historians the most importantepoch in modern history. It was, admittedly, the most important forSpain, also for that country (then unknown) which her sailors were todiscover and explore, and which was to receive the name of theFlorentine merchant then living obscurely in Cadiz or Seville. 

"The foreign intercourse of the country, " says the renowned author of_Ferdinand and Isabella_, "was every day more widely extended. Heragents and consuls were to be found in all the ports of theMediterranean and the Baltic. The Spanish mariner, instead of creepingalong the beaten track of inland navigation, now struck boldly acrossthe great Western Ocean. The new discoveries had converted the landtrade with India into a sea trade, and the nations of the peninsula, which had hitherto lain remote from the great highways of commerce, now became the factors and carriers of Europe. 

"The flourishing condition of the nation was seen in the wealth andpopulation of its cities, the revenue of which, augmented in all to asurprising extent, had increased in some forty and even fifty foldbeyond what they were at the commencement of Ferdinand and Isabella'sreign: the ancient and lordly Toledo; Burgos, with its bustlingindustrious traders; Valladolid, sending forth thirty thousandwarriors from its gates; Cordova, in the south, and the magnificentGranada, naturalizing in Europe the arts and luxuries of the East;Saragossa, 'the abundant, ' as she was called from her fruitfulterritory; Valencia, 'the beautiful'; Barcelona, rivalling inindependence and maritime enterprise the proudest of the Italianrepublics; Medina del Campo, whose fairs were already the great martfor the commercial exchanges of the peninsula; and Seville, the goldengate of the Indies, whose quays began to be thronged with merchantsfrom the most distant countries of Europe. "

FOOTNOTES:

[7] _The Life and Voyages of Americus Vespucius_, by C. EdwardsLester, 1845. 

[8] Article, "China, " in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_. 

V

CONVERSATIONS WITH COLUMBUS

1492 OR 1493

While we cannot affirm that Christopher Columbus and Vespucci wereacquainted previous to the voyage which made America known to Europe, it is well established that Amerigo was in Spain when his favoredrival sailed from Palos, in August, 1492, and also when he returned, in March, 1493. In the very month of January, 1492, in which Vespucciwrote the letter quoted in the previous chapter, Columbus and theSpanish sovereigns signed the "capitulation" that set forth thedemands of the discoverer and the concessions of the king and queen. That paper was signed and sealed in the palace of the Alhambra, notfar distant from Cadiz, and still nearer to Seville, whither Vespucciremoved soon after. He may have been there when Columbus passedthrough the latter city on his way to Palos, Seville being in thedirect route between Granada and the Rio Tinto; but if he then saw andconversed with him there is no record of the fact. 

What must have been his feelings, though, when he learned of thetransaction between Columbus and the sovereigns? Columbus had gainedpermission to make--what he himself was far better equipped for--avoyage across the Sea of Darkness, to the islands that lay on theroute of Marco Polo's Cathay. And Columbus had merely correspondedwith his master, Toscanelli, at whose feet he, Vespucci, had sat, andduring days and hours discussed the problem that his rival was nowgoing forth to solve!

While Vespucci plodded, almost hopelessly, at Cadiz and Seville, Columbus pushed forward preparations for his voyage, and finally setsail. Did not Amerigo, then, send a sigh after him and his caravels, and think regretfully of his maps, his charts, globes, and nauticalinstruments lying dusty and disused in Florence? They were more to himthan anything else in the world. With their aid, and countenanced byroyal favor, _he_ might have been the fortunate one to adventure uponthe ocean, and seek the unknown regions which he was positive laythere veiled from human sight. But he was pledged to repair the familyfortune, he was committed to the interests of his employers, and evenif the suggestion of embarking on a voyage of discovery came to him hecould not entertain it for an instant. He could not then; but perhapsopportunity might yet offer, he thought, and so sent for his books, charts, and instruments, in order to perfect himself in cosmographyand nautical science. He became so proficient that some years after hewas appointed by King Ferdinand pilot-major of Spain, and even thecharts that Columbus made were brought to him for correction orverification. 

The months went by, spent by Columbus in "making history, " by Vespucciin lading ships for others to sail in, and in the intervals ofbusiness poring over his books and charts. At last, in the spring of1493, one day a courier came dashing into Seville with the news ofColumbus's return, by way of Portugal, a letter having arrived fromLisbon addressed to the sovereigns, and another for Santangel, secretary to the king. Then Vespucci knew his opportunity had takenflight, for the New World had been discovered, the glory belonged toColumbus!

Soon after the return of the voyagers to Palos, he may have seen thetriumphal procession led by Columbus to Barcelona, and probably hadspeech with him and with some of his sailors. He saw the six Indianswho had been made captive in the islands and were brought to Seville, for they remained there some time while Columbus was awaiting ordersfrom Barcelona. A letter from the sovereigns came at last, addressedto "Don Cristobal Colon, Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Viceroy of theIndies, " which probably Amerigo himself perused--with what a sickeningof heart may be imagined--for it contained a memorandum from thesovereigns referring to the equipment of a second expedition, and hisfirm received the contract. Vespucci was then connected with the houseof Berardi (having left the employ of the Medici), either ascontracting agent or partner. Whatever relation he stood in to thefirm, it was a most responsible one, for to him was committed thefurnishing of a large fleet without delay. 

It was about the last of March, or early in April, that Columbusdelivered to him the order from the king and queen, and then set outfor Barcelona overland. He arrived there duly, to be received withalmost royal honors, and meanwhile the house of Berardi, under theactive supervision of Vespucci, was busy with the preparation of thefleet. Ships were sought and chartered; caravels built, bought, andrepaired; munitions provided and crews of sailors assembled, whichVespucci was obliged to hold and keep together against the sailing ofthe squadron. 

And what was the personal appearance of these two great navigators, thus so strangely brought into business relations, and whose fame inafter times was to fill the world? Although there is no portraitexisting of Columbus which we can affirm to be authentic, still verbalportraits have been left by his contemporaries which convey to us theimpression that the "Admiral" was tall and stalwart, dignified inbearing, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and hair then silvery gray. 

Amerigo Vespucci was his exact opposite, in superficialcharacteristics, for he was under rather than above the middle height, "thick-set and brawny, " with a dark complexion, black hair mixed withgray, and flashing black eyes. An authentic portrait, painted at alater date, shows him with head nearly bald, encircled only by afringe of hair, prominent cheek-bones, aquiline nose, a firm, sweetmouth, and without the thick black beard he wore when he first metColumbus. His temper was mild, while that of Columbus was hasty, though firmly controlled, save on a few occasions when, tried beyondmeasure, it burst its bounds and swept away all opposition. But bothgreat men were courteous in speech, the dignified demeanor of Columbuscommanding admiration, while the modesty of Vespucci won thefriendship of all with whom he came in contact. 

The following dialogue between the two, or the purport of it, isthought to have taken place soon after the return of Columbus fromBarcelona, either at Cadiz or Seville. It was but natural that the twoshould meet, that they should exchange views and compare notes, for, while Columbus had made the great discovery--through having been thefirst to apply the theories of Toscanelli and the ancients--Vespuccihad for many years been thinking on the subject, and had enjoyed thefriendship of the physicist, whom both revered. Whether thisconversation is apocryphal or not, at least it embodies the divergentviews of the two, and does no violence to their sentiments, as can beshown by their writings. It is adapted from Lester's _AmericusVespucius_. 

Having with him, it is believed, the charts and books from which hededuced his theories, Vespucci probably invited Columbus to hislodgings, where the two spent many an hour in good-naturedcontroversy. Nearly twenty years had elapsed since the learned doctorsent the chart and letter to Columbus, and now the latter, with thelaurels of the great "discovery" on his brow, was to engage inargument with the person best acquainted with his life-work--who hadfollowed it from its very inception, and who was to enjoy its usufructforever. 

Let us try to imagine them within the walls of Vespucci'shouse--whether in golden Seville or crystal Cadiz cannot be told; butit is easy to find one like it to-day, for the architecture of neithercity has changed much since that time. The house is of stone, withthick white walls and roof of tiles. The rooms are large and dreary, but open on a court, or Moorish patio, around which they are ranged, and where a fountain tinkles merrily. The floor of Vespucci's room istiled and damp, the furniture is scanty, but in the centre of theapartment is a large and massive table, upon which are spread hischarts, while a globe--perhaps one of Behaim's, recentlyconstructed--stands in a corner. 

The arrival of the distinguished stranger at Vespucci's modestlodgings causes a flutter of excitement, not only in the household, but in the street, which is lined with gaping citizens, anxious to seethe new admiral, who has already taken on the dignities of hisstation, is costumed in velvet, wears a sword at his side, and isaccompanied by a retinue of hired retainers. Vespucci, on thecontrary, shows no ostentation in his garb, for he is but a man ofbusiness, and, entirely unconscious of any discrepancy in theirapparel, conducts his guest to the room where lie his treasures. 

To the credit of Columbus, it should be said, he sees in Vespucci onlythe man of science, the student, the cosmographer, and, with thegentle dignity inseparable from this man who had appeared beforekings and at courts, he compliments his host upon his collection. They are soon in earnest consultation, scanning the sea-charts, quoting authorities, advancing theories, becoming so absorbed as toignore the yawning hangers-on of the admiral's staff, who soon retire, one after another, leaving the two geographers alone. 

Finally, Columbus says, looking up from the chart upon which he hadbeen sketching the route of his voyage:

"It grieves me much, worthy Signor Vespucci, to learn from our friendthe Signor Berardi that you do not estimate as I do the result of ourrecent navigation to the west. With your well-known skill incosmography, I fear me, you combine more of doubt than would bebecoming to a Christian navigator. "

"Your excellency mistakes my views greatly, or has been misinformed ofthem, " replies Vespucci, courteously. "Far from undervaluing theeffect of the discoveries which your genius has accomplished, I am therather disposed to place a greater estimate upon them than does theAdmiral Colon himself. If I judged them in the light in which they areviewed by the most of those who hope to profit by them, then, indeed, the imputation would be just; but I look not to such things, and wellI know that your own mind is above them. "

"In that respect you only do me justice. If I look for gain in aughtthat I have undertaken, it is only that I may devote it to a holypurpose. Have I not, even within the last few days, recorded my solemnoath that I would, in the event of my prosperous arrival at the courtof the grand khan--whom, by the favor of God, I hope to convert to thetrue faith--employ the riches I shall acquire in the equipment of aforce of four thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, for the recoveryof the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels? I am unwillingto think that your speech tends to the end of imputing to me mercenarymotives; but wherein do we differ? Is not the way opened, and will notthe intercourse I mean to establish with the pagan monarch contributegreatly to the purpose I keep ever in view? The holy father at Romehimself lends me encouragement in my undertaking, and regards withapprobation my efforts to lead into the true Church so mighty apotentate. "

"With all the deference that is due to your excellency's superiorwisdom and experience, I would state that therein lies the very pointof our difference. I deem it by no means certain that your ships havetouched the territories of the grand khan at all, but rather land thathas hitherto been alike unknown to him and to us. Thousands of leaguesmay yet intervene between that land and his dominions, whether of seaor earth remains to be discovered; and I judge in this wise as wellfrom the accounts of cosmographers who have written on the subject, asfrom the description of the barbarous natives which you yourself havefallen in with in recent discoveries. 

"The accounts of those who have penetrated to distant regions of theEast lead us to understand that the subjects of the grand khan live inthe midst of the most profuse wealth and luxury, and bedeck themselveswith superfine garments, gold, and jewelry. These people, however, arewild and naked, little if any superior to the beasts, and cannot, Ithink, be in any wise connected with a monarch of such magnificence. My own thoughts carry me to the conviction that there exists near untothe lands you have visited an immense country, which may possiblybelong to and be part of the grand khan's dominions, though I doubt ifsuch be the case. Marco Polo himself speaks of an island lying far outin the ocean which washes the eastern shores of Asia--the greatCipango, abounding in riches and precious stones, which has never beensubdued by the sovereign of Cathay, although he has made attempts toconquer it. This island I deem it necessary to discover, in the firstplace; then, even after it is circumnavigated or passed over--and thelast may be the easier way--a voyage of long duration will still haveto be accomplished before the empire of Cathay is reached. When Ispeak of a passage over this unknown island, I do so in view of itsgreat extent, as I estimate it to be of such size that it might moreproperly be designated _Terra Firma_, [9] being, according to mycalculations, as large as, if not larger than, the whole of Europe. And herein do I estimate most highly the worth of the discoverieswhich your excellency has made, and their importance to this realm, asit will now be comparatively easy to pass the lands you have fallenin with by sailing either in a more northerly or a more southerlydirection, in either case striking the country I have in my mind. "

"Nay, nay, good Signor Vespucci. I have the confidence in my heartthat you are mistaken. I feel, indeed, persuaded, by the many andwonderful manifestations of divine Providence in my especial favor, that I am the chosen instrument of God in bringing to pass a greatevent: no less than the conversion of millions who are now existing inthe darkness of paganism. I would, indeed, provide for the good of thepoor natives we have already met, as well by building cities on theirislands and cultivating their lands, as by the erection of churchesand the establishment of Christian worship. But I would by no meansforget the greater end in view--namely, that of bringing to bear uponthe infidels the wealth and power of the vast kingdom of Cathay, thatthus being encompassed, by the armies from Europe on the one side, andby the innumerable hosts of Asia on the other, they may be utterlydestroyed, and the tomb of our Lord be again placed in the possessionof the true believers. .. . In these things I marvel much at yourincredulity, Signor Vespucci, seeing that you have often hadopportunities of conversing with the learned physicist Paolo, your owncountryman--peace to his ashes!--who in his lifetime so nearlycoincided with me in opinion. "

"I have, indeed, as your excellency observes, oftentimes disputed andargued with the venerable Toscanelli, and to him is due much of thelittle knowledge I have been able to acquire in cosmography andastronomy. But from him I also learned that the descriptions which aregiven by Marco Polo were considered by many wise men as not altogetherbeyond the reach of doubt. If, then, he is in error in someparticulars, how shall we draw the line, and say wherein he speaks thetruth of his own knowledge? And how could he know the distance whichexists between Cathay and the western shores of Europe, save byhearsay, and the reports of mariners on that unknown shore, whothemselves must have been falsifiers, as it is well known that not oneof them has ever appeared here who might have estimated the distance?I cannot, then, think that we are so near to Cathay as your excellencysupposes, and had much rather follow the opinion that you havepossibly approached the shore that has been hitherto represented asinaccessible to mortals. "

"You speak of the paradise, which so many sound and able divinesassert to be still in existence on earth. "

"I do, though not so firmly believing in the relation as they do. Ifthere be such a place existing, as described by the learned St. Basil, methinks it must be near unto those balmy isles which you havediscovered, so similar in climate and in verdancy. "

"Such, in sooth, has often been my opinion, and I deem it not to beinconsistent with the other, which holds to the proximity of Cathay. Oh, that I might, through the grace of God and intercession of thesaints, ever arrive at that blessed spot, where all is happiness andbeauty; where the harmonious songs of birds ever fall gratefully onthe ear; where the air is filled with the fragrance of flowers, and aperpetual spring, combining with its own beauties those of every otherseason of the year, continually prevails; where the limpid waters flowsmoothly and gently, or gush forth in purest fountains; where all issuggestive of perennial youth, and decay and death are unknown!

"But I perceive, Signor, that you are incredulous, as to this regionof bliss, and even smile at my belief. Remember, then, that herein Ionly follow the opinions of the wise and learned fathers of ourChurch, but that in regard to Cathay I am supported by ample proof, from the discoveries of travellers and the relations ofcosmographers. "

"I am ever willing to yield to proofs; but methinks that thefoundation of the error under which your excellency seems to labor isthis: that you do not make sufficient allowance for exaggeration inthe accounts of the great traveller Marco Polo. It appears to me thathe has deceived himself as to the extent to which he penetratedCathay, and that he has thereby carried out the eastern coast too farinto the ocean. That being so, the learned Paolo, my countryman, infollowing him, finds it necessary to shorten the extent of ocean whichintervenes between Cathay and Europe, in order to render accurate hisestimate of the circumference of the globe. "

"I note your objections, but cannot deem them correct, and yet hope todeliver the letters of my sovereigns, with which I was charged in myrecent voyage, to the grand khan in person. But let us examine thisquestion of longitude, for therein I am interested deeply, and havesmall doubt that I can turn you to my opinions. "

"Most gladly will I do so, most noble admiral, for I am strongly movedto tempt the ocean myself, in the hope of adding something to theknowledge of mariners. "

Within four or five years from the conjectural date of this dialogue, Vespucci made his first voyage, and saw for himself some of those"isles of paradise" which had so charmed Columbus. This was either inthe year 1497 or 1499, depending upon whether we accept his ownstatement or the opinion of those who have challenged the authenticityof his narrative. 

FOOTNOTES:

[9] In this sense, the main-land, or continent, as opposed to islands, the Latin form, _terra_, is almost invariably used by the Spaniards, instead of _tierra_. 

VI

VESPUCCI'S DEBATABLE VOYAGE

1497-1498

It has been said that the house of Berardi, with which Vespucci wasconnected as a partner, outfitted the large fleet for the secondvoyage of Columbus in 1493; but this is true only in the sense that itserved the crown in the capacity of sub-contractor. The real head ofIndian affairs was the archdeacon of Seville, Juan Rodriguez deFonseca, who first rose to prominence at this time as generalsuperintendent of all the New-World business, and for thirty yearscontrolled the same. Invested by King Ferdinand with great, almostunlimited, power, he has the credit of having founded the royal Indiahouse, which was of such importance in the colonizing of newterritory, and by the favor of which alone any voyage of discoverycould be projected and carried to a successful conclusion. 

Fonseca has been held up to obloquy by the admirable eulogist ofColumbus, Mr. Irving, "as a warning example of those perfidious beingsin office, who too often lie like worms at the root of honorableenterprise, blighting by their unseen influence the fruits of gloriousaction and disappointing the hopes of nations. " This denunciation heincurred by thwarting the schemes of Columbus, in their minor detailsat first, afterwards becoming his open and determined enemy. The firstinstance in which the two great men fell out occurred when Fonsecaopposed the pretensions of Columbus and attempted to check hisextravagance in the matter of personal retinue. Among otherrequisitions which Columbus sent in, those for ten footmen and twentymenials for his domestic establishment were objected to by thesuperintendent as superfluous. 

In connection with the treasurer, Francisco Pinelo, and the_contador_, Juan de Soria, Fonseca used his utmost efforts to raisethe necessary funds for the expedition, to provide for the vastexpenses of which, says Mr. Irving himself, "the royal revenue arisingfrom two-thirds of the Church tithes was placed at the disposition ofPinelo; and other funds were drawn from a disgraceful source--fromthe jewels and other valuables, the sequestrated property of theunfortunate Jews, banished from the kingdom according to a bigotededict of the previous year. As these sources were still inadequate, Pinelo was authorized to supply the deficiency by a loan. Requisitionswere likewise made for provisions of all kinds, as well as forartillery, powder, muskets, lances, corselets, and crossbows. .. . Themilitary stores which had accumulated during the war with the Moors ofGranada furnished a great part of these supplies. "

Having great difficulty, therefore, in meeting the really needfuldemands of the expedition, it was quite natural that Fonseca shoulddesire to cut down those he deemed extravagant, and it must beadmitted that among these he might rightfully class the requisitionsof Columbus intended merely to support his newly acquired dignity asadmiral and grandee. He was supported by the sovereigns, however, andFonseca was rebuked for denying him anything he desired. He wasreminded that the expedition was intended solely to extend the powerand prestige of the crown, and that but for Columbus it would neverhave been assembled, hence he was to study his wishes and comply withhis demands. This implied reproof cut the haughty prelate to theheart, and from these trivial differences, remarks Mr. Irving, "wemust date the rise of that singular hostility which he ever afterwardsmanifested towards Columbus, which every year increased in rancor, andwhich he gratified in the most invidious manner by secretlymultiplying impediments and vexations in his path. "

But for the fact that this enmity existing between Fonseca andColumbus made possible the first voyage of Amerigo Vespucci, we shouldnot feel called upon to more than mention the first named inconnection with an expedition in which all three were so deeplyinterested. The fleet finally sailed away, pursued by the maledictionsof Fonseca, and followed by the heart-felt longings of Vespucci. Somehistorians have stated that the Florentine sailed with Columbus onthis second voyage; but there are no records to prove this assertion, and he himself never made the claim. We have every reason forbelieving that he continued in his employment as purveyor to the crownand contractor for the furnishing of fleets, with his residencesometimes at Seville and sometimes at Cadiz, as occasion demanded, theoffice of the India house being at the former city, and the port ofcustoms and sailing at the latter. He was, undoubtedly, brought intomore or less intimate contact with Fonseca, whose supervision ofcolonial affairs and control of expeditionary fleets demanded hisconstant attention for many years. He probably appreciated such a manas Vespucci, whose even temper and mastery of detail, combined withgreat sagacity and learning, were invaluable to the man who wasbuilding up a government beyond the ocean. They were nearly of thesame age--Fonseca having been born in 1441--and at this time in thefulness of their natural powers. 

Just what Vespucci was doing in the two years succeeding to thedeparture of Columbus is not definitely known; but in December, 1495, we find him actively engaged in settling the estate of Juan Berardi, who had died in that month and year. He was then, it appears, the mostinfluential if not the sole member of the firm then resident in Spain, and after Berardi's death he undertook and carried out the contractsentered into by the senior partner with the government. 

About three hundred years after the death of Vespucci, some ancientdocuments were discovered by a Spanish historian, in which it wasshown that on January 12, 1496, the royal treasurer, Pinelo, had paidto Vespucci the sum of ten thousand maravedis on account. He advancedpay and furnished subsistence for the mariners of an expedition whichsailed on February 3, 1496, and was wrecked two weeks later, with theloss of several lives. The fragmentary records also show, apparently, that in the year 1497 and the early part of 1498, Vespucci was "busilyengaged at Seville and San Lucar, in the equipment of the fleet withwhich Columbus sailed on his third voyage"; and yet, according to aletter which he wrote a former friend in 1504, he was himself upon theocean at that very time, seeking to rival Columbus in the discovery ofa continent!

The exact truth may never be learned as to this reputed voyage ofVespucci, which he calls his "first, " and which his enemies say wasnever made! It seems incredible that he should be the "sole authority"for this voyage, and that all contemporary history "is absolutelysilent in regard to it"; yet, so far as we can ascertain, it is thetruth. Leaving for future discussion, however, the proof and disproofof this voyage--merely pausing to remark that at the period mentioneda man holding his relations to Fonseca would have had no difficulty inobtaining permission to make such a voyage, even without the sanctionof royal authority--we will now peruse the famous letter. It isaddressed to "Piero Soderini, Perpetual Gonfaloniere of the Republicof Florence, " and was written in 1504. 

 "MOST EXCELLENT SIR, -- . .. The principal reason why I am induced to write is the request of the bearer, Benvenuto Benvenuti, the devoted servant of your Excellency and my particular friend. He happened to be here in this city of Lisbon, and requested that I would impart to your Excellency a description of the things seen by me in various climes, in the course of four voyages which I have made for the discovery of new lands, two by the authority and command of Don Ferdinand, King of Castile, in the great Western Ocean, and the other two by order of Dom Manuel, King of Portugal, towards the south. So I resolved to write, as requested, and set about the performance of my task, because I am certain that your Excellency counts me among the number of your most devoted servants, remembering that in the time of our youth, we were friends, going daily to study the rudiments of grammar, under the excellent instruction of the venerable brother of St. Mark, Friar Georgio Antonio Vespucci, my uncle, whose counsels would to God I had followed! for then, as Petrarch says, I should have been a different man from what I am. 

 " . .. Your Excellency will please to observe that I came into the kingdom of Spain for the purpose of engaging in mercantile affairs, and that I continued to be thus employed about four years [six or seven], during which I saw and experienced the fickle movements of fortune, and how she ordered the changes of these transitory and perishing worldly goods, at one time sustaining a man at the top of the wheel, and at another returning him to the lowest part thereof, and depriving him of her favors, which may truly be said to be lent. Thus having experienced the continual labor of one who would acquire her favors, subjecting myself to very many inconveniences and dangers, I concluded to abandon mercantile affairs and direct my attention to something more laudable and stable. For this purpose I prepared myself to visit various parts of the world, and see the wonderful things which might be found therein. Time and place were very opportunely offered me when I came to this conclusion. 

 "King Ferdinand of Castile had ordered four ships to go in search of new lands, and I was selected by his highness to go in that fleet, in order to assist in the discoveries. We sailed from the port of Cadiz on the 10th of May, A. D. 1497, and steering our course through the great Western Ocean, spent eighteen months in our expedition, discovering much land and a great number of islands, the largest part of which were inhabited. As these are not spoken of by the ancient writers, I presume they were ignorant of them. If I am not mistaken, I well remember to have read in one of their books, which I possessed, that this ocean was considered unpeopled. In this voyage I saw many astonishing things, as your Excellency will perceive by the following relation. 

 "We had sailed so rapidly that at the end of twenty-seven days we came in sight of land, which we judged to be a continent, being about a thousand leagues west of the Fortunate Islands, now called the Grand Canaries. Here we anchored our ships at a league and a half from the shore, and, having cast off our boats and filled them with men and arms, proceeded to land. Before we landed we were much cheered by the sight of many people rambling along the shore. We found that they were all in a state of nudity, and they appeared to be afraid of us, as I suppose from seeing us clothed and of a different stature from themselves. They retreated to a mountain, and, notwithstanding all the signs of peace and friendship we could make, we could not bring them to parley with us; so, as the night was coming on and the ships were anchored in an insecure place, we agreed to leave there and go in search of some port or bay where we could place our ships in safety. 

 "We sailed two days along the coast, and on the morning of the third day, as dawn appeared, we saw on shore a great number of men, with their wives and children, all laden with provisions. Before we reached the land many of them swam to meet us, the distance of a bow-shot into the sea (as they are most excellent swimmers), and they treated us with as much confidence as if we had had intercourse with them for a long time, which gratified us much. All that we know of their life and manners is that they go entirely naked, not having the slightest covering whatever; they are of middling stature and very well proportioned, and their flesh is a reddish color, like the skin of a lion; but I think if they had been accustomed to wear clothing they would have been as white as we are. They have no hair on the body, except very long hair on the head; but the women especially derive attractiveness from this. Their countenances are not handsome, as they have large faces, which might be compared with those of the Tartars. Both men and women are very agile, easy in their carriage, and swift in running or walking, so that the women think nothing of speeding a league or two, as we have many a time beheld. 

 "Their weapons are bows and arrows beautifully wrought, but unfurnished with iron or any other hard metal, in place of which they make use of the teeth of animals, or fish, or sometimes a slip of hard-wood, made harder at the point by fire. They are sure marksmen, who hit whatever they wish, and in some parts the women also use the bow with dexterity. They have other arms, such as lances and staves, with heads finely wrought. When they make war they take their wives with them--not to fight, but to carry provisions on their backs, a woman frequently carrying a burden in this manner for thirty or forty leagues, which the strongest man among them could not do, as we have witnessed many times. 

 "These people have no captains, neither do they march in order, but each one is his own master. The cause of their wars is not a love of conquest, or of enlarging their boundaries, neither are they incited to engage in them by inordinate covetousness [unlike the Spaniards], but from ancient enmity which has existed among them in times past; and having been asked why they made war, they could give us no other reason than that they did it to avenge the deaths of their ancestors. Neither have these people kings or lords, nor do they obey any one, but live in their own entire liberty; and the manner in which they are incited to go to war is this: when their enemies have killed or taken prisoners any of their people, the oldest relative rises and goes about proclaiming his wrongs aloud, and calling upon them to go with him to avenge the death of his relation. Thereupon they are moved with sympathy and make ready for the fight. 

 "They have no tribunals of justice, neither do they punish malefactors; and what is still more astonishing, neither father nor mother chastises the children when they do wrong; yet, astounding as it may seem, there is no strife between them; or, to say the least, we never saw any. They appear simple in speech, but in reality are very shrewd and cunning in any matter which interests them. They speak but little, and that little in a low tone of voice, using the same accentuation that we use, and forming the words with the palate, teeth, and lips; but they have a different mode of diction. There is a great diversity of language among them, inasmuch as every hundred leagues or so we found people who could not understand one another. Their mode of life is most barbarous; they do not eat at regular intervals; but it is a matter of indifference to them whether appetite comes at midnight or at mid-day, and they eat upon the ground at all hours, without napkin or table-cloth, having their food in earthen basins, which they manufacture, or in half-gourd shells or calabashes. They sleep in nets of cotton, very large and suspended in the air; and although this may seem a very bad way of sleeping, I can vouch for the fact that it is extremely pleasant, and one sleeps better thus than on a mattress. They are neat and clean in their persons, which is a natural consequence of their perpetual bathing; but some of their habits are unmentionable. .. . 

 " . .. We are not aware that these people have any laws. Neither are they like Moors or Jews, but worse than Gentiles or Pagans, because we have never seen them offer any sacrifice, and they have no houses of prayer. From their voluptuous manner of life, I consider them as Epicureans. Their dwellings are in communities and their houses are in the form of huts, but strongly built of large tree-trunks and covered with palm leaves, secure from winds and storms. In some places they are of such great length that in a single house we saw six hundred people, and we found that the population of thirteen houses only amounted to four thousand. They change their location every seven or eight years, and on being asked why they did so they said it was on account of the intense heat of the sun upon the soil, which by that time became infected and corrupted, and caused pains in their bodies, which seemed to us reasonable. 

 "The riches of these people consist in birds' feathers of beautiful colors, of beads, which they fabricate from fish-bones or colored stones, with which they decorate their cheeks, lips, and ears, and of many other things which are held in little or no esteem by us. They carry on no commerce, neither buying nor selling, and, in short, live contentedly with what nature gives them. The riches which we esteem so highly in Europe and other parts--such as gold, jewels, pearls, and other wealth--they have no regard for at all. They are liberal in giving, never denying one anything, and, on the other hand, are just as free in asking. .. . 

 "In case of death they make use of various funeral obsequies. Some bury their dead with water and provisions placed at their heads, thinking they may have occasion to eat and drink, but they make no parade in the way of funeral ceremonies. In some places they have a most barbarous mode of interment, which is thus: When one is sick or infirm, and nearly at the point of death, his relatives carry him into a large forest, and there attaching one of their sleeping-hammocks to two trees, they place the sick person in it, and continue to swing him about for a whole day, and when night comes, after placing at his head water and provisions sufficient to sustain him for five or six days, they return to their village. If the sick person can help himself to eat and drink, and recovers sufficiently to be able to return to the village, his people receive him again with great ceremony; but few are they who escape this mode of treatment, as most of them die without being visited, and that is their only burial. 

 "They use in their diseases various kinds of medicines, so different from any in vogue with us that we are astonished that any escaped. I often saw, for instance, that when a person was sick with a fever, which was increasing upon him, they bathed him from head to foot with cold water, and making a great fire around him, they made him turn round in a circle for about an hour or two, until they fatigued him and left him to sleep. Many were cured in this way. They also observe a strict diet, eating nothing for three or four days. They practise blood-letting; not on the arm, unless in the arm-pit, but generally taking it from the thighs and haunches. Their blood or phlegm is much disordered on account of their food, which consists mainly of the roots of herbs, of fruit, and fish. They have no wheat or other grain, but instead make use of the root of a tree [shrub] from which they manufacture flour, which is very good and called _huca_ [yucca]; the flour from another root is called _kazabi_, and from another _igname_. 

 "They eat little meat except human flesh, and you will notice that in this particular they are more savage than beasts, because all their enemies who are killed or taken prisoners, whether male or female, are devoured with so much fierceness that it seems disgusting to relate, much more to see it done, as I, with my own eyes, have many times witnessed this proof of their inhumanity. Indeed, they marvelled much to hear us say that we did not eat our enemies. 

 "And your Excellency may rest assured that their other barbarous customs are so numerous that it is impossible herein to describe them all. As in these voyages I have witnessed so many things at variance with our own customs, I prepared myself to write a collection, which I call _The Four Voyages_, in which I have related the major part of the things I saw as clearly as my feeble capacity would permit. This work is not yet published, though many advise me to publish it. In it everything will appear minutely, therefore I shall not enlarge any more in this letter, because in the course of it we shall see many things which are peculiar. Let this suffice for matters in general. 

 "In this commencement of discoveries we did not see anything of much profit in the country, owing as I think to our ignorance of the language, except some few indications of gold. We concluded to leave this place and go onward, and coasted along the shore, making many stops, and holding discourses with many people, until after some days we came into a harbor, where we fell into a very great danger, from which it pleased the Holy Spirit to deliver us. It happened in this manner: We landed in a port where we found a village built over the water, like Venice. There were about forty-four houses, shaped like bells, built upon very large piles, having entrances by means of draw-bridges, so that by laying the bridges from house to house the inhabitants could pass through the whole. 

 "When the people saw us they appeared to be afraid of us, and, to protect themselves, suddenly raised all their bridges and shut themselves up in their houses. While we were looking at them and wondering at this proceeding, we saw, coming in from the sea, about two and twenty canoes, which are the boats they make use of, and are carved out of a single tree. They came directly towards our boats, appearing to be astonished at our figures and dress, and keeping at a little distance from us. This being the case, we made signals of friendship to induce them to approach, endeavoring to reassure them by every token of kindness; but seeing that they did not come we went towards them. They would not wait for us, however, but fled to the land, making signs to us to wait, and giving us to understand that they would return. They fled to a mountain, but did not tarry long there, and when they returned brought with them sixteen of their young maidens, and entering into their canoes came near and put four of them into each boat, at which we were very much astonished, as your Excellency may well imagine. Then they mingled with their canoes among our boats, and we considered their coming to us in this manner to be a token of friendship. Taking this for granted, we saw a great crowd of people swimming towards us from the houses without any suspicion. At this juncture some old women showed themselves at the doorways of the huts, wailing and tearing their hair, as if in great distress. From this we began to be suspicious, and had recourse to our weapons, when suddenly the young girls, who were in our boats, threw themselves into the sea, and the canoes at the same time moved away, the people in them assailing us with their bows and arrows. 

 "Those who came swimming towards us brought each a lance, concealed as much as possible under the water, and their treachery being thus discovered, we began not only to defend ourselves, but to act severely on the defensive. We overturned many of the canoes with our boats, and making considerable slaughter among them they soon abandoned the canoes altogether and swam for the shore. Fifteen or twenty were killed, and many wounded, on their side, while on ours five were slightly wounded, all the rest escaping by divine Providence, and these five being quickly cured. We took prisoners two of their girls and three men, and on entering their huts found one sick man and two old women. Returning to our boats and thence to the ships, with the five prisoners, we put irons upon the feet of each, excepting the two young females; yet when night came the two girls and one of the men escaped, in the most artful manner in the world. 

 "The next day we concluded to depart from this port, and at length came to anchor at about eighty leagues distance, and found another tribe of people whose customs and language were very different from those we had last seen. We determined to land, seeing there a great multitude numbering about four thousand. They did not wait to receive us, but fled precipitately to the woods, abandoning all their things. We leaped ashore, and taking the path which led to the wood, found their tents within the space of a bow-shot, where they had made a great fire and two of them were cooking their food, roasting many animals of various kinds. 

 "We noticed that they were roasting a certain animal that looked like a serpent; it had no wings, and was so disgusting in appearance that we were astonished at its deformity. As we went through their huts or tents, we found many of these serpents alive. Their feet were tied, and they had a cord about their snouts so that they could not open their mouths, as dogs are sometimes muzzled so they may not bite. These animals had such a savage appearance that none of us durst turn one over, thinking they might be poisonous. [10] They are about the size of a kid, about the length and a half of a man's arm, and have long, coarse feet armed with large nails. Their skin is hard, and they are of various colors. They have the snout and face of a serpent, and from the nose there runs a crest, passing over the middle of the back to the root of the tail. We finally concluded that they were serpents, and poisonous; yet, nevertheless, they were eaten by the natives. 

 " . .. Finally these people became very friendly, told us that this was not their place of dwelling, but that they had come there only to carry on their fishery. They importuned us so much to go to their village that, having taken counsel, twenty-three of us Christians concluded to go with them, well prepared, and with firm resolution to die manfully if such was to be our fate. Three leagues from the coast we arrived at a well-peopled village, where we were received with so many and such barbarous ceremonies that no pen is equal to the task of describing them. There was dancing and singing, weeping mingled with rejoicing, and great feasting. After having passed the night and half of the next day, an immense number of people visiting us from motives of curiosity, we determined to proceed still farther inland, having been desired to visit other villages. And it is impossible to tell how much honor they did us there. We visited so many villages that we spent nine days in the journey. On our return we were accompanied by a wonderful number of both sexes, quite to the sea-shore; and when any of us grew weary with walking, they carried us in their hammocks, much at our ease. Many of them were laden with the presents they made us, consisting of very rich plumage, many bows and arrows, and an infinite variety of parrots, beautiful and varied in colors. Others carried loads of provisions and animals. For a greater wonder, I will tell your Excellency that when we had to cross a river they carried us on their backs. 

 "Having arrived at the sea and entered the boats, which had come ashore for us, we are astonished at the crowd which endeavored to get into the boats to go to see our ships, for they were so overloaded that they were ofttimes on the point of sinking. We carried as many as we could on board, and so many more came by swimming that we were quite troubled at the multitude, although they were all naked and unarmed. They marvelled greatly at the size of our ships, our equipments, and implements. Here quite a laughable occurrence took place, at their expense. We concluded to try the effect of discharging some of our artillery, and when they heard the thunderous report the greater part of them jumped into the sea from fright, acting like frogs sitting on a bank, who plunge into the water on the approach of anything that alarms them. Those who remained on the ship were so timorous that we repented of having done this. However, we reassured them by telling them that these were our arms, with which we killed our enemies. After they had amused themselves on the ship all day, we told them that they must go, as we wished to depart in the night; so they took leave of us with many demonstrations of friendship, even affection, and went ashore. 

 "I saw more of the manners and customs of these people while in their country than I care to dwell on here. Your Excellency will notice that in each of my voyages I have noted the most extraordinary things which have occurred, and have compiled the whole into one volume, in the style of a geography, and entitled it _The Four Voyages_. In this work will be found a minute description of the things which I saw; but, as there is no copy of it yet published, owing to my being obliged to examine it carefully and make corrections, it becomes necessary for me to impart them to you herein. 

 "This country is full of inhabitants and contains a great many rivers. Very few of the animals are similar to ours, excepting the lions, panthers, stags, hogs, goats, and deer, and even these are a little different in form. They have neither horses, mules, nor asses; neither cows, dogs, nor any kind of domestic animals. Their other animals, however, are so very numerous that it is impossible to count them, and all of them so wild that they cannot be employed for serviceable uses. But what shall I say of the birds, which are so numerous and of so many species and varieties of plumage that it is astounding to behold them? The country is pleasant and fruitful, full of woods and forests which are always green, as they never lose their foliage. The fruits are numberless and totally different from ours. The land lies within the torrid zone, under the parallel which describes the Tropic of Cancer, where the pole is elevated twenty-three degrees above the horizon. 

 "A great many people came to see us and were astonished at our features and the whiteness of our skins. They asked us where we came from, and we gave them to understand that we came from heaven, with the view of visiting the world, and they believed us. In this country we established a baptismal font, and great numbers were baptized. They called us, in their language, _Carabi_, which means men of great wisdom. The natives call this province _Lariab_. We left the port and sailed along the coast, in sight of land, until we had run, calculating our advances and retrogressions, eight hundred and seventy leagues towards the northwest, making many stops by the way and having intercourse with many people. In some places we found traces of gold, but in small quantities, it being sufficient for us to have discovered the country and to know that there was gold in it. 

 "We had now been thirteen months on the voyage, and the ships and rigging were much worn, the men very weary. So by common consent we agreed to careen our ships on the beach in order to calk and pitch them anew, as they leaked badly, and then to return to Spain. When we took this resolution we were near one of the best harbors in the world, entering which we found a vast number of people, who received us most kindly. We made a breastwork on shore with our boats and casks, and placed our artillery so it would play over them; then, having unloaded and lightened our ships, we hauled them to land and repaired them wherever they needed it. The natives were of great assistance to us, continually providing food, so that in this port we consumed very little of our own. This served us a very good turn, for our provisions were poor and the stock so much reduced at this time that we feared it would hardly last us on our return to Spain. 

 "Having stayed here thirty-seven days, visiting their villages many times, where they paid us the highest honors, we wished to depart on our voyage. Before we set sail the natives complained to us that at certain times in the year there came from the sea into their territory a very cruel tribe, who, either by treachery or force, killed many of them and captured others, whom they ate, for they were man-eaters. They signified to us that this tribe were islanders, and lived at about one hundred leagues distance at sea. They narrated this to us with so much simplicity and feeling that we credited their story and promised to avenge their great injuries; whereat they were rejoiced, and many offered to go with us. We did not wish to take them for many reasons, and only carried seven, on the condition that they should come back in their own canoes, for we could not enter into obligations to return them to their own country. With this they were content, and then we parted from these gentle people, leaving them very well disposed towards us. 

 "Our ships having been repaired, we set sail on our return, taking a northeasterly course, and at the end of seven days fell in with some islands. There were a great many of them, some peopled, others uninhabited. We landed at one of them, where we saw many people, who called the island _Iti_. Having filled our boats with good men, and put three rounds of shot in each boat, we proceeded towards the land, where we saw about four hundred men and many women, all naked, like those we had seen before. They were of good stature and appeared to be very warlike men, being armed with bows and arrows and lances. The greater part of them carried staves of a square form, attached to their persons in such a manner that they were not prevented from drawing the bow. As we approached within bow-shot of the shore, they all leaped into the water and shot their arrows at us to prevent our landing. They were painted with various colors and plumed with feathers, and the interpreters with us said that when they were thus painted and plumed they showed a wish to fight. They persisted so much in their endeavors to deter us from landing that we were at last compelled to fire on them with our artillery. Hearing the thunder of our cannon and seeing some of their people fall dead, they all retreated to the shore. Having consulted together, forty of us resolved to leap ashore and, if they waited for us, to fight them. Proceeding thus, they attacked us and we fought about two hours, with little advantage, except that our bow-men and gunners killed some of their people and they wounded some of ours. This was because we could not get a chance to use lance or sword. We finally, by desperate exertion, were enabled to flash our swords, and as soon as they had a taste of our weapons they fled to the woods and mountains, leaving us masters of the field, with many of their people killed or wounded. This day we did not pursue them, because we were much fatigued, but returned to our ships, the seven men who had come with us being highly rejoiced. 

 "The next day we saw a great number of people coming through the country, still offering us signs of battle, sounding horns and shells, and all painted and plumed, which gave them a strange and ferocious appearance. [11] Whereupon all in the ships held a grand council, and it was determined that, since these people were determined to be at enmity with us, we should go to meet them and do everything to engage their friendship; but in case they would not receive it, resolved to treat them as enemies and to make slaves of all we could capture. Having armed ourselves in the best manner possible, we immediately rowed ashore, where they did not resist our landing, from fear, as I think, of our bombardment. We disembarked in four squares, being fifty-seven men, each captain with his own men, and then engaged them in battle. After a protracted fight, having killed many, we put them to flight and pursued them to their village, taking about two hundred and fifty prisoners. We then burned the village and returned victorious to the ships with our prisoners, leaving many killed and wounded on their side, while on ours only one died and not more than twenty-two were wounded. The rest all escaped unhurt, for which God be thanked!

 "We soon arranged for our departure, and the seven men, of whom five were wounded, took a canoe from the island and, with three male and four female prisoners that we gave them, returned to their own country, very merry and greatly astonished at our power. We also set sail for Spain, with two hundred and twenty-three prisoners, and arrived at the port of Cadiz on October 15, 1498, where we were well received and found a market for our slaves. This is what happened to me on this, my first voyage, that may be considered worth relating. "

FOOTNOTES:

[10] These "serpents" were iguanas, and were seen and described byChristopher and Bartholomew Columbus, long before Vespucci made hisvoyages. 

[11] The fierce islanders, so accurately described by Vespucci, weredoubtless the Caribs, and the numerous islands were probably Grenadaand the Grenadines, perhaps including St. Vincent, in the north, wheredescendants of those Caribs live to-day. 

VII

VESPUCCI'S "SECOND" VOYAGE

1499-1500

That letter from Vespucci to the friend of his youth, Soderini, purporting to narrate the events of his first voyage, has proved aprolific source of doubt and perplexity. Although it was writtenbefore Columbus died, and although it was published while most of theactors therein mentioned were yet living, its authenticity wasunchallenged until nearly a century after its appearance. Herrera, itis believed, was the first to accuse Vespucci of "artfully andwilfully falsifying in his narrative, with a view to stealing fromColumbus the honor of being the discoverer of America. " This chargewas made public in his work on the West Indies, published in 1601, andever since Vespucci has been stigmatized as an impostor. 

There is no official record of the voyage he claimed to have made in1497-1498, and historians are silent as to his actions, in fact, during the period between 1496 and 1504. This signifies little, according to the historian Gomara, who says: "Learning that theterritories which Columbus had discovered were very extensive, manypersons proceeded to continue the exploration of them. Some went attheir own expense, others at that of the king, all thinking to enrichthemselves, to acquire honor, and to gain the royal approbation. But, as most of these persons did nothing but discover, memorials of themall have not come to my knowledge, especially of those who went in thedirection of Paria, from the year 1495 to the year 1500. "

Some writers have sought to "establish an alibi" by showing thatVespucci was in Spain throughout the period which, he says, was passedby him at sea, on this "first" voyage; but they have not beensuccessful in doing so. Some, again, have declared that the narrativeof the "four" voyages, beginning in May, 1497, was made up of that onwhich Vespucci certainly sailed with Ojeda, in May, 1499. "The pointsof resemblance"--as the reader may see for himself--"are so many andso striking as to seem not only conclusive, but to preclude any othertheory, " says Alexander Humboldt, who, in his _Examen Critique_, madean exhaustive research into the Vespucci letters. Humboldt completelyvindicated the character of Vespucci, leaving no shade of doubt uponhis integrity, but he did not unravel the mystery. 

How happens it that Vespucci could make a voyage of which no recordexists or was ever known to exist? Why did he not mention the names ofthe fleet's commander? Why do his descriptions of scenery and peopleso closely resemble those of scenery and people seen on the secondvoyage? He alludes several times to his forthcoming book, _The FourVoyages_ (_Quattro Giornate_); but no trace has ever been found ofthat book, while the fragmentary letters to his "patrons, " Soderiniand Francesco de Medici, have survived to the present day. 

Men of the keenest acumen and perfectly equipped for historicalresearch, such as Humboldt, Irving, and Navarrete, have devotedthemselves to the solution of this problem, but without completesuccess. The first and the last named have cleared his name from theaspersions of centuries; the second and third, in their endeavors tomagnify Columbus by belittling Vespucci, have not convinced posteritythat the Florentine was a liar and a villain. He was neither one northe other; and that he was far more humane than his friend Columbushas been amply shown in his treatment of the Indians. He and hiscompanions made a few slaves; they attacked the cannibals in behalf ofrival natives; but they did not, in their lust for gold, put Indiansto the torture, enslave whole tribes and communities, and commitmassacres. 

Vespucci's character is comparatively free from the stain ofblood-guiltiness; from his dealings with men at all times, we inferhim upright and honorable; yet he rests under a cloud of suspicion, because that so-called first voyage, which he says he took in1497-1498, cannot be explained. Suspicion also attaches to his namebecause it was chosen as an appellation for the New World, whichColumbus was the means of revealing to Europe; but for this (as willbe shown in a succeeding chapter) he was not accountable. 

Professor Fiske, following Vespucci's ardent defender, the ViscountVarnhagen, deduces from the vague generalizations in this letter thatthe voyage was made chiefly along the Honduras, Yucatan, Mexican, andFlorida coasts, as far north, perhaps, as Chesapeake Bay. Thecannibals attacked by the Spaniards were found, he says, in theBermudas--where no Indians were ever seen, so far as known, and nocannibals inhabit, save, perhaps, the great Shakespeare's "Caliban. "He accounts for the lost voyage by declaring that it may have beentaken with Pinzon and Solis, who were said to have been on the coastof Honduras in 1506. There is no certainty as to that date, and thevoyage may as well have been made in 1497-1498, as indirectly shown bya passage in Oviedo's history, as follows: "Some persons haveattributed the discovery of the bay of Honduras to Don ChristopherColumbus, the first admiral; but this is not true, for it wasdiscovered by the pilots Vicente Yañez Pinzon, Juan Diaz de Solis, andPedro de Ledesma, with three caravels; and that was before VicenteYañez had discovered the river Amazon. "

The Amazon and a portion of the Brazil coast were discovered by Pinzonin January, 1500; and as the historian has proved to his ownsatisfaction that the gallant Vicente Yañez was in Spain during theyears 1505 and 1506, it is probable that Oviedo is right. It is alsoprobable, or at least possible, that Vespucci was with Pinzon on thatHonduras voyage as consulting navigator, having been sent by the king, as he says, to "assist, " in his capacity of astronomer andcosmographer. In this capacity, in fact, he went on all his voyages, for he rarely, if ever, held command. Captains, commanders, chiefmates, and admirals there might be in plenty, but such a pilot andnavigator as Vespucci was hard to find. 

It is not unreasonable to presume that they were together, for the onewas a skilful sailor, the other a great navigator, and both renownedfor their hardihood and daring. King Ferdinand had no more loyalservants than these two, and as they had served him faithfully intheir respective professions, the one on land, the other at sea, andinasmuch as both were intimately acquainted with Columbus and hisplans, it was like the crafty old king to send them off to scour theseas his exacting "Admiral" claimed to control. Thereafter--whetherPinzon and Vespucci sailed together or not--their voyages alternatedalong the coast of South America, first one and then the other, and in1505-1506 an expedition was actually projected, in which the kingintended both should share. It did not sail, because the Portugueseobjected, as its object was the exploration of the Brazilian coastsouth of the Tropic of Capricorn, to all which the great rivals of theSpaniards then made claim. 

A seeming confirmation of this voyage is found in the map Juan de laCosa made, in the year 1500, after he had been in company with Ojedaand Vespucci to the coast of pearls. He was with Columbus, in 1494, when the Admiral forced all his men to swear that Cuba was, to thebest of their belief, part of the Asian continent. Yet, within sixyears, La Cosa depicts it on his map as an island--and that was beforeOcampo had proved it one, by sailing around it, in 1508. It is thoughtthat La Cosa obtained his information as to the insular character ofCuba from Vespucci, when they voyaged together on the coast of TerraFirma, which we now know as the northern shores of South America. 

Admitting, still, the critics say, that Vespucci made the voyage heclaimed, with Pinzon or with some one else, in 1497-1498, how doesthat affect the claim of Columbus? It does not affect it at all, for, though Vespucci may have discovered the continent a few monthsprevious to his rival--and he never put forth the claim that he didso--Columbus, by his voyages of 1492 and 1493, led the way thither. IfVespucci, as some have asserted, claimed to have sailed in 1497, inorder to establish a priority of discovery, he did it in a verybungling manner, and at a time when it might easily have been refuted, so many of his companions were then living. Besides, though his namewas bestowed upon the newly discovered continent--perhaps as aconsequence of the writing of this very letter--it was done withouthis knowledge and without the remotest suggestion of such a thing fromhim. This should be made clear: that Amerigo Vespucci had no thoughtof depriving his friend, Christopher Columbus, of a single leaf of hislaurels, hard-won and well-deserved as he knew them to be. 

There is no doubt whatever that Vespucci made a voyage in 1499-1500, along with Alonzo de Ojeda and the great pilot Juan de la Cosa, butwhether this may be styled his first or his second must be left to theintelligence of the reader, for the historians are at odds themselves, and it might seem presumptuous in the biographer to assume to decide. This voyage was narrated by him in the following letter, writtenwithin a month of his return, to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de Medici, of Florence. It is dated, "Seville, July 18, 1500, " and has beencalled by one of his countrymen "the oldest known writing of Amerigorelating to his voyages to the New World. " Mr. John Fiske, in _TheDiscovery of America_, denounces this letter as a forgery; but why, and for what reason it should have been written by another, he doesnot state. 

 "MOST EXCELLENT AND DEAR LORD, --It is a long time since I have written to your Excellency, and for no other reason than that nothing has occurred to me worthy of being commemorated. This present letter will inform you that about a month ago I arrived from the Indies, by way of the great ocean, brought by the grace of God safely to this city of Seville. I think your Excellency will be gratified to learn the results of my voyage, and the most surprising things which have been presented to my observation. If I am somewhat tedious, let my letter be read in your more idle hours, as fruit is eaten after the cloth is removed from the table. 

 "You will please to note that, commissioned by his highness the King of Spain, I set out with two small ships, the 18th of May, 1499, on a voyage of discovery to the southwest, by way of the Fortunate Isles, which are now called the Canaries. After having provided ourselves there with all things necessary, first offering our prayers to God, we set sail from an island which is called Gomera, and, turning our prows southwardly, sailed twenty-four days with a fresh wind, without seeing any land. At the end of that time we came within sight of land, and found that we had sailed about thirteen hundred leagues, and were at that distance from the city of Cadiz, in a southwesterly direction. When we saw the land we gave thanks to God, and then launched our boats and, with sixteen men, went to the shore, which we found thickly covered with trees, astonishing both on account of their size and their verdure, for they never lose their foliage. The sweet odors which they exhaled (for they were all aromatic) highly delighted us, and we were rejoiced in regaling our senses. 

 "We rowed along the shore in the boats to see if we could find any suitable place for landing; but, after toiling from morning till night, we found no way of passage, the land being low and densely covered with trees. We concluded, therefore, to return to the ships and make an attempt to land at some other spot. 

 "One very remarkable circumstance we observed in these seas, which was that, at fifteen leagues distance from the land, we found the water fresh, like that of a river, and we filled all our empty casks with it. Sailing in a southerly direction, still along the coast, we saw two larger rivers issuing from the land; and I think that these two rivers, by reason of their magnitude, caused the freshness of the water in the sea adjoining. Seeing that the coast was invariably low, we determined to enter one of these rivers with the boats, and did so, after furnishing them with provisions for four days, and twenty men well armed. We entered the river and rowed up it nearly two days, making a distance of about eighteen leagues; but we found the low land still continuing and so thickly covered with trees that a bird could scarcely fly through them. 

 "We saw signs that the inland parts of the country were inhabited; nevertheless, as our vessels were anchored in a dangerous place, in case an adverse wind should arise, at the end of two days we concluded to return. Here we saw an immense number of birds, including parrots in great variety, some crimson in color, others green and lemon, others entirely green, and others again that were black and flesh-colored [these last were probably toucans]. And oh! the songs of other species of birds, so sweet and so melodious, as we heard them among the trees, that we often lingered, listening to their charming music. The trees, too, were so beautiful and smelled so sweetly that we almost imagined ourselves in a terrestrial paradise; yet none of those trees, or the fruit of them, were similar to anything in our part of the world. 

 "On our way back we saw many people of various descriptions fishing in the river. Having arrived at our ships, we raised anchor and set sail in a southerly direction, standing off to sea about forty leagues. While sailing on this course, we encountered a current running from southeast to northwest, so strong and furious that we were put into great fear and were exposed to imminent peril. This current was so strong that the Strait of Gibraltar and that of the Faro of Messina appeared to us like mere stagnant water in comparison with it. We could scarcely make headway against it, though we had the wind fresh and fair; so, seeing that we made no progress, or but very little, we determined to turn our prows to the northwest. [12]

 "As, if I remember aright, your Excellency understands something of cosmography, I intend to describe to you our progress in our navigation by the latitude and longitude. We sailed so far to the south that we entered the torrid zone and penetrated the circle of Cancer. .. . Having passed the equinoctial line and sailed six degrees to the south of it, we lost sight of the north star altogether, and even the stars of Ursa Major--or, to speak better, the guardians which revolve about the firmament--were scarcely seen. Very desirous of being the author who should designate the other polar star of the firmament, I lost, many a time, my night's sleep, while contemplating the movement of the stars about the southern pole. I desired to ascertain which had the least motion, and which might be nearest to the firmament; but I was not able to accomplish it with such poor instruments as I used, which were the quadrant and astrolabe. I could not distinguish a star which had less than ten degrees of motion; so that I was not satisfied, within myself, to name any particular one for the pole of the meridian, on account of the large revolution which they all made around the firmament. 

 "While I was arriving at this conclusion, I recollected a verse of our poet Dante, which may be found in the first chapter of his "Purgatory, " where he imagines he is leaving this hemisphere to repair to the other and attempting to describe the antarctic pole, and says:

 "'To the right hand I turned, and fixed my mind On the other pole attentive, where I saw Four stars ne'er seen before, save by the ken Of our first parents. Heaven of their rays Seemed joyous. O! thou northern site, bereft Indeed, and widowed, since of these deprived!'

 "It seems to me that the poet wished to describe in these verses, by the four stars, the pole of the other firmament, and I have little doubt, even now, that what he says may be true. I observed four stars in the figure of an almond which had but little motion; and if God gives me life and health I hope to go again into that hemisphere and not to return without observing the pole. In conclusion I would remark that we extended our navigation so far south that our difference in latitude from the city of Cadiz was sixty degrees and a half, because, at that city, the pole is elevated thirty-five degrees and a half, and we had passed six degrees beyond the equinoctial line. Let this suffice as to our latitude. You must observe that this our navigation was in the months of July, August, and September, when, as you know, the sun is longest above the horizon in our hemisphere and describes the greatest arch in the day and the least in the night. On the contrary, while we were at the equinoctial line, or near it, the difference between the day and night was not perceptible. They were of equal length, or very nearly so. .. . 

 "It appears to me, most excellent Lorenzo, that by this voyage most of the philosophers are controverted who say that the torrid zone cannot be inhabited on account of the great heat. I have found the case to be quite the contrary. The air is fresher and more temperate in that region than beyond it, and the inhabitants are more numerous here than they are in the other zones, for reasons which will be given below. Thus, it is certain, that practice is more valuable than theory. 

 "Thus far I have related the navigation I accomplished in the South and West. It now remains for me to inform you of the appearance of the country we discovered, the nature of the inhabitants and their customs, the animals we saw, and of many other things worthy of remembrance which fell under my observation. After we turned our course to the north, the first land we found inhabited was an island at ten degrees distant from the equinoctial line [island of Trinidad]. When we arrived at it we saw on the sea-shore a great many people, who stood looking at us with astonishment. 

 "We anchored within about a mile of land, fitted out the boats, and twenty-two men, well armed, made for the land. The people, when they saw us landing and perceived that we were different from themselves (because they have no beards and wear no clothing of any description, being also of a different color--brown, while we were white), began to be afraid of us and all ran into the woods. With great exertion, by means of signs, we reassured them and found that they were a race called cannibals, the greater part, or all of whom, live on human flesh. Your Excellency may be assured of this fact. They do not eat one another, but, navigating with certain barks which they call canoes, they bring their prey from the neighboring islands or countries inhabited by those who are their enemies, or of a different tribe from their own. They never eat any women, unless they consider them as outcasts. These things we verified in many places where we found similar people. We often saw the bones and heads of those who had been eaten, and they who had made the repast admitted the fact and said that their enemies stood in greater fear of them on that account. 

 "Still, they are a people of gentle disposition and fine stature, of great activity and much courage. They go entirely naked, and the arms which they carry are rare bows, arrows, and spears, with which they are excellent marksmen. In fine, we held much intercourse with them, and they took us to one of their villages, about two leagues inland, and gave us our breakfast. They gave whatever was asked of them, though I think more through fear than affection; and after having been with them all one day we returned to the ships, sailing along the coasts, and finding another large village of the same tribe. We landed in the boats and found they were waiting for us, all loaded with provisions, and they gave us enough to make a very good breakfast, according to their ideas. 

 "Seeing they were such kind people and treated us so well, we did not take anything from them, but made sail until we arrived at a body of water which is called the Gulf of Paria. We anchored off the mouth of a great river, which causes the gulf to be fresh, and saw a large village close to the sea. We were surprised at the great number of people to be seen there, though they were without weapons and peaceably disposed. We went ashore with the boats, and they received us with great friendship and took us to their houses, where they had made good preparations for a feast. Here they gave us three sorts of wine to drink; not the juice of the grape, but made of fruits, like beer, and they were excellent. Here, also, we ate many fresh acorns, a most royal fruit, and also others, all different from ours, and all of aromatic flavor. 

 "What was more, they gave us some small pearls and eleven large ones, telling us that if we would wait some days they would go and fish for them and bring us many of the kind. We did not wish to be detained, so, with many parrots of different colors, and in good friendship, we parted from them. From these people it was we learned that those of the before-mentioned island were cannibals and ate human flesh. We issued from the gulf and sailed along the coast, seeing continually great numbers of people; and when we were so disposed we treated with them, and they gave us everything we desired. They all go as naked as they were born, without being ashamed, and if all were related concerning the little shame they have it would be bordering on impropriety, therefore it is better to suppress it. 

 "After having sailed about four hundred leagues, continually along the coast, we concluded that this land was a continent, which might be bounded by the eastern parts of Asia, this being the commencement of the western parts of the continent, because it happened that we saw divers animals, such as lions, stags, goats, wild hogs, rabbits, and other land animals which are not found in islands, but only on the main-land. Going inland one day with twenty men, we saw a serpent all of twenty-four feet in length and as large in girth as myself. We were very much afraid, and the sight of it caused us to return immediately to the sea. Ofttimes, indeed, I saw many ferocious animals and enormous serpents. When we had navigated four hundred leagues along the coast, we began to find people who did not wish for our friendship, but stood waiting for us with their bows and arrows. When we went ashore they disputed our landing in such a manner that we were obliged to fight them, and at the end of the battle they found they had the worst of it, for, as they were naked, we always made great slaughter. Many times not more than sixteen of us fought with no less than two thousand, in the end defeating them, killing many, and plundering their houses. 

 "One day we saw a great crowd of savages, all posted in battle array, to prevent our landing. We fitted out twenty-six men, well armed, and covered the boats on account of the arrows which were shot at us and which always wounded some before we landed. After they had hindered us as long as they could, we leaped on shore and fought a hard battle with them. The reason why they had so much courage and made such great exertion against us was that they did not know what kind of a weapon the sword was, or how it cuts! So great was the multitude of people who charged upon us, discharging at us such a cloud of arrows that we could not withstand the assault, and, nearly abandoning the hope of life, we turned our backs and ran for the boats. While thus disheartened and flying, one of our sailors, a Portuguese, who had remained to guard the boats, seeing the danger we were in, leaped on shore and with a loud voice called out to us: 'Face to the enemy, sons, and God will give you the victory!' Throwing himself upon his knees, he made a prayer, then rushed furiously upon the savages, and we all joined him, wounded as we were. On that they turned their backs and began to flee; and finally we routed them, killing more than a hundred and fifty. We burned their houses also--at least one hundred and eighty in number. Then, as we were badly wounded and weary, we went into a harbor to recruit, where we stayed twenty days, solely that the physician might cure us. All escaped save one, who was wounded in the left breast and died. 

 "After we were cured we recommenced our navigation; and through the same cause we were often obliged to fight with a great many people, and always had the victory over them. Thus continuing our voyage, we came to an island fifteen leagues distant from the main-land. As at our arrival we saw no collection of people, eleven of us landed. Finding a path inland, we walked nearly two leagues and came to a village of about twelve houses, in which were seven women who were so large that there was not one among them who was not a span and a half taller than myself. When they saw us they were very much frightened, and the principal one among them, who seemed certainly a discreet woman, led us by signs into a house and had refreshments prepared for us. They were such large women that we were about determining to carry off two of the younger ones as a present to our king; but while we were debating this subject, thirty-six men entered the hut where we were drinking. They were of such great stature that each one was taller when upon his knees than I when standing erect. In fact, they were giants; each of the women appeared a Penthesilia, and the men Antei. When they came in, some of our number were so frightened that they did not consider themselves safe, for they were armed with very large bows and arrows, besides immense clubs made in the form of swords. Seeing that we were small of stature they began to converse with us, in order to learn who we were and from what parts we came. We gave them fair words, and answered them, by signs, that we were men of peace and intent only upon seeing the world. Finally, we held it our wisest course to part from them without questioning in our turn; so we returned by the same path in which we had come--they accompanying us quite to the sea-shore, till we went aboard the ships. 

 "Nearly half the trees on this island are of dye-woods, as good as any from the East. Going from this island to another in the vicinity, at ten leagues distance, we found a very large village, the houses of which were built over the sea, like those of Venice, with much ingenuity. While we were struck with admiration at this circumstance, we determined to go to see them; and as we went into their houses the people owning them attempted to prevent us. They found out at last the sharpness of our swords, and thought it best to let us enter. Then we found these houses filled with the finest cotton, and the beams of their dwellings are made of dye-woods. In all the parts where we landed we found a great quantity of cotton, and the country filled with cotton-trees. All the vessels of the world, in fact, might be laden in these parts with cotton and dye-wood. 

 "We sailed three hundred leagues farther along this coast, constantly finding savage but brave people, and very often fighting with and vanquishing them. We found seven different languages among them, each of which was not understood by those who spoke the others. It is said that there are not more than seventy-seven languages in the world; but I say that there are _more than a thousand_, as there are more than forty which I have heard myself. After having sailed seven hundred leagues or more our ships became leaky, so that we could hardly keep them free, with two pumps going. The men also were much fatigued, and the provisions growing short. We were then within a hundred and twenty leagues of the island called Hispaniola, discovered by the Admiral Columbus six [eight] years before. So we determined to proceed to it and, as it was inhabited by Christians, to repair our ships there, allow our men a little repose, and recruit our stock of provisions; because, from this island to Castile there are three hundred leagues of ocean, without any land intervening. In seven days we arrived at this island, where we stayed two months, refitted our ships, and obtained a supply of provisions. 

 "We afterwards sailed through a shoal of islands, more than a thousand in number. We sailed in this sea nearly two hundred leagues, directly north, until our people had become worn with fatigue, through having been already nearly a year at sea. Their allowance per diem was only six ounces of bread for eating, and three small measures of water for drinking. Whereupon we concluded to take some prisoners as slaves, and loading the ships with them to return at once to Spain. Going, therefore, to certain islands, we possessed ourselves by force of two hundred and thirty-two, and then steered our course for Castile. In sixty-seven days we crossed the ocean, arriving at the Azores, thence sailed by way of the Canary Islands and the Madeiras to Cadiz. 

 "We were absent thirteen months on this voyage, exposing ourselves to awful dangers, discovering a very large country of Asia, and a great many islands, the largest of them all inhabited. According to the calculations I have made with the compass, we have sailed about five thousand leagues. .. . We discovered immense regions, saw a vast number of people, all naked, and speaking various languages, numerous wild animals, various kinds of birds, and an infinite quantity of trees, all aromatic. We brought home pearls in their growing state, and gold in the grain; we brought two stones, one of emerald color, the other of amethyst, which was very hard, at least half a span long, and three fingers thick. The sovereigns esteem them most highly and have preserved them among their jewels. We brought home also a piece of crystal, which some jewelers say is beryl, and, according to what the Indians told us, they had a great quantity of the same. We brought fourteen flesh-colored pearls, with which the queen was highly delighted. We brought many other stones which appeared beautiful to us; but of all these we did not bring a large number, as we were continually busied in our investigations and did not tarry long in any place. 

 "When we arrived at Cadiz we sold many slaves, two hundred then remaining to us, the others having died at sea. After deducting the expense of transportation we gained only about five hundred ducats, which, having to be divided into fifty-five parts, made the share of each very small. However, we contented ourselves with life, and rendered thanks to God that during the whole voyage, out of fifty-seven Christian men, which was our number, only two had died, they having been killed by Indians. I have had two quartan agues since my return; but I hope, by the favor of God, to be well soon, as they do not continue long now and are without chills. I have passed over many things worthy of being remembered, in order not to be more tedious than necessary, all of which are reserved for the pen, and in the memory. 

 "They are fitting out three ships for me here, that I may go on a new voyage of discovery, and I think they will be ready by the middle of September. May it please our Lord to give me health and a good voyage, as I hope again to bring very great news and discover the island of Trapobana, which is between the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Ganges. Afterwards I intend to return to my country and seek repose in the days of my old age. .. . I have resolved, most excellent Lorenzo, that as I have thus given you an account by letter of what has occurred to me, to send you two plans and descriptions of the world, made and arranged by my own hand and skill. There will be a map on a plain surface, and the other a view of the world in a spherical form, which I intend to send you by sea, in care of one Francesco Lotti, a Florentine, who is here. I think you will be pleased with them, particularly the globe, as I made one, not long since, for these sovereigns, and they esteem it highly. I could have wished to come with them personally; but my new departure for making other discoveries will not permit me that great pleasure. .. . 

 "I suppose your excellency has heard the news brought by the fleet which the King of Portugal sent two years ago to make discoveries on the coast of Guinea. I do not call such a voyage as that one of discovery, but only a visit to discovered lands; because, as you will see by the map, their navigation was continually within sight of land, and they sailed round the whole southern part of the continent of Africa, which is proceeding by a way spoken of by all cosmographical authors. It is true that the navigation has been very profitable, which is a matter of great consideration here in this kingdom, where inordinate covetousness reigns. 

 "I understand they passed from the Red Sea and extended their voyage into the Persian Gulf, to a city called Calicut, which is situated between the Persian Gulf and the river Indus. More lately, the King of Portugal has received from sea twelve ships very richly laden, and he has sent them again to those parts, where they will certainly do a profitable business, if they arrive in safety. 

 "May our Lord preserve and increase the exalted state of your excellency, as I desire. 

 "AMERIGO VESPUCCI. 

 "_July 18th, 1500_. "

Respecting the letter in which the so-called first voyage isdescribed, the same great authority, Mr. Fiske, from whom we havealready quoted, says: "The perplexity surrounding the account of thefirst voyage of Vespucius is chiefly due to the lack of intelligencewith which it has been read. There is no reason for imaginingdishonesty in his narrative, and no reason for not admitting it asevidence on the same terms upon which we admit other contemporarydocuments. " Perhaps we may be allowed to claim the same privilege forthe foregoing letter; yet another historian, the amiable biographer ofColumbus, Mr. Irving, while freely quoting from it, in his account ofthe voyage made with Alonzo de Ojeda, by imputation discredits it, andloses no occasion to disparage its author. 

In order that nothing may be lacking, for the purpose of forming anaccurate estimate of Vespucci's character and doings, Mr. Irving'saccount of the Ojeda voyage, somewhat condensed, is presented in thesucceeding chapter. In constructing this story he, to use his ownwords, "collated the narratives of Vespucci, Las Casas, Herrera, andPeter Martyr, and the evidence given in the lawsuit of Diego Columbus, and has endeavored as much as possible to reconcile them. " That he didnot altogether succeed is the opinion of Mr. Fiske, who says, rathercaustically, that "from its mixing the first and second voyages ofVespucci [the account] is so full of blunders as to be worse thanworthless to the general reader. "

However this may be, the story is interesting, and in a sensevaluable, as it corroborates the statements of one to whom Mr. Irvingwas not favorably inclined. 

FOOTNOTES:

[12] The river was the Orinoco, the currents caused by which set withgreat force in the direction given by Vespucci. 

VIII

WITH OJEDA THE FIGHTER

1499

Those who have read the _History of Columbus_ will doubtless rememberthe character and exploits of Alonzo de Ojeda. He was about twenty-oneyears of age when he accompanied Columbus on his second voyage (1493);he had, however, already distinguished himself by his enterprisingspirit and headlong valor, and his exploits during that voyagecontributed to enhance his reputation. He returned to Spain with theAdmiral, but did not go with him on his third voyage, in 1498. He hada cousin-german of his own name, Padre Alonzo de Ojeda, a Dominicanfriar, who was a great favorite with the Spanish sovereigns, and onintimate terms with Don Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, who had the chiefmanagement of affairs in the Indies. 

Through the good offices of this cousin, young Alonzo was introducedto Fonseca, to whose especial favor and patronage he was warmlyrecommended. While Ojeda was lingering about the court, letters werereceived from Columbus giving an account of the events of his third(1498) voyage, accompanied by charts descriptive of his route, specimens of pearls, gold, etc. , in order to impress the sovereignswith the great value of his most recent discovery. The Admiral hadgood and sufficient reasons for making the most of this discovery, ashis enemies in Spain and in the West Indies were seeking to belittlehis great deeds, hence his indiscretion in placing the proofs of hisachievement in the hands of his implacable foe, Bishop Fonseca. Hecould not return at that time, owing to the terrible condition ofaffairs in Hispaniola, which demanded his continued presence there--asnarrated in his _Life_. 

The tidings he sent caused a great sensation among the maritimeadventurers of Spain; but no one was more excited by them than Alonzode Ojeda, who, from his intimacy with Fonseca, had full access to thecharts and correspondence of Columbus, and who immediately conceivedthe project of making a voyage in the route thus marked out by theAdmiral, and of seizing upon the first fruits of discovery which hehad left ungathered. This scheme met with ready encouragement fromFonseca, who, as has heretofore been shown, was opposed to Columbusand willing to promote any measure that might injure or molest him. The bishop accordingly granted a commission to Ojeda, authorizing himto fit out an armament and proceed on a voyage of discovery, with theproviso merely that he should not visit any territories appertainingto Portugal, or any of the lands discovered in the name of Spainprevious to the year 1495. The latter part of this provision appearsto have been craftily worded by the bishop, so as to leave the coastof Paria and its pearl fisheries open to Ojeda, they having beenrecently discovered by Columbus in 1498. 

The commission was signed by Fonseca alone, in virtue of generalpowers vested in him for such purposes; but the signature of thesovereigns did not appear on the instrument, and it is doubtfulwhether their sanction was sought on the occasion. He knew thatColumbus had recently remonstrated against a royal mandate issued in1495, permitting voyages of discovery by private adventurers, and thatthe sovereigns had in consequence revoked that mandate wherever itmight be deemed prejudicial to the stipulated privileges of theAdmiral. .. . Having thus obtained permission to make the voyage, thenext consideration with Ojeda was to find the means. He was a youngadventurer, a mere soldier of fortune, and destitute of wealth; but hehad a high reputation for courage and enterprise, and hence had nodifficulty in finding moneyed associates among the rich merchants ofSeville, who, in that age of discovery, were ever ready to stake theirproperty upon the schemes of roving navigators. With such assistancehe soon equipped a squadron of four vessels, at Port St. Mary, opposite Cadiz. 

Among the seamen who engaged with him were several who had justreturned from accompanying Columbus in his voyage to this very coastof Paria. The principal associate of Ojeda, and one on whom he placedgreat reliance, was Juan de la Cosa, who went with him as first mate, or, as it was termed, chief pilot. This was a bold Biscayan who may beregarded as a disciple of Columbus, with whom he had sailed on hissecond voyage, when he coasted Cuba and Jamaica, and he had alsoaccompanied Rodrigo de Bastidas, in his expedition along the coast ofTerra Firma. The hardy veteran was looked up to by his contemporariesas an oracle of the seas, and was pronounced one of the most ablemariners of the day. He may be excused, therefore, if in his harmlessvanity he considered himself on a par even with Columbus. 

Another conspicuous associate of Ojeda on this voyage was AmerigoVespucci, _a Florentine merchant, induced by broken fortunes and arambling disposition to seek adventures in the New World_. Whether hehad any pecuniary interest in the expedition, and in what capacity hesailed, does not appear. His importance has entirely arisen fromsubsequent circumstances--from his having written and published anarrative of his voyages, and from his name having eventually beengiven to the New World. 

[Illustration: OJEDA'S FIRST VOYAGE]

Ojeda sailed from Port St. Mary on May 20, 1499, and, having touchedfor supplies at the Canaries, took a departure from Gomera, pursuingthe route of Columbus in his third voyage, being guided by thechart he had sent home, as well as by the mariners who had accompaniedhim on that occasion. At the end of twenty-four days he reached thecontinent of the New World, about two hundred leagues farther souththan the part discovered by Columbus, being, as it is supposed, on thecoast of Surinam. Hence he ran along the coast to the Gulf of Paria, passing the mouths of many rivers, but especially those of the Esquivoand the Orinoco. These, to the astonishment of the Spaniards, unaccustomed as yet to the mighty rivers of the New World, pouredforth such a prodigious volume of water as to freshen the sea for agreat extent. They beheld none of the natives until they arrived atthe island of Trinidad, on which island they met with traces of therecent visit of Columbus. Vespucci, in his letters, gives a longdescription of the people of this island and of the coast of Paria, who were of the Carib race, tall, well-made, and vigorous, and expertwith the bow, the lance, and the buckler. His description in generalresembles those which have frequently been given of the aboriginals ofthe New World; there are two or three particulars, however, worthy ofcitation. [Here follows the narrative of Vespucci, as given in thepreceding chapters, pages 82-124. ]

After touching at various parts of Trinidad and the Gulf of Paria, Ojeda passed through the strait of the Boca del Drago, or Dragon'sMouth, which Columbus had found so formidable, and then steered hiscourse along the coast of Terra Firma, landing occasionally until hearrived at Curiana, or the Gulf of Pearls. From hence he stood to theopposite island of Margarita, previously discovered by Columbus, andsince renowned for its pearl fishery. This, as well as severaladjacent islands, he visited and explored, after which he returned tothe main-land, and touched at Cumana and _Maracapana_, where he foundthe rivers infested with alligators resembling the crocodiles of theNile. Finding a convenient harbor at Maracapana, he unloaded andcareened his vessels there, and built a small brigantine. The nativescame to him in great numbers, bringing abundance of venison, fish, andcassava bread, and aiding the seamen in their labors. Theirhospitality was not certainly disinterested, for they sought to gainthe protection of the Spaniards, whom they reverenced as superhumanbeings. 

When they thought they had sufficiently secured their favor, theyrepresented to Ojeda that their coast was subject to invasion from adistant island, the inhabitants of which were cannibals, and carriedtheir people into captivity, to be devoured at their unnaturalbanquets. They besought Ojeda, therefore, to avenge them upon theseferocious enemies. The request was gratifying to the fightingpropensities of Alonzo de Ojeda, and to his love of adventure, and wasreadily granted. Taking seven of the natives on board of his vessels, therefore, as guides, he set sail in quest of the cannibals. Aftersailing for seven days he came to a chain of islands, some of whichwere peopled, others uninhabited, and which are supposed to have beenthe Caribbee Islands. [Then ensues Vespucci's account of the fight, with the substitution of Ojeda as captain in command. ]

His crew being refreshed, and the wounded sufficiently recovered, Ojeda made sail and touched at the island of Curaçao, which, accordingto the accounts of Vespucci, was inhabited by a race of giants, "everywoman appearing a Penthesilia, and every man an Antei. " As Vespucciwas a scholar, and as he supposed himself exploring the regions ofthe extreme East, the ancient realm of fable, it is probable hisimagination deceived him, and construed the formidable accounts givenby the Indians of their cannibal neighbors of the islands intosomething according with his recollections of classic fable. Certainit is that the reports of subsequent voyagers proved the inhabitantsof the island to be of the ordinary size. 

Proceeding along the coast, he arrived at a vast, deep gulf, resembling a tranquil lake, entering which he beheld, on the easternside, a village, the construction of which struck him with surprise. It consisted of twenty large houses, shaped like bells, and built onpiles driven into the bottom of the lake, which in this part waslimpid and of but little depth. Each house was provided with adraw-bridge, and with canoes, by which the communication was carriedon. From these resemblances to the Italian city, Ojeda gave to the baythe name of the Gulf of Venice, and it is called at the present dayVenezuela, or Little Venice. The Indian name was _Coquibacoa_. [Inthis connection Irving quotes freely from Vespucci's account of theLake Dwellers, and also gives entire his description of theSpaniards' entertainment by Indians of the interior. ]

Continuing to explore this gulf, Ojeda penetrated to a port or harbor, to which he gave the name of St. Bartholomew, supposed to be the sameat present known by the original Indian name of _Maracaibo_. .. . TheSpaniards brought away with them several of the beautiful andhospitable females of this place, one of whom, named by them Isabel, was much prized by Ojeda, and accompanied him on a subsequent voyage. Leaving the friendly port of Coquibacoa, Ojeda continued along thewestern shores of the Venezuelan gulf, and standing out to sea, doubling Cape Maracaibo, he pursued his voyage from port to port, andpromontory to promontory, of this unknown continent, until he reachedthat long stretching headland called Cape de la Vela, or Cape of theSail. There the state of his vessels--and perhaps the disappointmentof his hopes at not meeting with abundant sources of immediatewealth--induced him to abandon all further voyaging along the coast, and, changing his course, he stood across the Caribbean Sea forHispaniola. The tenor of his commission forbade his visiting thatisland; but Ojeda was not a man to stand upon trifles when hisinterests or inclinations prompted him to the contrary. He trusted toexcuse the infraction of his orders by the alleged necessity oftouching at the island to calk and refit his vessels and to procureprovisions; but his true object is supposed to have been to cutdye-wood, which abounds in Hispaniola. 

Columbus, at that time, held command of the island, and, hearing ofthis unlicensed intrusion, despatched Francesco Roldan, the quondamrebel, to call Ojeda to account. The contest of stratagem andmanagement that took place between these two adroit and daringadventurers has already been detailed. Roldan was eventuallysuccessful, and Ojeda, being obliged to leave Hispaniola, resumed hisrambling voyage. He at length arrived at Cadiz, in June, 1500, hisships crowded with captives, whom he sold as slaves. So meagre, however, was the result of this expedition that we are told [byVespucci] that when all the expenses were deducted but five hundredducats remained to be divided between fifty-five adventurers. Whatmade this result the more mortifying was that a petty armament, whichhad sailed some time after that of Ojeda, had returned two monthsbefore him rich with the spoils of the New World. 

The successful armament alluded to was that of Pedro Niño, who hadsailed with Columbus on his first voyage and on his third. With acaravel of only fifty tons, and a crew of thirty-three men, he sailedfrom Palos in June, 1499, returning in April, 1500, with a richercargo of pearls than any other that had been brought from the newcountry. He had steered directly for the Pearl Coast, and at or nearCumana and Margarita, had amassed a fortune from the sea. 

In this connection it should be mentioned, that the country adjacentto the Pearl Coast, opposite Cumana, was known to the natives as_Amaraca-pan_; that the name _Amaraca_ occurs frequently in thisregion, as (_A_)_mar-aca-ibo_, the great gulf where the Lake-Dwellerslive. It is regarded only as a coincidence that a name so nearly likethat which was bestowed upon the continent by Europeans should befound applied to portions of that continent by the aborigines; butsome enthusiasts have undertaken to show that it was from this nativeappellation the cartographers and cosmographers derived the first"America" placed upon the maps. 

IX

CANNIBALS, GIANTS, AND PEARLS

1499-1500

Besides the letter written by Vespucci to Lorenzo de Medici, he sentan account of the second voyage to his friend Soderini, in which aresome incidents not mentioned in the first, with very little repetitionof others. He wrote:

 "We set out from the port of Cadiz, three ships in company, on the 18th of May, and steered directly for the Cape de Verdes, passing within sight of the Grand Canary, and soon arriving at an island called De Fuego, or Fire Island, whence, having taken wood and water, we proceeded on our voyage to the southwest. In forty-four days we arrived at a new land, which we judged to be a continent, and a continuation of that mentioned in my former voyage. It was situated within the torrid zone, south of the equinoctial line, where the south pole is elevated five degrees and distant from said island, bearing south, about five hundred leagues. Here we found the days and nights equal on the 27th of June, when the sun is near the tropic of Cancer. 

 "We did not see any people here, and, having anchored our ships and cast off our boats, we proceeded to the land, which we found to be inundated by very large rivers. We attempted to enter these at many points, but from the immense quantity of water brought down by them we could find no place, after hard toiling, that was not over-flowed. We saw many signs of the country's being inhabited, but as we were unable to enter it we concluded to return to the ships and make the attempt on some other part of the coast. We raised our anchors accordingly, and sailed along southeast by east, continually coasting the land which ran in that direction. We found the currents so strong on this part of the coast that they actually obstructed our sailing, and they all ran from the southeast to the northwest. Seeing our navigation was attended with so many inconveniences, we concluded to turn our course to the northwest; and having sailed some time in this direction we arrived at a very beautiful harbor, which was made by a large island at the entrance, inside of which was a very large bay. While sailing along parallel with the island with a view of entering the harbor, we saw many people on shore, and, being much cheered, we manoeuvred our ships for the purpose of anchoring and landing where they appeared. We might have been then about four leagues out at sea. While proceeding on our course for this purpose, we saw a canoe quite out at sea, in which were several natives, and made sail on our ships in order to come up with and take possession of them, steering so as not to run them down. We saw that they stood with their oars raised--I think either through astonishment at beholding our ships, or by way of giving us to understand that they meant to wait for and resist us; but as we neared them they dropped the oars and began to row towards the land. 

 "Having in our fleet a small vessel of forty-five tons, a very fast sailer, she took a favorable wind and bore down for the canoe. When the people in it found themselves embarrassed between the schooner and the boats we had lowered for the purpose of pursuing them, they all jumped into the sea, being about twenty men, and at the distance of two leagues from the shore. We followed them the whole day with our boats, and could only take two, which was for them an extraordinary feat; all the rest escaped to the shore. Four boys remained in the canoe who were not of their tribe, but had been taken prisoners by them, and brought from another country. We were much surprised at the gross injuries they had inflicted upon these boys, and, having been taken on board the ships, they told us they had been captured in order to be eaten. Accordingly, we knew that those people were cannibals, who eat human flesh. 

 "We proceeded with the ships, taking the canoe with us astern, and following the course which they pursued, anchored at half a league from the shore. As we saw many people on the shore, we landed in the boats, carrying with us the two men we had taken. When we reached the beach all the people fled into the woods, and we sent one of the men to negotiate with them, giving them several trifles as tokens of friendship--such as little bells, buttons, and looking-glasses--and telling them that we wished to be their friends. He brought the people all back with him, of whom there were about four hundred men and many women, who came unarmed to the place where we lay with the boats. Having established friendship with them, we surrendered the other prisoner and sent to the ships for the canoe, which we restored. This canoe was twenty-six yards long and six feet wide, made out of a single tree and very well wrought. When they had carried it into a river near by, and put it in a secure place, they all fled, and would have nothing more to do with us, which appeared to us a very barbarous act, and we judged them to be a faithless and evil-disposed people. We saw among them a little gold, which they wore in their ears. 

 "Leaving this place, we sailed about eighty leagues along the coast and entered a bay, where we found a surprising number of people, with whom we formed a friendship. Many of us went to their village, in great safety, and were received with much courtesy and confidence. In this place we procured a hundred and fifty pearls (as they sold them to us for a trifle) and some little gold, which they gave us gratuitously. We noticed that in this country they drank wine made of their fruits and seeds, which looked like beer, both white and red; the best was made from acorns, and was very good. We ate a great many of these acorns and found them a very good fruit, savory to the taste and healthy to the body. The country abounded with means of nourishment, and the people were well disposed and pacific. 

 "We remained at this port seventeen days, with great pleasure, and every day some new tribe of people came to see us from inland parts of the country, who were greatly surprised at our figures, at the whiteness of our skins, at our clothes, at our arms, and the form and size of our ships. We were informed by them of the existence of another tribe, still farther west, who were their enemies, and that they had great quantities of pearls. They said that those which they had in their possession were some they had taken from this other tribe in war. They told us how they fished for pearls, and in what manner they grew, and we found that they told us the truth--as your excellency shall hear. 

 "Sailing along the coast again, and finding an island about fifteen leagues from it at sea, we resolved to see if it were inhabited. We found on this island the most bestial and filthy people that were ever seen, but at the same time extremely pacific, so that I am able to describe their habits and customs. Their manners and their faces were filthy, and they all had their cheeks stuffed full of a green herb which they were continually chewing, as beasts chew the cud, so that they were scarcely able to speak. Each one of them wore, hanging at the neck, two dried gourd-shells, one of which was filled with the same kind of herb they had in their mouths, and the other with a white meal, which appeared to be chalk-dust. They also carried with them a small stick, which they wetted in their mouths from time to time and then put in the meal, afterwards putting it into the herb with which both cheeks were filled, and mixing the meal with it. We were surprised at their conduct, and could not understand for what purpose they indulged in the strange practice. 

 "As soon as these people saw us, they came to us with as much familiarity as if we had been old friends. Walking with them along the shore, and wishing to find some fresh water to drink, they made us to understand by signs that they had none, and offered us some of their herbs and meal; hence we concluded that water was very scarce in this island, and that they kept these herbs in their mouth in order to allay their thirst. We walked about the island a day and a half without finding any living water, and noticed that all they had to drink was the dew which fell in the night upon certain leaves that looked like asses' ears. These leaves being filled with dew-water the islanders use it for their drink, and most excellent water it was; but there were many places where the leaves were not to be found. 

 "They had no victuals or roots, such as we found on the main-land, but lived on fish, which they caught in the sea, of which there was an abundance, and they were very expert fishermen. They presented us with many turtles, and many large and very good fish. The women did not chew the herb as the men did, but carried a gourd with water in it, of which they drank. They had no villages, houses, or cottages, except some arbors which defended them from the sun, but not from the rain; this appearing needless, for I think it very seldom rained on that island. When they were fishing out at sea, they each wore on the head a very large leaf, so broad that they were covered by its shade. They fixed these leaves also in the ground on shore, and as the sun moved turned them about, so as to keep within the shadow. The island contained many animals of various kinds, all of which drank the muddy water of the marshes. 

 "Seeing there was no gain in staying there, we left and went to another island, which we found inhabited by people of very large stature. Going into the country in search of fresh water, without thinking the island inhabited (as we saw no people), as we were passing along the shore we remarked very large footprints on the sands. We concluded that if the other members corresponded with the feet they must be very large men. While occupied with these conjectures, we struck a path which led us inland, and after we had gone about a league we saw in a valley five huts or cottages which appeared to be inhabited. On going to them we found only five women, two quite old, and three girls, all so tall in stature that we regarded them with astonishment. When they saw us they became so frightened that they had not even courage to flee, and the two old women began to invite us into the huts, and to bring us many things to eat, with many signs of friendship. They were taller than a tall man, and as large-bodied as Francisco of Albizzi, but better proportioned than we are. While we were consulting as to the expediency of taking the three girls by force and bringing them to Castile to exhibit as wonders, there entered the door of the hut thirty-six men, much larger than the women, and so well made that it was a pleasure to look at them. They put us in such perturbation, however, that we would much rather have been in the ships than have found ourselves with such people. They carried immense bows and arrows, and large-headed clubs, and talked among themselves in a tone which led us to think they were deliberating about attacking us. 

 "Seeing we were in such danger, we formed various opinions on the subject. Some were for falling upon them in the hut, others thought it would be better to attack them in the field, and others that we should not commence the strife until we saw what they wished to do. We agreed, at length, to go out of the hut and take our way quietly to the ships. As soon as we did this they followed at a stone's-throw behind us, talking earnestly among themselves, and I think no less afraid of us than we were of them; for whenever we stopped they did the same, never coming nearer to us. In this way we at length arrived at the shore, where the boats were waiting for us. We entered them, and as we were going off in the distance they leaped forward and shot many arrows after us; but we had little fear of them now. We discharged two arquebuses at them, but more to frighten them than injure, and on hearing the report they all fled to the mountain. Thus we parted from them, and it appeared to us that we had escaped a perilous day's work. These people were quite naked, like the others we had seen, and on account of their large stature I called this island the Island of Giants. We proceeded onward in a direction parallel with the main-land, on which it happened that we were frequently obliged to fight with the people, who were not willing to let us take anything away. 

 "When we had been at sea about a year, our minds were fully prepared for returning to Castile, as we had then but little provision left, and that little damaged, in consequence of the great heat through which we had passed. From the time we left Cape de Verde until then we had been sailing continually in the torrid zone, having twice crossed the equinoctial line (as before stated), having been five degrees beyond it to the south, and then fifteen degrees north of it. Being thus disposed for our return, it pleased the Holy Spirit to give us some repose from our great labors. 

 "Going in search of a harbor, in order to repair our ships, we fell in with a people who received us with friendship, and we found that they had a great quantity of Oriental pearls, which were very good. We remained with them forty-seven days and procured from them one hundred and nineteen marks of pearls, in exchange for mere trifles of our merchandise, which I think did not cost us the value of forty ducats. We gave them nothing whatever but bells, looking-glasses, beads, and brass plates; for a bell one would give all he had. 

 "We learned from them how and where they fished for these pearls, and they gave us many oysters in which they grew. We procured one oyster in which a hundred and thirty pearls were growing, but in others there were less number. The one with the hundred and thirty the queen took from me, but the others I kept to myself, that she might not see them. Your excellency must know that if the pearls are not ripe and loose in the shell they do not last, because they are soon spoiled. Of this I have seen many examples. When they are ripe they are loose in the oyster, mingled with the flesh, and then are good. Even the bad ones which they had, which for the most part were rough, were nevertheless worth a considerable sum. 

 "At the end of forty-seven days we left these people, in great friendship with us, and from the want of provisions went to the island of Antilla [meaning Hispaniola], which was discovered some years before by Christopher Columbus. Here we obtained many supplies and stayed two months and seventeen days. We passed through many dangers and troubles with the Christians, who were settled in this island with Columbus (I think through their envy), the relation of which, in order not to be tedious, I omit. We left there on the 22d of April, and, after sailing a month and a half, entered the port of Cadiz, where we were received with much honor on the 8th day of June. Thus terminated, by the favor of God, my second voyage. "

X

FAMOUS FELLOW-VOYAGERS

1497-1500

Though Amerigo Vespucci was on occasions intimately associated withChristopher Columbus, conversed with him, corresponded, and had muchto do with the outfitting of his ships, it cannot be shown that thetwo ever went on a voyage together. Some have asserted that theFlorentine accompanied the Genoese on his second voyage, in 1493, butsuch is not the case. From the friendship that existed between thetwo, it would doubtless have been gratifying to both could they haveexplored the New World in company, for each was a complement of theother, and much might have resulted from their conjoined efforts. 

Still, while the great Admiral himself was not favored by the presenceof Vespucci on any of his voyages, it chanced that several of thosewho were with him at different times afterwards accompanied hisrival, either as captains or pilots of his expeditions. Notable amongthese was Vicente Yañez Pinzon, one of the noble family that came tothe rescue of Columbus when in straits at Palos, and furnished thefunds with which the impecunious navigator provided and equipped thevessel he had promised his sovereigns to contribute. The Pinzonsactually provided and manned this vessel, the _Niña_, though Columbushad the credit of it, and Vicente Yañez was its captain throughout thefirst voyage to America, in 1492-1493. 

The eldest of the three brothers, who "risked their lives and fortuneswith Columbus in his doubtful enterprise, " the first voyage to theunknown hemisphere, was Martin Alonzo, who commanded the _Pinta_. Heran counter to the commands of Columbus when off the coast of Cuba, and as a result fell into disgrace with the Spanish sovereigns, anddied of chagrin soon after the first voyage was over. Columbus seemedto consider himself released from any obligations to the Pinzons, owing to the defection of Martin Alonzo, and they never received asingle maravedi for their assistance at the most critical juncture ofthe Admiral's fortunes. As captain of the _Niña_, Vicente Yañez, theyounger brother, stood by Columbus loyally, all through the voyage, and after the wreck of the flag-ship, off the north coast of Haiti, took his commander aboard the little caravel and brought him safelyback to Spain. 

He seems to have received no recognition from Columbus, either for hispecuniary aid or loyal support to him in time of disaster, and afterthe voyage was accomplished he sank out of sight for a while, toemerge again in 1494 or 1495. About that time, says a learnedhistorian, "Ferdinand and Isabella began to feel somewhat disappointedat the meagre results obtained by Columbus. The wealth of Cathay andCipango had not been found; the colonists who had expected to meetwith pearls and gold growing on bushes were sick and angry; FriarBoyle was preaching that the Admiral was a humbug, and the expensivework of discovery was going on at a snail's pace. Meanwhile, VicenteYañez Pinzon and other bold spirits were grumbling at the monopolygranted to Columbus, and begging to be allowed to make venturesthemselves. 

"Now, in this connection, several documents preserved in the archivesof the Indies at Seville are very significant. On April 9, 1495, thesovereigns issued their letter of credentials to Juan Aguado, whomthey were about sending to Hispaniola to inquire into the chargesagainst Columbus. On that very day they signed the contract withBerardi [Vespucci's partner], whereby the latter bound himself tofurnish twelve vessels, four to be ready at once, four in June, andfour in September. On the next day they issued the decree throwingopen the navigation to the Indies and granting to all nativeSpaniards, on certain prescribed conditions, the privilege of makingvoyages to the newly found coasts. 

"On the 12th they instructed Fonseca to put Aguado in command of thefirst four caravels, . .. And it started off in August. The secondsquadron of four, which was to have been ready in June, was not yetfully equipped in December, when Berardi died. Then Vespucci, representing the house of Berardi, took up the work, and sent the fourcaravels to sea February 3, 1496. They were only two days out when afrightful storm overtook and wrecked them, though most of the crewswere saved. The third squadron of four caravels was, I believe, thatwhich finally sailed May 10, 1497. While it was getting ready, VicenteYañez Pinzon returned from the Levant, whither he had been sent onimportant business by the sovereigns in December, 1495. Columbus, whohad returned to Spain in June, 1496, protested against what heconsidered an invasion of his monopoly, and on June 2, 1497, thesovereigns issued a decree which for the moment was practicallyequivalent to a revocation of the general license accorded tonavigators by the decree of April 10, 1495. Observe that thisrevocation was not issued until after the third squadron had sailed. The sovereigns were not going to be balked in the little scheme whichthey had set on foot two years before, and for which they had paidout, through Vespucci, so many thousand maravedis. So the expeditionsailed, with Pinzon chief in command and Solis second; with Ledesmafor one of the pilots, and Vespucci as pilot and cosmographer. "

In the foregoing the historian accounts for the sailing of Pinzon andVespucci in company, on that "debatable voyage" described in chapterVI. In the year 1499 both Pinzon and Vespucci were to sail--though inseparate fleets--for the coasts of the continent which Columbus hadaccidentally revealed in his voyage of 1498. Vespucci was to coast itsnorthern shores, while Pinzon, with a confidence born of successiveventures on the ocean, was to strike farther southward than any haddone before him (in the western hemisphere), cross the equinoctialline, and reveal to the knowledge of civilized man the great river, afterwards called the Amazon, and the country of Brazil. The fleet inwhich Vespucci took passage left Spain in the month of May, 1499, thatcommanded by Pinzon left in December; and it is still a moot questionwhether the first or the second was the first to arrive on the coastof Brazil. But Pinzon sailed beyond Vespucci on that voyage, though hewas to be surpassed, the next year, in the generous rivalry thatexisted for making the "farthest south. "

Another companion of Vespucci worthy of note is the man called by LasCasas the best pilot of his day, Juan de la Cosa. He had been withColumbus on his first voyage, as owner and pilot of the _Santa Maria_, and also on his second, and may have had good grounds for believinghimself as good a navigator as the Admiral, while as a cosmographer hewas probably his superior. The historian, Peter Martyr, asserts thatLa Cosa and another pilot, Andres Morales, "were thought to be morecunning in that part of cosmography which teacheth the description andmeasurement of the sea" than any others in the world. In truth, thefirst map of importance made within a decade of the discovery of 1492was that produced by La Cosa, in the summer of 1500, after his returnfrom the voyage (his third to the New World) with Ojeda and Vespucci. It is thought that he embodied in that map the results of Vespucci'svoyage of 1497-1498, as communicated to him during their intimatecompanionship of thirteen months. La Cosa, the Biscayan pilot, was aman cast in the same generous mould as Vespucci, and shared none ofthe narrow notions of Columbus. His great regard for Columbus is shownin the vignette to his map, which represents the giant Christopher(the "Christ-bearer") carrying the infant Jesus on his shoulders. Beneath this vignette is the legend, "Juan de la Cosa made this map, in the port of Santa Maria [near Cadiz], year 1500. " It is the bestmap that had been put forth up to that date, and for a long timethereafter remained as a guide to mariners. 

His services were in great request at that time, and in the month ofOctober, 1500, he was engaged by Rodrigo Bastidas, a lawyer ofSeville, to pilot a small expedition he had fitted out to search forgold and pearls. This was the expedition in which Vasco Nuñez deBalboa first embarked for the New World, and which was so profitablethat the leaders returned (though their vessels had sunk at theiranchors in a harbor of Haiti) with sufficient pearls to give them eacha fortune. If they had been content to live at ease in Spain, theymight have done so during the remainder of their days; but bothBastidas and La Cosa were lured back to the coast of Terra Firma bythe prospect of further enrichment, and there they came to untimelyends. 

La Cosa was created _alguazil mayor_ of the territory he and Vespuccihad coasted, and finding Ojeda in want--both of money and anopportunity to display his prowess as a fighter--he generously sharedhis fortune with him and fitted out a fleet containing a ship and twosmall brigantines. Thenceforth, as fate willed it, the great-heartedpilot and the fiery cavalier were inseparable until cut down by death. In the month of November, 1509, they set sail from Santo Domingo withtheir three vessels and three hundred men. La Cosa piloted the littlefleet into a safe harbor, as he knew the coast well from two previousvisits to Terra Firma, but he endeavored to induce Ojeda to attempt asettlement farther on towards the Isthmus of Darien, as the Indians ofthis region were very ferocious and used poisoned arrows. 

Ojeda, however, would not be turned from his purpose, which was toacquire a large number of slaves, either by stratagem or force. Afterthe monks who accompanied his command had read a requisition to thesavages, requiring them to submit gracefully and be converted, if theydid not wish to incur the vengeance of the King of Spain, the Pope ofRome, and their emissaries there assembled, finding them obdurate, Ojeda gave the command to attack. The Indians, by this time, hadassembled in great force, and if they understood the message (whichwas not likely, as it was in Spanish, a language they had never heardbefore) they manifested no inclination to heed its warnings. Theybrandished their spears, shot their arrows, and yelled defiance to theinvaders. This was more than the rash Ojeda could endure, and hedashed headlong at the naked enemy without waiting for his men tofollow. 

Only the gallant La Cosa was with him at first, continuallyremonstrating with his friend for his temerity, but fighting bravelyat his side. The old pilot was a man of peace, but he was destined todie a violent and a horrible death. While pressing forward in advanceof their men, the retreat of Ojeda and La Cosa was cut off by the wilysavages, who had pretended to retire to the hills, whence they soonreturned in great force. La Cosa took refuge in a hut, where hegallantly defended himself until a poisoned arrow pierced his breastand he fell to the ground. One companion survived, to whom he said, ashe felt the chill of death creeping over him, "Brother, since God hathprotected thee from harm, sally out and fly; and if ever thou shouldstsee Alonzo de Ojeda, tell him of my fate. "

Thus expired Juan de la Cosa, former companion of Columbus andVespucci, able pilot, skilled cartographer, loyal till death to theman who had led him into the forest where he met that fatal arrow. 

It is claimed by some that Vespucci and La Cosa made two voyagestogether, in the years 1505 and 1507, but this is doubtful. Aftertheir return from the voyage of 1499-1500 they separated, Amerigo totake service with the King of Portugal, and La Cosa, upon thecompletion of his chart and after his return from the Bastidasexpedition of 1500-1501, settling down to the enjoyment of hisfortune. The third famous member of the trio, Alonzo de Ojeda, obtained authority from the king to colonize Coquibacoa, on the coastof Terra Firma, and received in addition a grant of land six leaguessquare in the island of Hispaniola. 

The former venture had not been considered a success, but themerchants of Seville and Cadiz were persuaded to once more try theirfortunes with the brave cavalier Ojeda, and fitted out for him a fleetof four large vessels. In command of these he set sail, in the year1502, and after touching at Cumana, where he pillaged the Indians andtook many prisoners, he proceeded to Coquibacoa. Finding the placeunsuited for a settlement, he went farther westward and attempted acolony at Bahia Honda, building there a fortress and huts for hispeople. The Indians were hostile at first, but gold was found inabundance--so much of it, in fact, that the adventurers began toquarrel over it, and soon came to blows. Ojeda, as usual, was foremostin the fight that followed, and, as his company turned against him, hewas entrapped on one of the caravels and placed in irons. Then theentire company sailed for Hispaniola, intending to submit the cause oftheir dissension, which was their strong-box full of gold, to thecourts of that island for a decision. They arrived at a port on thewestern coast of Hispaniola, and in the night the manacled Ojedaslipped overboard into the water, intending to swim ashore and makehis escape. The fetters on his feet were heavy, however, though hisarms were free, and he was nearly drowned before his companions, hearing his cries for help, pulled him out of the water and againconfined him in the hold of the vessel. 

Taken to the city of Santo Domingo, he was placed on trial forattempting to defraud the government, and the decision was againsthim. He was not only deprived of his lands, but was stripped ofeverything he owned. For several years thereafter he roamed about theisland, and made occasional voyages, but as a penniless, rather thanan influential, adventurer. His good friend, the "ungodly bishop, "Fonseca, was still in power, but inaccessible through the greatdistance that separated them. One happy day, however, Ojeda met LaCosa, who was then in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune, andwho, with the reckless generosity for which sailors are proverbial, placed all his means at his disposal. He went to Spain, where he sawthe bishop, secured a fleet (as already mentioned), and in it sailedfor Santo Domingo, where he was met by his partner, and together thesoldier and the sailor set out for Terra Firma. 

Before they left the island, however, Ojeda must needs plunge himselfinto another difficulty by picking a quarrel with a rival discoverer, Nicuesa, whom he challenged to fight a duel. It seems that KingFerdinand had granted territory in Terra Firma to both these men; and, though there was certainly room enough and to spare in that vastregion, they began to dispute over their perspective boundaries beforethey had staked them out. The hot-headed Ojeda was a skilledswordsman, but Nicuesa was artful enough to avoid an encounter, inwhich there was little doubt he would be killed, by insisting thateach contestant should deposit five thousand castellanos with anumpire before engaging in the fight. As this was a larger sum thanpoor Ojeda could raise--which, of course, Nicuesa knew full well--theirate cavalier was obliged to sail without having obtainedsatisfaction. 

This was the expedition that ended so disastrously, as narrated in aprevious chapter. The Spaniard who was charged with La Cosa's lastmessage to Ojeda was the only survivor of seventy who had followed therash commander in his headlong attack. What had become of Ojedahimself none of the survivors could tell, for several days passedwithout news of him. His body was not to be found among the slain, andno one who knew him believed that the Indians could have captured himalive. He had fought like a tiger to reach and defend his friend LaCosa, but had been borne back by the thronging savages, and sincethen nothing had been heard of him. The woods and shore were searchedby scouts, and he was finally found extended on some mangrove roots onthe borders of the forest. He was in such an exhausted state that hecould not speak, but, intrepid to the last, still clung to hisbuckler, and in his right hand grasped the good sword with which hehad cut his way through the savage hordes. 

Although famished, and so weak that he could not stand, it wasdiscovered that he had not received a single wound; but on his shieldwere seen the dents made by more than three hundred arrows. His rescuehad scarcely been effected before the ships of his deadly rival, Nicuesa, sailed into the harbor; but, instead of taking advantage ofOjeda's defenceless condition, the high-minded hidalgo offered to joinwith him in an attack upon the savages, in order to avenge his defeat. Combining their forces, the two erstwhile enemies fell upon theIndians while they were asleep, slaughtered an immense number, andthen, after plundering their dwellings set them on fire. 

Thus the unfortunate pilot and his comrades were avenged, and theships sailed on, leaving behind hundreds of mangled corpses and hutsreduced to ashes. It was not strange, then, that the surviving savagesshould ceaselessly attack the settlement soon after founded by Ojedaon their coast, and with such persistency that finally it had to beabandoned. It was in one of these attacks that Ojeda received hisfirst wound. He had hitherto considered himself invulnerable, but, falling into an Indian ambush, a poisoned arrow pierced his thigh. After wrenching it from the wound, he ordered his surgeon, on pain ofdeath for refusal, to burn out the venom with red-hot irons, and bythis means, though his life was saved, he received injuries that madehim permanently lame. 

At last conditions in the settlement became so desperate that Ojedaseized the occasion of a pirate ship touching there to depart forHispaniola in search of assistance. Leaving his company in charge ofFrancisco Pizarro--who in this manner began his conquering career--heembarked in the pirate ship, but had hardly cleared the harbor beforehe began a fierce quarrel with the commander, Talavera, by whoseorders he was seized and fettered. Even when chained to the deck, theundaunted cavalier dared Talavera and his crew to fight him, two at atime, and when they refused denounced them all as cowards. 

A violent gale arose, with the result that their ship was wrecked onthe southern coast of Cuba. Escaping to shore, they endured terriblesufferings for weeks, wandering half famished in forests and throughswamps, until finally rescued by a tribe of Indians who had not heardof Spanish atrocities and who gave them freely all the provisions theyneeded. A canoe was despatched to Jamaica with the tidings ofdisaster, and in the end Ojeda reached Hispaniola, where he had thesatisfaction of seeing his late companions hung for their crimes, andwhere he passed the remainder of his life in poverty. He died in 1515, so poor, says Bishop Las Casas, "that he did not leave money enough toprovide for his interment, and so broken in spirit that, with his lastbreath, he entreated his body might be buried in the monastery of SanFrancisco [the ruins of which may still be seen in Santo Domingo], just at the portal, in humble expiation of his past pride, 'that everyone who entered might tread upon his grave. '"

XI

ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL

1501-1502

The New World, subsequently to be called America, did not revealitself to navigators during the lifetime of any one of those firstengaged in its discovery. Its islands and coast-lines were brought toview one by one, and bit by bit, so that many years elapsed betweenthe voyage of Columbus, in 1492, and that which finally enabled themap-makers to complete the outlines of the continents. It isinteresting and instructive to trace the movements of the explorers, and note how, after the initial work of Columbus, they emulate oneanother in pushing farther and farther into the great ocean ofdarkness, their voyages overlapping at times, but ever extending, until at last the islands of the West Indies are all revealed and thevast southern continent is circumnavigated. 

Columbus, in his first three voyages, brought to view most of thoseislands now known as the Antilles, and on his fourth and last heskirted the eastern coast of Central America; but he left gaps hereand there which it took many years to fill. On his third voyage, in1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad and the pearl islands offthe coast of Cumana; but he did not proceed, as he should have done, along the coast of Terra Firma, and hence Ojeda, Vespucci, and La Cosaslipped in, guided by the very chart made by him and so treacherouslyfurnished them by Fonseca. 

[Illustration: ROUTES OF THE DISCOVERERS]

While doubts may be entertained as to the "first" voyage of Vespucci, none can exist as to that made by him in 1499-1500, as we have thesworn testimony to that effect by Ojeda himself, who, when called togive the same, in the great suit brought by Diego Columbus against thecrown, declared that he had with him on that voyage both La Cosa andthe Florentine. This testimony was given in 1513, a year afterVespucci's death, and its object was to show that the coast of TerraFirma, so called, had been first seen by Columbus. By establishing thefact of his priority, it disposed of any claim Vespucci or hisfriends may have made, as he and Ojeda were sailing with thetrack-chart of Columbus as their guide. Thus they picked up the routepursued by the Admiral, and extended it several degrees, Bastidas andLa Cosa, the next year, carrying it still farther. 

In December, 1499, in June of which year Ojeda and Vespucci had setout together, Vicente Pinzon sailed along the Brazilian coast to apoint eight degrees south of the equinoctial line. He returned toSpain in September, 1500, and in April of that year Pedro AlvarezCabral, in command of a Portuguese fleet bound for the Spice Islands, over the route discovered by Da Gama, accidentally came in sight ofland on the coast of the country since known as Brazil, in latitudesixteen degrees south of the line. Unable to prosecute explorationsthere, as he was bound for the East, around the Cape of Good Hope andalong the west coast of Africa, Cabral sent a vessel of his fleet backto Portugal with the news, and proceeded on his way. 

Casting about for a navigator eminently qualified as pilot andcosmographer to pursue the exploration indicated by Cabral, along thecoast of the country he had so strangely revealed, King Emanuel ofPortugal made up his mind that Amerigo Vespucci was the man he wanted. Just when he came to this decision, and when Vespucci shifted hisallegiance from Spain to Portugal, is not exactly known, but it wasprobably late in the year 1500, after his return, of course, from thevoyage with Ojeda and La Cosa. The particulars of this transaction wewill let him relate in the following letter contained in this chapter. He does not quite satisfactorily explain how he came to break withKing Ferdinand, especially as both the sovereign and Fonseca hadreceived him with marked attention, the latter having presented him atcourt, where he was consulted as to new expeditions, and "his accountsof what he had already seen listened to with the greatest interest. "The affair is all the more inexplicable from the fact that during theinterval between his return from the second voyage and his going toPortugal he was married to a charming lady of Seville. This lady, DoñaMaria Cerezo, was his betrothed during the time he was engaged withthe house of Berardi, but the mania for exploring having seized him, their marriage was not consummated until after the two voyages hadbeen made. She went with him to the court, sharing there the honorsheaped upon him by the king; but after this little is heard of her, though it is known that she survived him several years, and on accountof his distinguished services to Spain received a liberal pension fromthe government. 

Leaving his newly wedded wife in Seville, Vespucci went to Portugal, "where he was received with open arms by King Emanuel, and commencedwith ardor the preparation of the fleet. " Respecting his suddendeparture from Spain, his Italian eulogist, Canovai, has this to say:"It does not appear that King Ferdinand considered himself wronged bythe sudden flight and, to say the least, apparent discourtesy ofAmerigo in leaving the kingdom and the king, his patron, withoutsalutation or leave-taking. It was probably looked upon as a trait ofhis reserved character, or an evidence of his aversion to idle andslanderous rumors, which he was unwilling to take the pains tocontradict. Rumors and whisperings soon die away when they havenothing to feed upon, and when Vespucci returned, as though from ajourney, the slight was forgotten, and he was treated with greaterhonor than before. "

To what cause King Emanuel owed this acquisition of King Ferdinand'sskilled navigator does not appear; but he was not to retain him verylong. He made, however, two voyages under the flag of Portugal, thefirst of which is outlined in this letter to his friend, theGonfaloniere of Florence, Piero Soderini:

 "I was reposing myself in Seville, after the many toils I had undergone in the two voyages to the Indies, made for his Serene Highness Ferdinand, King of Castile, yet indulging in a willingness to return to the Land of Pearls, when Fortune, not seeming to be satisfied with my former labors, inspired the mind of his Majesty Emanuel, King of Portugal (I know not through what circumstances), to attempt to avail himself of my services. There came to me a royal letter from his majesty, containing a solicitation that I would come to Lisbon to speak with him, he promising to show me many favors. I did not at once determine to go, and argued with the messenger, telling him I was ill and indisposed for the undertaking, but that when recovered, if his highness wished me to serve him, I would do whatever he might command. 

 "Seeing that he could not obtain me thus, he sent Juliano di Bartolomeo del Giocondo, who at that time resided in Lisbon, with a commission to use every means to bring me back with him. Juliano came to Seville, and on his arrival, and induced by his urgent entreaties, I was persuaded to go, though my going was looked upon with ill favor by all who knew me. It was thus regarded by my friends, because I had abandoned Castile, where I had been honored, and because they thought the king had rightful possession of me; and it was considered still worse that I departed without taking leave of my host. 

 "Having, however, presented myself at the court of King Emanuel, he appeared to be highly pleased with my coming, and requested that I would accompany his three ships, which were then ready to set out for the discovery of new lands. Thus esteeming a request from a king as equivalent to a command, I was obliged to consent to whatever he asked of me. 

 "We set sail from the port of Lisbon with three ships in company, on the l3th of May, 1501, and steered our course directly for the Grand Canary Islands, which we passed without stopping, and coasted along the western shores of Africa. On this coast we found excellent fishing, taking fish called porgies, and were detained three days. From there we went to the coast of Ethiopia, arriving at a port called Beseneghe, within the torrid zone, and situated on the fourteenth degree of north latitude, in the first climate. Here we remained eleven days, taking in wood and water--as it was my intention to sail south through the great Atlantic Ocean. Leaving this port of Ethiopia, we sailed on our course, bearing a quarter south, and in ninety-seven days we made land, at a distance of seven hundred leagues from said port. 

 "In those ninety-seven days we had the worst weather that ever man experienced who navigated the ocean, in a succession of drenching rains, showers, and tempests. The season was very unpropitious, as our navigation was continually drawing us nearer the equinoctial line, where, in the month of June, it is winter, and where we found the days and nights of equal length, and our shadows falling continually towards the south. It pleased God, however, to show us new land, on the 17th day of August, at half a league distance from which we anchored. We launched our boats and went ashore, to see if the country was inhabited, and, if so, by what kind of people, and we found at length a population far more degraded than brutes. 

 "It should be understood that at first we did not see any inhabitants, though we knew very well, by the many signs we saw, that the country was peopled. We took possession of it, in the name of his most serene majesty, and found it to be pleasant and verdant, and situated five degrees south of the equinoctial line. This much we ascertained and then returned to the ships. On the next day, while we were ashore, we saw people looking at us from the summit of a mountain, but they did not venture to descend. They were naked, and of the same color and figure as those heretofore discovered by me for the King of Spain. We made much exertion to persuade them to come and speak with us, but could not assure them sufficiently to trust us. Seeing their obstinacy, as it was growing late we returned to the ships, leaving on shore for them many bells, looking-glasses, and other things, in places where they could find them. When we had gone away they descended from the mountain and took possession of the things we had left, appearing to be filled with wonder while viewing them. The next morning we saw from the ships that the people of the land were making many bonfires, and, taking them for signals to go ashore, we went and found that many had arrived; but they kept always at a distance, though they made signs that they wished us to accompany them inland. Whereupon two Christians were induced to ask the captain's permission to brave the danger and go with them, in order to see what kind of people they were, and whether they had any kind of riches, spices, or drugs. They importuned him so much that he finally consented, and after having been fitted out with many articles for trade they left us, with orders not to be absent more than five days, as we should expect them with great anxiety. So they took their way into the country, and we returned to the ships to wait for them, which we did for six days; but they never came back, though nearly every day there came people to the shore, who would not, however, speak with us. 

 "On the seventh day we landed and found that they had brought their wives with them, whom they commanded, as we reached the shore, to speak with us. We observed that they hesitated to obey the order, and accordingly determined to send one of our people, a very courageous young man, to address them. In order to encourage them, we entered the boats while he went to speak with the women. When he arrived they formed themselves into a great circle around him, touching and looking at him as with astonishment. While all this was going on, we saw a woman coming from the mountains carrying a large club in her hands. When she arrived where our young Christian stood she came up behind him and, raising the bludgeon, gave him such a blow with it that she laid him dead on the spot, and immediately the other women took him by the feet and dragged him away towards the mountain. The men ran towards the shore forthwith and began to assail us with their arrows, throwing our people into a great fright, in consequence of the boats having grounded, many arrows reaching them. No one resorted to arms, but for a time all was terror and panic. After a while, however, we discharged four swivels at them, which had no other effect than to make them flee towards the mountain, when they heard the report. There we saw that the women had already cut the young Christian in pieces, and at a great fire which they had made were roasting him in our sight, showing us the several pieces as they ate them. The men also made signs to us indicating that they had killed the other two Christians and eaten them in the same manner, which grieved us very much. 

 " . .. We departed from this place and sailed along in a southeasterly direction, on a line parallel with the coast, making many landings, but never finding any people with whom to converse. Continuing in this manner, we found at length that the line of the coast made a turn to the south, and after doubling a cape, which we called St. Augustine, we began to sail in a southerly direction. This cape is a hundred and fifty leagues distant, easterly, from the aforementioned land where the three Christians were murdered, and eight degrees south of the equinoctial line. While sailing on this course, we one day saw many people standing on the shore, apparently in great wonder at the sight of our ships. We directed our course towards them, and, having anchored in a good place, proceeded to land in the boats, and found the people better disposed than those we had passed. Though it cost us some exertion to tame them, we nevertheless made them our friends and treated with them. In this place we stayed five days, and here we found cassia-stems very large and green, and some already dried on the tops of the trees. We determined to take a couple of men from the place, in order that they might learn the language, and three of them came with us voluntarily, wishing to visit Portugal. 

 "Being already wearied with so much writing, I will delay no longer the information that we left this port and sailed continually in a southerly direction in sight of the shore, making frequent landings and treating with a great number of people. We went so far to the south that we were beyond the tropic of Capricorn, where the south pole is elevated thirty-two degrees above the horizon. We had then entirely lost sight of Ursa Minor, and even Ursa Major was very low, nearly on the edge of the horizon; so we steered by the stars of the south pole, which are many, and much brighter than those of the north. I drew the figures of the greater part of them, particularly those of the first and second magnitude, with a description of the circles which they made around the pole, and an account of their diameters and semi-diameters, as may be seen in my _Quattro Giornate_, or _Four Journeys_. 

 "We ran on this coast about seven hundred and fifty leagues: one hundred and fifty from Cape St. Augustine towards the west, and six hundred towards the south. If I were to relate all the things that I saw on this coast, and others that we passed, as many more sheets as I have already written upon would not be sufficient for the purpose. We saw nothing of utility here, save a great number of dye-wood and cassia trees, and also of those trees which produce myrrh. There were, however, many natural curiosities, which cannot be recounted. 

 "Having been already full ten months on the voyage, and seeing that we had found no minerals in the country, we concluded to take leave of it, and attempt the ocean in some other part. It was determined in council to pursue whatever course of navigation appeared best to me, and I was invested with full command of the fleet. I ordered that all the people and the fleet should be provided with wood and water for six months--as much as the officers of the ship should deem prudent to sail with. Having laid in our provisions, we commenced our navigation with a southeasterly wind, on the 15th of February, when the sun was already approaching the equinoctial line, and tending towards this, our northern hemisphere. We were in such high southern latitude at this time that the south pole was elevated fifty-two degrees above the horizon, and we no longer saw the stars either of Ursa Minor or Major. 

 "On the 3d of April we had sailed five hundred leagues from the port we had left, and on this day commenced a storm so violent that we had to take in all our sails and run under bare poles. It was so furious that the whole fleet was in apprehension. The nights were very long, being fifteen hours in duration, the sun then being in Aries, and winter prevailing in this region. While driven by this storm, on the 7th of April, we came in sight of new land, and ran within twenty leagues of it, finding the coast wild, and seeing neither harbor nor inhabitants. The cold was so severe that no one in the fleet could withstand or endure it--which I conceive to be the reason for this want of population. Finding ourselves in great danger, and the storm so violent that we could scarce distinguish one ship from another, on account of the high seas that were running and the misty darkness of the weather, we agreed that the superior captain should make signals to the fleet to turn about, leave the country, and steer direct for Portugal. 

 "This proved to be very good counsel, for certain it is, if we had delayed that night, we should all have been lost. We took the wind aft, and during the night and next day the storm increased so much that we were apprehensive for our safety, and made many vows of pilgrimage, and the performance of other ceremonies usual with [superstitious] mariners in such weather. We ran five days, making about two hundred and fifty leagues, and continually approaching the equinoctial line, finding the air more mild and the sea less boisterous; till at last it pleased God to deliver us from this our great danger. 

 "It was our intention to go and reconnoitre the coast of Ethiopia, which was thirteen hundred leagues distant from us, through the great Atlantic sea, and by the grace of God we arrived at it, touching at a southern port called Sierra Leone, where we stayed fifteen days, obtaining refreshments. From this place we steered for the Azore Islands, about seven hundred and fifty leagues distant, where we arrived in the latter part of July, and stayed another fifteen days, taking some recreation. Then we departed for Lisbon, three hundred leagues farther, which port we entered on the 7th of September, 1502--for which the All-Powerful be thanked!--with only two ships, having burned the other in Sierra Leone because it was no longer sea-worthy. 

 "In this voyage we were absent about fifteen months, and sailed eleven of them without seeing the north star, or either of the constellations Ursa Major and Minor (which are called the "horn"), steering meanwhile by the stars of the other pole. The above is what I saw in this my third voyage, made for his Serene Highness the King of Portugal. "

XII

THE "FOURTH PART OF THE EARTH"

The following letter from Vespucci to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco deMedici, his friend and patron in Florence, was probably written in thespring of 1503. 

 "_To my most Excellent Patron, Lorenzo:_

 "My last letter to your excellency was written from a place on the coast of Guinea called Cape Verde, and in it you were informed of the commencement of my voyage. The present letter will advise you of its continuation and termination. 

 "We started from the above-mentioned cape, having first taken in all necessary supplies of wood, water, etc. , to discover new lands in the ocean. We sailed on a southwesterly course until, at the end of sixty-four days, we discovered land, which, on many accounts, we concluded to be Terra Firma. We coasted this land about eight hundred leagues, in a direction west by south. It was well inhabited, and I noticed many remarkable things, which I will attempt to narrate. 

 "We sailed in those seas until we entered the torrid zone, and passed to the south of the equinoctial line and the tropic of Capricorn, so that we were fifty degrees south of the line. We navigated four months and twenty-seven days, seeing neither the arctic pole nor Ursa Major or Minor. We discovered here many beautiful constellations, invisible in the northern hemisphere, and noted their marvellous movements and their grandeur. .. . To proceed, now, to a description of the country, the plants therein, and of the customs of the inhabitants, I would observe that this region is most delightful, and covered with immense forests which never lose their foliage, and throughout the year yield aromatic odors and produce an infinite variety of fruit, grateful to the taste and healthful for the body. In the fields flourish so many sweet flowers and herbs, and the fruits are so delicious and fragrant, that I fancied myself near the terrestrial paradise. What shall I tell you of the birds and the brilliant colors of their plumage? What of their variety, their sweet songs, and their beauty? I dare not enlarge upon this theme, for I fear I should not be believed. How shall I enumerate the infinite variety of sylvan animals: lions, catamounts, panthers--though not like those of our regions--wolves, stags, and baboons of all kinds? We saw more wild animals--such as wild hogs, kids, deer, hares, and rabbits--than could ever have entered the ark of Noah; but we saw no domestic animals whatever. 

 "Now, consider reasoning animals. We found the whole region inhabited by people who were entirely naked, both men and women. They were well proportioned in body, with black, coarse hair, and little or no beard. I labored much to investigate their customs, remaining twenty-seven days for that purpose, and the following is the information I acquired. They have no laws and no religious beliefs, but live according to the dictates of nature alone. They know nothing of the immortality of the soul; they have no private property, but everything in common; they have no boundaries of kingdom or province; they obey no king or lord, for it is wholly unnecessary, as they have no laws, and each one is his own master. They dwell together in houses made like bells, in the construction of which they use neither iron nor any other metal. This is very remarkable, for I have seen houses two hundred and twenty feet long and thirty feet wide, built with much skill, and containing five or six hundred people. They sleep in hammocks made of cotton, suspended in the air, without any covering; they eat seated upon the ground, and their food consists of roots and herbs, fruits and fish. They eat also lobsters, crabs, oysters, and many other kinds of mussels and shell-fish which are found in the sea. As to their meat, it is principally human flesh. It is true that they devour the flesh of four-footed animals and birds; but they do not catch many, because they have no dogs, and the woods are thick and so filled with wild beasts that they do not care to go into them, except in large bodies and armed. The men are in the habit of decorating their lips and cheeks with bones and stones, which they suspend from holes they bore in them. I have seen some of them with three, seven, and even as many as nine holes, filled with white or green alabaster--a most barbarous custom, which they follow in order, as they say, to make themselves appear ferocious. .. . They are a people of great longevity, for we met with many who had descendants of the fourth degree. Not knowing how to compute time, and counting neither days, months, nor years--excepting in so far as they count the lunar months--when they wanted to signify to us any particular duration of time, they did it by showing us a stone for each moon; and, computing in this manner, we discovered that the age of one man that we saw was seventeen hundred moons, or about one hundred and thirty-two years, reckoning thirteen moons to the year. 

 "They are a warlike race and extremely cruel. All their weapons are, as Petrarch says, "committed to the winds"--for they consist of spears, arrows, stones, and javelins. They use no shields for the body, going to battle almost wholly naked. There is no order or discipline in their fights, except that they follow the counsels of the old men. Most cruelly do they combat, and those who conquer in the field bury their own dead, but cut up and eat the dead of their enemies. Some who are taken prisoners are carried to their villages for slaves. Females taken in war they frequently marry, and sometimes the male prisoners are allowed to marry the daughters of the tribe; but occasionally a diabolical fury seems to come over them, and, calling together their relations and the people, they sacrifice these slaves, the children with the parents, accompanied by barbarous ceremonies. This we know of a certainty, for we found much human flesh in their huts, hung up to smoke, and we purchased ten poor creatures from them, both men and women, whom they were about to sacrifice, to save them from such a fate. Much as we reproached them on this account, I cannot say that they amended at all. The most astounding thing in all their wars and cruelty was that we could not find out any reason for them. They made war against each other, although they had neither kings, kingdoms, nor property of any kind, without any apparent desire to plunder, and without any lust for power--which always appeared to me to be the moving causes of wars and anarchy. When we asked them about this they gave no reason other than that they did so to avenge the murder of their ancestors. To conclude this disgusting subject: one man confessed to me that he had eaten of the flesh of over two hundred bodies, and I believe it was the truth. 

 "In regard to the climate of this region, I should say it was extremely pleasant and healthful; for in all the time that we were there, which was ten months, not one of us died, and only a few were sick. They suffer from no infirmity, pestilence, or corruption of the atmosphere, and die only natural deaths, unless they fall by their own hands or in consequence of accident. In fact, physicians would have a bad time in such a place. 

 "As we went solely to make discoveries, and started with that view from Lisbon, without intending to look for any profit, we did not trouble ourselves to explore the country much, and found nothing of great value; though I am inclined to believe that it is capable, from its climate and general appearance, of containing every kind of natural wealth. It is not to be wondered at that we did not discover at once everything that might be turned to profit there, for the inhabitants think nothing of gold or silver or precious stones, and value only feathers and bones. But I hope that I shall be sent again by the king to visit these regions, and that many years will not elapse before they will bring immense profits and revenue to the kingdom of Portugal. 

 "We found great quantities of dye-wood, enough to load all the ships that float, and costing nothing. The same may be said of cassia, crystals, spices, and drugs; but the qualities of the last are unknown. The inhabitants of the country tell of gold and other metals; but I am one of those who, like St. Thomas, are slow to believe. Time will show all, however. Most of the time of our stay the heavens were serene and adorned with numerous bright and beautiful stars, many of which I observed, with their revolutions. 

 "This may be considered a schedule, or, as it were, a _capita rerum_, of the things which I have seen in these parts. Many things are omitted which are worthy of being mentioned, in order to avoid prolixity, and because they are found in my account of the voyage. As yet I tarry at Lisbon, waiting the pleasure of the king to determine what I shall do. May it please God that I do whatever is most to His glory and the salvation of my soul. "

A third and fuller account of the third voyage, written to Lorenzo diPier Francesco de Medici:

 "In days past I gave your excellency a full account of my return, and, if I remember aright, wrote you a description of all those parts of the New World which I had visited in the ships of his Highness the King of Portugal. Carefully considered, they appear truly to form another world, and therefore we have, not without reason, called it the _New World_. 

 "Not one of all the ancients had any knowledge of it, and the things which have been lately ascertained by us transcend all their ideas. They thought there was nothing south of the equinoctial line but an immense sea and some poor and barren islands. The sea they called the Atlantic, and if sometimes they confessed that there might be land in that region, they contended that it must be sterile, and could not be otherwise than uninhabitable. The present navigation has controverted their opinions, and openly demonstrated to all that they were very far from the truth. For, beyond the equinoctial line I found countries more fertile and more densely inhabited than I have ever found anywhere else, even in Asia, Africa, and Europe--as will be more fully manifested by duly attending to the following narration. Setting aside all minor matters, I shall relate only those of the greatest importance, which are well worthy of commemoration, and those which I have _personally seen_, or heard of from men of credibility. I shall now speak with much care concerning those parts most recently discovered, and without any romantic addition to the truth. 

 "With happy omens of success, we sailed from Lisbon with three armed caravels, on the 13th of May, 1501, to explore, by command of the king, the regions of the New World. Steering a southwest course, we sailed twenty months in a manner which I shall now relate. In the first place, we went to the Fortunate Islands, which are now called the Grand Canaries. After navigating the ocean we ran along the coast of Africa and the country of the blacks as far as the promontory which is called by Ptolemy Etiopia, by our people Cape Verde, and by the negroes Biseneghe, while the inhabitants themselves call it Madanghan. The country is situated within the torrid zone, in about fourteen degrees south latitude, and is inhabited by the blacks. Here we reposed awhile to refresh ourselves, took in every kind of provision, and set sail, directing our course towards the antarctic pole. .. . 

 "To shorten my relation as much as possible, your excellency must know that we sailed ninety-seven days, experiencing harsh and cruel fortune. During forty-four days the heavens were in great commotion, and we had nothing but thunder and lightning and drenching rains. Dark clouds covered the sky, so that by day we could see but little better than we could in ordinary nights without moonshine. The fear of death came over us, and the hope of life almost deserted us. After all these heavy afflictions at last it pleased God in His mercy to have compassion on us and save our lives. On a sudden, the land appeared in view, and at the sight of it our courage, which had fallen very low, and our strength, which had become weakness, immediately revived. Thus it usually happens to those who have passed through great afflictions, and especially to those who have been preserved from the rage of evil fortune. 

 "On the 17th of August, in the year 1501, we anchored by the shore of that country, and rendered to the Supreme Being our most sincere thanks, according to the Christian custom. The land we discovered did not appear to be an island, but a continent, as it extended far away in the distance, without any appearance of termination. It was beautifully fertile and very thickly inhabited, while all sorts of wild animals, which are unknown in our parts, were there found in abundance. .. . We were unanimously of the opinion that our navigation should be continued along this coast and that we should not lose sight of it. We sailed, therefore, till we arrived at a certain cape, which makes a turn to the south, and which is perhaps three hundred leagues distant from the place where we first saw land. In sailing this distance we often landed and held intercourse with the natives, and I have omitted to state that this newly discovered land is about seven hundred leagues distant from Cape Verde, though I was persuaded that we had sailed at least eight hundred. This was partly owing to a severe storm, our frequent accidents, and partly to the ignorance of the pilot. 

 "We had arrived at a place which, if I had not possessed some knowledge of cosmography, by the negligence of the pilot would have finished the course of our lives. There was no pilot who knew our situation within fifty leagues, and we went rambling about, and should not have known whither we were going if I had not provided, in season for my own safety and that of my companions, the astrolabe and quadrant, my astrological instruments. On this occasion I acquired no little glory for myself, so that from that time forward I was held in such estimation by my companions as the learned are held in by people of quality. .. . 

 "This continent commences at eight degrees south of the equinoctial line, and we sailed so far along the coast that we passed seventeen degrees beyond the winter tropic, towards the antarctic pole, which was here elevated fifty degrees above the horizon. The things which I saw here are unknown to the men of our times. That is, the people, their customs, their humanity, the fertility of the soil, the mildness of the atmosphere, the celestial bodies, and, above all, the fixed stars of the eighth sphere, of which no mention has ever been made. In fact, until now they have never been known, even by the most learned of the ancients, and I shall speak of them, therefore, more particularly. .. . The climate is very temperate and the country supremely delightful. Although it has many hills, yet it is watered by a great number of springs and rivers, and the forests are so closely studded that one cannot pass through them, on account of the thickly standing trees. Among these ramble ferocious animals of various kinds. .. . The country produces no metal except gold; and though we in this first voyage have brought home none, yet all the people certified to the fact, affirming that the region abounded in gold, and saying that among them it was little esteemed and nearly valueless. They have many pearls and precious stones, as we have recorded before. Now, though I should be willing to describe all these things particularly, yet, from the great number of them and their diverse nature, this history would become too extensive a work. Pliny, a most learned man, who compiled histories of many things, did not imagine the thousandth part of these. If he had treated of each one of them, he would have made a much larger but in truth a very perfect work. .. . 

 "If there is a terrestrial paradise in the world, it cannot be far from this region. The country, as I have said before, facing the south, has such a temperate climate that in winter they have no cold and in summer are not troubled with heat. The sky and atmosphere are seldom overshadowed with clouds, and the days are almost always serene. Dew sometimes falls, but very lightly, and only for the space of three or four hours, and then vanishes like mist. They have scarcely any vapors, and the sky is splendidly adorned with stars unknown to us, of which I have retained a particular remembrance, and have enumerated as many as twenty whose brightness is equal to that of Venus or Jupiter. I considered also their circuit and their various motions, and, having a knowledge of geometry, I easily measured their circumference and diameter, and am certain, therefore, that they are of much greater magnitude than men imagine. Among the others, I saw three _Canopi_, two being very bright, while the third was dim and unlike the others. 

 "The antarctic pole has not the Ursa Major and Minor, which can be seen at our arctic pole; neither are there any bright stars touching the pole, but of those which revolve around it there are four, in the form of a quadrangle. While these are rising, there is seen at the left a brilliant Canopus, of admirable magnitude, which, having reached mid-sky, forms the figure of a triangle. To these succeed three other brilliant stars, of which the one placed in the centre has twelve degrees of circumference. In the midst of them is another brilliant Canopus. After these follow six other bright stars, whose splendor surpasses that of all others in the eighth sphere. .. . These are all to be seen in the Milky Way, and when they arrive at the meridian show the figure of a triangle, but have two sides longer than the other. I saw there many other stars, and carefully observed their various motions, composing a book which treats of them particularly. In this book I have related almost all the remarkable things which I have encountered in the course of my navigation, and with which I have become acquainted. The book is at present in the possession of the king, and I hope he will return it soon into my hands. 

 "I examined some things in that hemisphere very diligently, which enables me to contradict the opinions of philosophers. Among other things, I saw the rainbow--that is, the celestial arch--which is white near midnight. Now, in the opinion of some, it takes the color of the four elements: the red from fire, the green from the earth, the white from the air, and blue from the water. Aristotle, in his book entitled _Meteors_, is of a very different opinion. He says: 'The celestial arch is a repercussion of the sun's rays in the vapors of the clouds where they meet, as brightness reflected from the water upon the wall returns to itself. By its interposition it tempers the heat of the sun; by resolving itself into rain it fertilizes the earth, and by its splendor beautifies the heavens. It demonstrates that the atmosphere is filled with humidity, which will disappear forty years before the end of the world, which will be an indication of the dryness of the elements. It announces peace between God and man, is always opposite the sun, is never seen at noon, because the sun is never in the north. '

 "But Pliny says that after the autumnal equinox it appears every hour. This I have extracted from the _Comments of Landino_ on the fourth book of the _Æneid_, and I mention it that no man may be deprived of the fruits of his labors, and that due honors may be rendered to every one. I saw this bow two or three times; neither am I alone in my reflections upon this subject, for many mariners are also of my opinion. We saw also the new moon at mid-day, as it came into conjunction with the sun. There were seen also, every night, vapors and burning flames flashing across the sky. A little above, I called this region by the name of hemisphere, which, if we would not speak improperly, cannot be so called when comparing it with our own. It appeared to present that form only partially, and it seemed to us speaking improperly to call it a 'hemisphere. '

 "As I have before stated, we sailed from Lisbon--which is nearly forty degrees distant from the equinoctial line towards the north--to this country, which is fifty degrees on the other side of the line. The sum of these degrees is _ninety_, and is the fourth part of the circumference of the globe, according to the true reckoning of the ancients. It is therefore manifest to all _that we measured the fourth part of the earth_. [13]

 "We who reside in Lisbon, nearly forty degrees north of the equinoctial line, are distant from those who reside on the other side of the line, in angular meridional length, ninety degrees--that is, obliquely. In order that the case may be more plainly understood, I would observe that a perpendicular line starting from that part in the heavens which is our zenith strikes those obliquely who are fifty degrees beyond the equinoctial line: whence it appears that we are in the direct line, and they, in comparison with us, are in the oblique one, and this situation forms the figure of a right-angled triangle, of which we have the direct lines, as the figure more clearly demonstrates. 

 "Such are the things which in this, my last navigation, I have considered worthy of being made known; nor have I, without reason, called this work my _Third Journey_. I have before composed two other books on navigation which, by command of Ferdinand, King of Castile, I performed in the West, in which many things not unworthy of being made known are particularly described: especially those which appertain to the glory of our Saviour, who, with marvellous skill, built this machine, the world. And, in truth, who can ever sufficiently praise God? I have related marvellous things concerning him in the aforesaid work. I have stated briefly that which relates to the position and ornaments of the globe, so that when I shall be more at leisure I may be able to write out, with greater care, a work upon cosmography, in order that future ages may bear me in remembrance. Such works teach me more fully, from day to day, to honor the Supreme God, and finally to arrive at the knowledge of those things with which our ancestors and the ancient fathers had no acquaintance. With most humble prayers I supplicate our Saviour, whose province it is to have compassion upon mortals, that he prolong my life sufficiently for me to perform what I have purposed to do. "

FOOTNOTES:

[13] See Chapter XVI. 

XIII

THE FOURTH GREAT VOYAGE

1503-1504

Doubtless our readers share our wish that the personality of Vespuccicould appear more strongly depicted than it has been presented in thisvolume; but that is a fault, not of the biographer so much as the heroof this biography. It must have been noticed, indeed, that Vespuccisays little or nothing of his companions on these voyages, not evenmentioning the commanders; but at the same time he makes rare mentionof himself; so we cannot ascribe it to a desire for making himselfprominent at their expense. It is simply a fault of style, or a resultof his endeavor to be concise, and bring forward the most interestingevents of the voyages and discoveries, with the least waste of timeand effort. 

He was engaged in exploring new regions; his time was occupied innoting the salient features of the scenery, the traits of the barbaricpeoples, and especially closely observing and enumerating the stars. Astronomy was a passion with him, and he passed many nights withoutsleep, during both voyages to the southern hemisphere, in raptcontemplation of the glorious constellations. As he rightly observedin one of his letters, his observations would surely bring him fame, and no worthier object could claim his attention, even to theexclusion of all other work. So it is as the self-absorbed astronomer, the open-minded man of science, seeking to penetrate the secrets ofnature and achieve immortal fame, that we must regard our hero at thistime. 

On his return from the third voyage, Vespucci was royally received byKing Emanuel, even though he had come back almost empty-handed, without gold or gems, silver, spices, or pearls. He had sailed farthersouth than any of his predecessors, having gone beyond the latitude ofthe Cape of Good Hope, discovered the beautiful bay which he calledRio de Janeiro, and perhaps looked into the mouth of the River de laPlata. He had not discovered the "secret of the strait"--that passagethrough the land-mass which confronted all the voyagers from Columbusto Magellan; nor was it revealed until the last-named, in 1520, penetrated the great strait that now bears his name, and sailedthrough into the Pacific. 

It may be argued that not Vespucci, but another (name unknown), wasthe commander of this expedition; but while this other was nominallyin command, the Florentine was the chief pilot, the navigator, anddirected the ships along their courses without mishap. In fact, one ofhis biographers has pointed out that the navigating of this fleet, especially the sailing in almost a straight line from the northerncoast of Brazil to Sierra Leone, on the northwest coast of Africa, wasa triumph of scientific navigation. There is no question that AmerigoVespucci was the greatest navigator of his time, and a recognition ofthis fact is found in his appointment by King Ferdinand, a few yearslater, as the chief pilot of his kingdom. 

Not alone King Emanuel and his court recognized the genius ofVespucci, but the people of Portugal and of Florence. He was receivedin Lisbon with transports of enthusiasm, and one of his ships, whichhad worn itself out in the voyage, was dismantled, "and portions of itwere carried in solemn procession to a church, where they weresuspended as precious relics. " His fame extended far and wide, and inFlorence, the city of his birth, public ceremonies were held, andhonors bestowed upon his family. 

He returned to Lisbon in September, 1502, and eight months later, atthe urgent request of the king, started on another voyage incontinuation of the last, in the hope of finally finding a straitthrough the continent by which India might be reached. About this timetwo events took place which are worthy of note. His patron, Lorenzo, died in June, 1503, and a year later a Latin version of his letter tohim was published under the title _Mundus Novus_, or New World. 

We must not lose sight of this title and this publication, for (aswill be more fully explained in a succeeding chapter) they had much todo with the future defamation of Vespucci. He, it will be observed, was pursuing his voyage to, or from, that "New World, " while thatlittle quarto of only four leaves, with its significant title, wasbeing printed and circulated in Europe. Both Vespucci and Columbuswere then absent from Europe, and both engaged in a desperate strugglewith adverse elements, at the time this pamphlet was published: theone on the coast of Brazil, the other on his last voyage to the WestIndies, in which he suffered shipwreck and nearly perished ofstarvation. 

Both Columbus and Vespucci were innocent of promulgating this title, or this pamphlet, except that the latter had used the term "new world"as possibly applying to his discoveries in the south Atlantic. But, while they were perilling their lives in the service of theirsovereigns, each striving for a common goal, though neither envious ofthe other, capricious Fame was weaving a web in which both were to beenmeshed, and from which Vespucci was not to escape until after thelapse of centuries. 

The inscription in this pamphlet states: "The interpreter Giocondotranslated this letter from the Italian into the Latin language, thatall who are versed in the latter may learn how many wonderful thingsare being discovered every day, and that the temerity of those whowant to probe the Heavens and their majesty, and to know more than isallowed to know, be confounded: as, notwithstanding the long timesince the world began to exist, the vastness of the earth and what itcontains is still unknown. "

This inscription meant that Vespucci's letter had opened the eyes ofeven the clerics to the fact that there was much in the world thenundiscovered, and existing contrary to their preconceived notions. Theinterpreter was a Dominican friar of erudition for his times, oneGiovanni Giocondo, an eminent mathematician of Verona, and anarchitect, who was then living in Paris, where, it is said, he wasengaged in building the bridge of Notre Dame. It was a Giocondo, andperhaps this same man, who was sent by King Emanuel to persuadeVespucci to enlist in his service (as told by him on page 170); butwhether the same, or one of his family, he was intimately acquaintedwith the famous Florentines, including Vespucci, the Medici, and PieroSoderini. He, doubtless, saw the letters written by Vespucci when inmanuscript, and condensed them into his narration, giving full creditto the author in his publication. He was the unconscious cause of aninjustice to Columbus, perhaps, and also of undue prominence beinggiven to the name of Amerigo Vespucci, for it was through the issue ofhis book that, in a roundabout way, the appellation _America_ came tobe bestowed upon the western continents. 

We will elaborate this argument in another chapter; but (requestingthe reader meanwhile to retain these premises in his mind) we willfirst follow Vespucci on his fourth, and last, important voyage to thesouthern hemisphere. In a passage appended to the letter quoted in theprevious chapter, and which we herewith reproduce, Vespucci says:

 "My three journeys I think I shall defer writing about in full until another time. Probably when I have returned safe and sound to my native country, with the aid and counsel of learned men, and the encouragement of friends, I shall write with care a larger work than this. Your excellency [Lorenzo de Medici] will pardon me for not having sent you the journals which I kept from day to day in this my last navigation, as I had promised to do. The king has been the cause of it, and he still retains my manuscripts. But, since, I have delayed performing this work until the present day, perhaps I shall add a _fourth journey_; for I contemplate going again to explore that southern part of the New World, and for the purpose of carrying out such intention two vessels are already armed, equipped, and supplied with provisions. I shall first go eastward, before making the voyage south; I shall then sail to the southwest, and when arrived there shall do many things for the praise and glory of God, the benefit of my country, the perpetual memory of my name, and particularly for the honor and solace of my old age, which has nearly come upon me. 

 "There is nothing wanting in this affair but the leave of the king, and when this is obtained, as it soon will be, we shall sail on a long voyage; and may it please God to give it a happy termination!"

This voyage was undertaken in the spring, or early summer, of 1503, and extended over twelve months, only terminating with the return toLisbon on June 18, 1504. It was, perhaps, the least satisfactory ofany Vespucci had undertaken, and his disgust is plainly apparent inthe following account of it, contained in a letter to Piero Soderini, written in Lisbon a few months after his return:

 "It remains for me to relate the things which were seen by me in my fourth voyage; and by reason that I have now become wearied, and also because this voyage did not result according to my wishes (in consequence of a misfortune which happened in the Atlantic Sea), I shall endeavor to be brief. 

 "We set sail from this port of Lisbon, six ships in company, for the purpose of making discoveries with regard to an island in the east called Malacca, which is reported very rich. It is, as it were, the warehouse of all the ships which come from the Sea of Ganges and the Indian Ocean, as Cadiz is the storehouse for all ships that pass from east to west, and from west to east, by way of Calcutta. This Malacca is farther east, and much farther south, than Calcutta, because we know that it is situated at the parallel of three degrees north latitude. 

 "We set out on the 10th of May, 1503, and sailed directly for the Cape Verde Islands, where we made up our cargo, taking in every kind of refreshment. After remaining here three days, we departed on our voyage, sailing in a southerly direction. Our superior captain [Coelho] was a presumptuous and very obstinate man; he would insist upon going to reconnoitre Sierra Leone, a southern country of Ethiopia, without there being any necessity for it, unless to exhibit himself as the captain of six vessels. He acted contrary to the wishes of all our captains in pursuing this course. Sailing in this direction, when we arrived off the coast of this country we had such bad weather that though we remained in sight of the coast four days, it did not permit us to land. We were compelled at length to leave the country, sailing from there to the south, and bearing southwest. 

 "When we had sailed three hundred leagues through the Great Sea, being then three degrees south of the equinoctial line, land was discovered, which might have been twenty-two leagues distant from us, and which we found to be an island in the midst of the sea. We were filled with wonder at beholding it, considering it a natural curiosity, as it was very high, and not more than two leagues in length by one in width. This island was not inhabited by any people, and was an evil island for the whole fleet, because, by the evil counsel and bad management of our superior captain, he lost his ship here. He ran her upon a rock, and she split open and went to the bottom, on the night of the 10th of August, and nothing was saved from her except the crew. She was a carrack of three hundred tons, and carried everything of most importance in the fleet. 

 "As the whole fleet was compelled to labor for the common benefit, the captain ordered me to go with my ship to the aforesaid island and look for a good harbor, where all the ships might anchor. As my boat, filled with nine of my mariners, was of service, and helped to keep up a communication between the ships, he did not wish me to take it, telling me they would bring it to me at the island. So I left the fleet, as he ordered me, without a small boat, and with less than half my men, and went to the said island, about four leagues distant. There I found a very good harbor, where all the ships might have anchored in perfect safety. I waited for the captain and the fleet full eight days, but they never came; so that we were very much dissatisfied, and the people who remained with me in the ship were in such great fear that I could not console them. On the eighth day we saw the ship coming, off at sea, and for fear those on board might not see us, we raised anchor and went towards it, thinking they might bring me my boat and men. When we arrived alongside, after the usual salutations, they told us that the captain had gone to the bottom, that all the crew had been saved, and that my boat and men remained with the fleet, which had gone farther to sea. This was a grievous thing to us, as your magnificence may well think, for it was no trifle to find ourselves far distant from Lisbon, in mid-ocean, with so few men. However, we bore up under adverse fortune, and, returning to the island, supplied ourselves with wood and water, using the boat of my consort. 

 "This island we found uninhabited. It had plenty of fresh water, and an abundance of trees filled with countless numbers of land and marine birds, which were so simple that they suffered themselves to be taken with the hand. We took so many that we loaded a boat with them. We saw no other animals, except some very large rats, some snakes, and lizards with two tails. Having taken in our supplies we departed for the southwest, as we had an order from the king that if any vessel of the fleet, or its captain, should be lost, I should make for the land of my last voyage. We discovered a harbor which we called the bay of All Saints, and it pleased God to give us such good weather that we arrived at it in seventeen days. It was distant three hundred leagues from the island we had left, and we found neither our captain nor any other ship of the fleet in the course of the voyage. We waited full two months and four days in this harbor, and, seeing that no orders came for us, we agreed, my consort and myself, to run along the coast. We sailed two hundred and sixty leagues farther and arrived at a harbor, where we determined to build a fortress. This we accomplished, and left in it the twenty-four men that my consort had received from the captain's ship that was lost. 

 "In this port we stayed five months, building the fortress and loading our ships with dye-woods. We could not proceed farther for want of men, and besides, I was destitute of many equipments. Thus, having finished our labors, we determined to return to Portugal, leaving the twenty-four men in the fortress, with provisions for six months, with twelve pieces of cannon, and many other arms. We made peace with all the people of the country--who have not been mentioned in this voyage, but not because we did not see and treat with a great number of them. As many as thirty men of us went forty leagues inland, where we saw so many things that I omit to relate them, reserving them for my _Four Journeys_. 

 "This country is situated eighteen degrees south of the equinoctial line, and fifty-seven degrees farther west than Lisbon, as our instruments showed us. All this being performed, we bade farewell to the Christians we left behind us, and to the country, and commenced our navigation on a northeast course, with the intention of sailing directly to this city of Lisbon. In seventy-seven days, after many toils and dangers, we entered this port on the 18th of June, 1504--for which God be praised! We were well received, although altogether unexpected, as the whole city had given us up for lost. All the other ships of the fleet had been lost, through the pride and folly of our commander, and thus it is that God rewards haughtiness and vanity. 

 "At present, I find myself here in Lisbon again, and I do not know what the king wishes me to do, but I am very desirous of obtaining repose. The bearer of this, who is Benvenuto di Domenico Benvenuti, will tell your magnificence of my condition, and of any other things which have been omitted, to avoid prolixity, but which I have seen and experienced. I have abbreviated the letter as much as I could, and omitted to say many things very natural to be told, that I might not be tedious. 

 "Allow me to commend to you Sr. Antonio Vespucci, my brother, and all my family. I remain, praying God that he may prolong your life, and prosper that exalted republic of Florence, "Your very humble servant, "AMERIGO VESPUCCI. 

 "_Lisbon, 4th September, 1504. _"

This was the last letter, so far as we can ascertain, written byVespucci concerning his voyages--or, at least, the last that has beenbrought to light; though it is hoped that his manuscript journals, towhich he repeatedly refers, may yet be found. They are, doubtless, buried in the secret archives of either the crown of Portugal or ofSpain, as at different times he alludes to them as being in the handsof the kings, from whom he hopes to receive them at their pleasure. Both King Emanuel and King Ferdinand held Vespucci in great esteem;but, as consideration for their subjects, whether high or low, neverentered their minds, they probably retained the manuscripts for years, and eventually these precious documents may have been buried beneaththe vast accumulation of papers relating to the voyages anddiscoveries in both hemispheres. 

Vespucci was in error respecting the remaining ships of the fleetengaged in his fourth voyage, for a few months later they came back toLisbon in a shattered condition, but, so far as known, with theircrews intact. They had sailed farther to the south than Vespucci wenton this voyage, probably as far as the mouth of the great river LaPlata, which Solis has the credit of discovering a few years later. Ithad been learned by that time that the coasts brought to view by theconstantly lengthening voyages into the south were situated to thewest of the great line of demarcation separating the discoveries ofSpain and Portugal, and hence belonged to the former. This fact has abearing upon the departure of Vespucci and other noted captains fromPortugal about this time, as, if they would pursue these explorationsto their logical conclusion, they must enlist beneath the banner ofKing Ferdinand. Hence we find our hero, towards the end of 1504, onceagain in Spain, and in high favor with the king. 

XIV

KING FERDINAND'S FRIEND

1505-1508

The summer of 1504 Vespucci passed in Portugal, attending to mattersconnected with his last voyage, which had such an unsatisfactoryending; but in the latter part of that year we find him once again inSeville. It is presumed he was warmly welcomed by his wife, after thislong absence of nearly four years; but nothing exists at all toindicate his marital relations, and so far as furnishing material forhis biographers is concerned, he might as well have remained singleall his life. In point of fact, Amerigo Vespucci, though sterling inhis friendships, ardent and even affectionate, was a true celibate. Hewas wedded to Science, his whole nature was absorbed by the pursuitsto which he had, perhaps fortuitously, devoted his maturer years. Ifwe contrast him with Columbus, in respect to the higher qualities ofhis character, we cannot but be impressed by the difference betweenthese two, for, while the latter was weak, impressionable, if notpassionate, the former was strong, flawless in his morals, devotedever to the star-eyed goddess in whose service he had enlisted forlife. 

He was humane, generous, unselfish, while Columbus, though of moreheroic proportions than his rival, was at times selfish, ungenerous, cruel--as witness his treatment of the Pinzons, his claiming thereward for the discovery of land, which rightly belonged to Rodrigo deTriana, his massacres of Indians in Hispaniola and enslavement of thesurvivors. Against Amerigo Vespucci no such charges of immorality, cruelty, and bigotry can be brought as against Columbus, and the soleaccusation against him, of falsifying the date of his "first" voyage, has not been sustained by the evidence. 

His eulogist, Canovai, says of him, in somewhat extravagant terms:"Behold the transport of that lively emulation which springs from theindisputable consciousness of talents, and is nourished by the pureand delicate essence of virtue, which shines uncontaminated in everyfootstep of the hero. It seems enmity, but is laudable strife; itseems envy, but is a generous ambition. If Columbus had found rivalsand enemies resembling Amerigo, I should not see, as now, themagnificent scene of his triumph so suddenly changed into mourning andhorror, the gloomy night of ignominy and mockery succeed the brieflight of ephemeral happiness, and that invincible leader, whoredoubled the power and dominions of ungrateful Castile, groaningunder the weight of infamous chains, while he asks for nothing butliberty to carry her arms to the most distant shores of the West. 

"Go now, and turning your eyes from the atrocious metamorphosis, exclaim it is chance--it is fate; arbitrary sounds and sterilesyllables, with which no distinct idea can ever be associated. Alas!are there not imperceptible threads by which a regulating hand guidesus through a crooked labyrinth from causes to effects, and prepares insilence the events of the universe? Prostrated by implacablevengeance, and despoiled of the exclusive right to discoveries andhonors, Columbus pines in inaction; but no new columns of Hercules, beyond which the pilot dares not pass, stand erect before the shoresof Mexico. Amerigo Vespucci reunites the web of fortunate events. Amerigo succeeds Columbus!"

In simpler diction, Columbus brought all his troubles upon himself. Hedared much, but he demanded more than he was, by merit of mereachievement, entitled to receive. He was constantly warring forhis alleged rights--with the king, with Fonseca, with hisfellow-explorers, and especially with such commanders of shipsor expeditions as might by their discoveries belittle hisaccomplishments. Hence resulted untold misery to the natives of theNew World, consequent upon the crushing despotism he inaugurated inorder to gain gold with which to vindicate himself to his sovereigns. Hence came Bodadilla and Ovando, sent out to investigate his doings, one of whom despatched him in fetters to Spain, and the other hastenedthe extinction of the Indians, already begun by Columbus himself. 

The aggressive insistence of Columbus in the matter of honors andprivileges, which were in their nature but temporary, are in decidedcontrast to the modesty and simplicity of Vespucci, who indeed wasambitious to acquire an honorable name which should be "the comfortand solace of his old age, " but who, "by his quiet and unobtrusivemanners, made friends even among his rivals. " He was scrupulouslyregardful of the rights of others, treating the helpless natives withespecial tenderness. This statement may seem to be disproved by thefact that on two of his voyages he took home gangs of Indians to besold as slaves; but it is not known that he himself was responsiblefor this, as he was not the real commander of the expeditions, thoughthe actual scientific head and navigator. 

He was as deeply devout as Columbus himself, always rendering thanksto the Almighty for His favors, but was by no means a fanatic inreligion. While Columbus ascribes his discoveries to the especialfavor of some particular saint, on occasions, or his deliverance fromdanger to the direct interposition of Providence, Vespucci makes nosuch superstitious claims for himself, though acknowledging hisdependence upon God and expressing gratitude for divine support. Hebelieved, evidently, in the precept of the Golden Rule--"Do untoothers as you would have them do to you"; and this, alas, cannot besaid of Christopher Columbus. Though he married late in life, and hadno children of his own, Vespucci "was full of affectionate feeling forhis family, as his care and attention to the education and advancementof his nephew, and his memory of relatives in Florence, from whom hehad been so long absent, amply testify. "

Finally, the structure which Columbus fain would have raised hascrumbled to ruins, while that built by Vespucci, who labored withoutthought of himself, or hope of reward, has been strengthened by thelapse of time, and will stand so long as the world endures. Vespuccihumbled himself, and was exalted, for the name bestowed upon thehemisphere which these two were instrumental in revealing to Europewas suggested by utter strangers to the Florentine--men of penetratingmind, who perceived an eternal fitness in calling it _America_. 

These reflections arise from the fact that, soon after the return ofVespucci to Seville, he met, and was probably entertained by, Christopher Columbus. The old Admiral had but recently returned fromhis fourth and last voyage to the West Indies, where he had escapeddeath by a miracle, and had suffered humiliation at the hands of theatrocious Ovando. He had come back to Spain to find his friend andprotectress, Isabella, on a bed of death; to encounter the ingratitudeof Ferdinand and meet the charges of his enemies. He was never to makeanother voyage until he embarked on that last long journey into theworld unknown. 

Broken in fortune, worn by the ills of advancing age, crushed beneaththe calumnies of his foes, Columbus felt the end approaching, probably, and perhaps looked upon Vespucci as, in a sense, hissuccessor. At least he perceived that the latter's star was in theascendant, for he knew him as a friend of King Ferdinand, who, mistrustful ever of the man who had discovered a new empire for him torule, yet was inclined to favor Vespucci, whose sterling qualities heappreciated. He had always liked the Florentine for his manly, modestbearing, his sturdy good sense, his industry, patience, erudition, andeminent abilities in general. Here was a man who made voyages by whichthe pathways were opened to new countries, without stipulating inadvance that he should be rewarded with the admiralty of the OceanSea, without bargaining for the viceroyship of the countries hediscovered, or for a tenth of all their resources and trade. He seemedto have no thought of himself, so absorbed was he in performing a workwhich, he had every reason to believe, would redound to the honor ofthe land he was born in and the sovereigns he served. 

He had, to be sure, carried his talents to a rival sovereign, andserved him as faithfully as he had King Ferdinand; but the latter borehim no ill-will for that. It is not certain, in truth, that he had notconnived at Vespucci's entering the service of Portugal for a time, as, in view of his return to Spain, he received all the benefit of hisexperience. It was by means of Vespucci's voyage, most probably, thatit was definitely ascertained how far Portugal had encroached uponterritory assigned by the pope to her great rival, Spain. Deep andcrafty was the diplomacy of King Ferdinand, and it is within thebounds of probability that he himself sent the silent, observant, faithful Vespucci to take service with King Emanuel for a season. 

The overlapping voyages of Vespucci and Pinzon, in 1499, 1500, 1501, and 1503, had decided the question of sovereignty in South America--atleast its northern coasts--in favor of Spain. These two, then, weresoon commissioned by Ferdinand to equip a fleet, of which they were tobe the joint commanders. This fleet was to sail for Brazil, andthence, after establishing colonies, or forts, continue theexplorations they had severally so auspiciously begun. On April 11, 1505 (it is on record), the king made Vespucci a grant of twelvethousand maravedis, and on the 24th of the same month letters ofnaturalization were issued in his behalf, "in consideration of AmerigoVespucci's fidelity, and his many valuable services to the crown. "

Before proceeding to relate the story of Vespucci's renewed servicewith King Ferdinand, let us, however, return to the subject of hisintercourse with Columbus, with whom, as there is strong evidence inproof, he was on terms of intimate friendship. This proof is found ina letter written by Columbus, at a time (as already mentioned) when hewas in disfavor at court, and after his return from the last and mostunfortunate voyage. It furnishes evidence of the most positivecharacter that Vespucci and Columbus did not consider themselves asrivals, but were actually on the best of terms. It was written nearlya year after the first publication of Vespucci's letter to Lorenzo deMedici, alluded to in the previous chapter; yet the relations betweenthe two discoverers were such as might have existed between men unitedby fraternal ties. 

 "_To my very dear Son, Don Diego Columbus--at the Court. _

 "MY DEAR SON, --"Diego Mendez departed from this place on Monday, the 3d of this month. After his departure I held converse with Amerigo Vespucci, the bearer of this letter, who goes to court on some business connected with navigation. He has always been _desirous of serving me, and is an honorable man_, though fortune has been unpropitious to him, as to many others; and his labors have not been as profitable as he deserves. He goes on my account, and with a great desire to do something which may redound to my advantage, if it is in his power. 

 "I know not here what instructions to give him that will benefit me, because I am ignorant of what will be required there; but he goes determined to do for me all that is possible. See what can be done to advantage there, and labor for it, that he may know and speak of everything, and devote himself to the work; and let everything be done with secrecy, that no suspicions may arise. I have said to him all that I can say touching the business, and have informed him of all payments which have been made me, and what is due. 

 "This letter is also intended for the adelantado [Don Bartholomew, Christopher's brother], that he may avail himself of any advantage and advice on the subject. His highness believes that the ships were in the best and richest portion of the Indies, and if he desires to know anything more on the subject, I will satisfy him by word of mouth, for it is impossible for me to tell him by letter. 

 "May the Lord have you in His holy keeping. 

 "Done at Seville, the 5th of February, 1505. 

 "Thy father, who loves thee better than himself, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. "S. "S. A. S. "X. M. Y. "Xpo. Ferens. "

This precious document was found in the archives of Spain byNavarrete, whose volumes constitute a veritable mine of Spanishhistory. The superscription at the foot of the letter was adopted byColumbus after he became a "Don, " and is supposed to mean: "Servus, Supplex Altissimi Salvatori; Christus, Maria, Josephus"; or, inEnglish: "Humble Servant of the most high Saviour; Christ, Mary, Joseph. " The original letter is contained in the collection of anindirect descendant of Columbus, the Duke of Veragua. It bears ampletestimony to the important fact that, while the great Columbus was notpermitted to present himself at court, his friend Vespucci not onlyhad access to the throne but strong influence there. 

XV

PILOT-MAJOR OF SPAIN

1508-1512

If Vespucci had been as heedful of posthumous fame as Columbus, wholost no opportunity for trumpeting his deeds to the world, we shouldbe better prepared to present a continuous narrative of his life thanit is possible to gather from the fragmentary material he has leftbehind him. "The transactions of Vespucci at court, " says Mr. Fiske, the eminent historian, "and the nature of the maritime enterprisesthat were set on foot or carried to completion during the next fewyears, are to be gathered chiefly from old account-books, contracts, and other business documents, unearthed by the indefatigableNavarrete, and printed in his great collection. .. . Unfortunately, account-books and legal documents, having been written for otherpurposes than the gratification of the historian, are--like the'geological record'--imperfect. Too many links are missing, to enableus to determine with certainty just how the work was shared amongthese mariners (Vespucci, La Cosa, Pinzon, and Solis), or just howmany voyages were undertaken. But it is clear that the firstenterprise contemplated (by King Ferdinand) was a voyage by Pinzon, incompany with either Solis or Vespucci, or both, for the purpose offinding an end to the continent or a passage into the Indian Ocean. What Vespucci had failed to do in his last voyage for Portugal, he nowproposed to do in a voyage for Spain. "

While the large fleet for this purpose was being prepared, it isbelieved, Vespucci and La Cosa made two voyages, one in 1505 andanother in 1507, to Darien and the Pearl Coast, which resulted moreprofitably to them than any others they had undertaken. As thesevoyages were simply for commercial purposes, and as Vespucci seems tohave held in contempt the mere acquisition of riches, especially whenthe promotion of discovery was not the aim of his expeditions, hemakes no mention of them whatever. In truth, but for the finding oftwo letters, sent to the Venetian senate by its diplomatic agents inSpain, dated 1505 and 1507, these fifth and sixth voyages of Vespucciwould have been overlooked entirely. The omission illustrates hiscarelessness in respect to the chronicling of his deeds, hisheedlessness as to fame and glory. As one of his eulogists truly says:"In none of his writings does Vespucci claim for himself advancement, honor, or emolument, nor does he seek to delude his patrons withvisions of untold wealth. His letters are the easy effusions of agreat mind filled with admiration at the fertile regions, balmyclimate, and primitive races of the New World. Ever modest, he mergeshimself in the greatness of his undertaking; and if the civilizedworld with one accord gave his name to the regions he was the first inmodern times to visit, it was a tribute which it deemed just and paidunasked. "

Owing to the protests of Portugal, it is thought, the great fleetintended for the extension of discovery along the southern coast ofBrazil was dispersed and its vessels diverted to other seas. Vespuccihad been active in its equipment, and during the uncertainty existingin Spain after the death of Queen Isabella, and the consequentderangement of affairs at court, he appears prominently in thebusiness. He was despatched to court by the board of trade of Seville, especially commissioned to extricate them from the dilemma in whichthey found themselves: unable to determine whether they were to act inthe name of the crazy princess, Juana, her foreign consort, Philip, orthe old king, Ferdinand. In order to be able to meet any emergency, Vespucci was furnished with three different letters and sets ofinstructions. "You will take, " wrote the president of the board oftrade to Amerigo, "three letters: for the king, Vila, his grandchamberlain, and the secretary, Gricio, besides five memorials: oneupon the despatch of the armament, two others received from Hispaniolaconcerning the tower which King Ferdinand commanded to be built uponthe Pearl Coast, and the remaining two upon the caravels which are onservice in Hispaniola, and concerning what things are necessary forthe fortress which is building there. If Gricio is at court, andattends to the affairs of the Indies, give him the letter, show himthe memorials, and he will guide you to the ear of the king and obtainfor you good despatch. We are informed, however, that the king hasintrusted the business of the Indies to M. De Vila, his grandchamberlain, and if that is the case go directly to him. What weprincipally desire is a full understanding of the agreement which hasbeen entered into between the king, our lord (Philip, the consort ofJuana Loca), and King Ferdinand, in order that we may be able to giveto each prince that which is his. "

Without going further into the affairs of court at this period--merelypausing to remark that after the death of Philip the old king soonextricated his kingdom from the state of embarrassment into which ithad been plunged--we cannot but note that Amerigo Vespucci must havebeen a man of weight and influence to be selected for such a mission. It was a visit to the court previous to this which Columbus had inmind when he gave him the letter to his son Don Diego. The biographerof Columbus, Mr. Irving, has tried to make it appear that he was usedby Columbus to further his own ends, for he says: "Among the personswhom Columbus employed at this time in his missions to the court wasAmerigo Vespucci. He describes him as a worthy but unfortunate man, who had not profited as much as he deserves by his undertakings, andwho had always been disposed to render him a service. His object inemploying him appears to have been to prove the value of his lastvoyage, and that he had been in the most opulent parts of the NewWorld, Vespucci having since touched upon the same coast, in a voyagewith Alonzo de Ojeda. "

Now, this amiable apologist, in his persistent efforts to thrustAmerigo Vespucci into positions subordinate to Columbus, defeats hisown purpose and disparages his own hero, for by his very words can hebe discredited. He himself says: "The incessant applications ofColumbus [at court], both by letter and by the intervention offriends, appear to have been listened to with cool indifference. Nocompliance was yielded to his requests, and no deference paid to hisopinions. .. . In short, he was not in any way consulted in the affairsof the New World. "

And this was at about the time that Amerigo Vespucci was intrustedwith most important business at court by the board of trade ofSeville; about the time that he was called to court and highlyhonored by the king; just before the time that he was made captain ofa fleet, with a salary of thirty thousand maravedis per annum. Therewas, in truth, no man in the employ of Spain more highly regarded thanVespucci for his talents, for his honesty, for his loyalty to thegovernment. At the settlement of accounts pertaining to the fleetwhich had been intended for South America, more than five millionmaravedis passed through his hands--and he was never charged withhaving diverted a single centavo to himself. 

Nothing can so abundantly testify to the respect in which Vespucci washeld as his relations with King Ferdinand. While he has the uniquehonor of being almost the only man that Columbus never quarrelledwith, it is also to his credit that he acquired, and retained to thelast, the respect and confidence of the king. Ferdinand was alwaysmistrustful of Columbus, and with good reason, but never refusedVespucci a favor--if he asked one--or hesitated to give him anaudience. The reason was, most probably, that, aside from hisdeceitfulness (which was a quality the crafty Ferdinand could toleratein no one but himself), Columbus was constantly importuning him forfurther honors and emoluments; while Vespucci rarely, if ever, cravedglory or riches for himself. Nothing came of Vespucci's intercessionat court for Columbus, and soon the latter dropped out of sight. Hedied in 1506, utterly neglected by the court and king, and in suchobscurity that he was unnoticed in the local annals of the day. 

In the mean time, Amerigo Vespucci was at the height of his career, trusted by the sovereign and honored by all with whom he came incontact. On the return of King Ferdinand to absolute power in Spain, through the death of his son-in-law Philip and the regency for hisinsane daughter Juana, he called Vespucci and La Cosa to court inorder to consult with them respecting nautical affairs and futurediscoveries. In February, 1508, Vespucci, Pinzon, and Solis, who, together with La Cosa, were then the most highly honored navigators inSpanish employ, were charged with the safe conduct to the king'streasury of six thousand ducats in gold, for which service theyreceived six thousand maravedis each. 

Another consultation was held with the king, whose favorable opinionof Vespucci was so strengthened that the year following he created forhim the office of pilot-major, as the most eminent navigator in hiskingdom. This position was given him in March, 1508, and from thattime till his death, in February, 1512, he received a salary ofseventy-five thousand maravedis per annum. He was charged to examineand instruct all pilots in the use of the astrolabe "to ascertainwhether their practical knowledge equalled their theoretical, and alsoto revise maps, and to make one of the new lands which should beregarded as the standard. .. . He was to correct the errors carried intothe charts by the teachings and the maps of Columbus and others. Theinaccuracy of the Columbus charts was so notorious that their use wassubsequently prohibited, and a penalty imposed upon the pilot whoshould sail by them. " Vespucci was at the head of a governmentdepartment pertaining to pilotage, navigation, and charts. It was thenunique in the world, and the weight of authority behind it was adverseto the use of charts made by Columbus; notwithstanding which Mr. Irving says: "When the passion for maritime discovery was seeking tofacilitate its enterprises, the knowledge and skill of an ablecosmographer like Columbus would be properly appreciated, and thesuperior correctness [?] of his maps and charts would give himnotoriety among men of science. "

The importance of this position created for Vespucci will appear fromthe royal order, or commission, which reads: " . .. We command that allpilots of our kingdom and lordships, who now are, shall henceforwardbe, or desire to be, pilots on the routes to the said islands andterra firma which we hold in the Indies, and other parts of the oceansea, shall be instructed in and possess all necessary knowledge of theuse of the quadrant and astrolabe; and in order that they may unitepractice with theory, and profit thereby in the said voyages whichthey may make to the said lands, they shall not be able to embark aspilots in the said vessels, nor receive wages for pilotage, nor shallmerchants be able to negotiate with them as such, nor captains receivethem aboard their ships, without their _having been first examined byyou, Amerigo Despuchi_, our pilot-major, and received from you acertificate of examination and approbation, certifying that they arepossessed, each one, of the knowledge aforesaid; holding whichcertificate, we commend that they be held and received as expertpilots, wherever they shall show themselves--for it is our will andpleasure that you should be examiner of said pilots. And that thosewho do not possess the required knowledge shall the more easilyacquire it, we command that you shall instruct, at your residence inSeville, all such as shall be desirous of learning and remuneratingyou for the trouble. .. . And as it has been told us that there are manydifferent charts, by different captains, of the lands and islands ofthe Indies belonging to us, which charts differ greatly from eachother--therefore, that there may be order in all things, it is ourwill and pleasure that a standard chart shall be made; and that it maybe the more correct, we command the officers of our board of trade inSeville to call an assembly of our most able pilots that shall at thattime be in the country, and, in the presence of you, Amerigo Despuchi, our pilot-major, there shall be planned and drawn a chart of all thelands and islands of the Indies, which have hitherto been discoveredbelonging to our kingdom; and upon this consultation, subject to theapproval of you, our pilot-major, a standard chart shall be drawnwhich shall be called the Royal Chart, by which all pilots must directand govern themselves. This shall remain in the possession of our saidofficers, and of you, our said pilot-major; and no pilot shall use anyother chart, without incurring a penalty of fifty doubloons, to bepaid to the board of trade in the city of Seville. .. . And it is ourwill and pleasure that, in virtue of the above, you, the said AmerigoDespuchi, shall use and exercise the said functions of ourpilot-major, and shall be able to do, and shall do, all thingspertaining to that office contained in this our letter. "[14]

The remainder of Amerigo Vespucci's life may almost be summed up inthe statement that he held this responsible post during the four yearssucceeding to his appointment, for he received his commission on March22, 1508, and died on February 22, 1512. It was an onerous position, "and his appointment to it by Ferdinand was the highest proof of theestimation in which he was held by that monarch that could have beenbestowed upon him. " It was a recognition of his supereminentqualities, as cosmographer and navigator, at a time when Spanishenterprise was reaching out to every part of the western world; and ashe discharged its duties with fidelity and skill, confining himselfclosely to his desk, no leisure was afforded him for further voyaging, for writing out the long-deferred accounts of his travels, or forrecreation of any sort. He made one short visit to Florence, where hewas received with honor, as the most distinguished son of a cityworld-famous for its great men, and where the portrait was paintedwhich has been universally accepted as authentic, representing him asadvanced in years. 

As already mentioned, authentic information relating to the latteryears of Vespucci is of a fragmentary character, and is containedmainly in the official papers found in the archives of Simancas andSeville, by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, to whom the biographersof Columbus were so deeply indebted. The date of the first of thesepapers is July, 1494, and relates to payments made to Berardi, asoutfitter of the ships for the voyages of Columbus. By royal decree, April 11, 1505, the queen's treasurer is commanded to pay to Vespuccitwelve thousand maravedis. Another decree, of March 22, 1508, grantsVespucci, as chief pilot of the kingdom, a salary of fifty thousandmaravedis, subsequently increased to seventy-five thousand. Thenfollows the royal declaration (from which we have quoted), settingforth the duties of the pilot-major, which was issued during theregency of the crazy queen, Juana, and addressed to "AmerigoDespuchi. "

There is no reference to the date and place of Vespucci's death; butthis is not considered singular, in view of the fact that the demiseof Columbus was officially unnoticed at the time. There is, rather, nodirect reference; though confirmation of that event occurs in thecontinuation of his accounts to the day of his death, and after, oneof which relates to the payment of ten thousand nine hundred andthirty-seven maravedis to Manuel Catano, a canon of Seville, as theexecutor of Vespucci's will, "that amount being the balance of hissalary due at the date of his death. "

One of the very few references to the wife of Vespucci is contained ina royal decree of May 22, 1512, which grants a pension for life to hiswidow, Maria Cerezo, of ten thousand maravedis per annum. By a laterdecree, this pension is declared a fixed charge against the salary ofthe chief pilot and his successors. These were, in order ofsuccession, Juan Diaz de Solis and Sebastian Cabot, after whom cameothers not so famous as these great navigators. 

These papers are cited to show that Amerigo Vespucci was not lookedupon as an adventurer by the dignitaries of Spain; that, on thecontrary, he was held in great esteem, honored with the highest officein the gift of the king, in which his great accomplishments could havefull scope. He filled that office with eminent ability, to thecomplete satisfaction of King Ferdinand, and when he died, on February22, 1512, he left behind a name untarnished, a reputation for probityunsullied. Despite the honors accorded him by the kings of Spain andPortugal, however, and the high positions he occupied, he left nofortune for his heirs. His valuable papers were bequeathed to hisnephew, Juan Vespucci, whom he loved like a son; but his widow wasleft in circumstances so straitened that she was actually dependentupon the pension granted her by the crown. 

FOOTNOTES:

[14] From Navarrete's _Coleccion de los Viajes y Descubrimientos_. 

XVI

HOW AMERICA WAS NAMED

1504-1541

If, in the foregoing narrative, the author has seemed to champion hishero unduly, going perhaps unnecessarily into the details of hisvoyages, it may have been owing to anticipated opposition on the partof his readers. There has always been a wide divergence of opinionrespecting the merits of Amerigo Vespucci, and the world has neverreconciled itself to his so-called usurpation of the glory rightlybelonging to Columbus. 

Even so great a writer as Emerson allowed himself to say: "Strangethat broad America must wear the name of a thief! Amerigo Vespucci, the pickle-dealer at Seville, who went out in 1499, a subaltern withHojeda, and whose highest naval rank was boatswain's mate, in anexpedition that never sailed, managed in this lying world to supplantColumbus, and baptize half the earth with his own dishonest name!"

We, who have followed the career of Amerigo Vespucci from itsbeginning to its ending, know that he was not a thief; that--except byimplication, as having been a purveyor of naval stores--he was not a"pickle-dealer"; that he held a far higher rank than boatswain'smate--as attested by the royal proclamation we have cited, naming himto be chief pilot of Spain; and that, so far as the evidence of hiscontemporaries and his own letters show, he made no attempt whateverto thrust his personality upon the world. 

He did not "baptize half the earth with his own dishonest name, "though it is true that the appellation by which a hemisphere is knownto-day was derived from Americus, Amerigo, or Americo--whether wespeak it in Latin, in Italian, or in Spanish. 

How comes it then, the reader may well ask, that America derived itsname from the Florentine, Vespucci, when it should, by right of"discovery, " have been called after the Genoese, Columbus? The answerto this question involves the following of clews centuries old, through a labyrinth of falsehood and misstatement that was built upthree hundred years ago. The first clew may be found on page 197 ofthis biography, where mention is made of the translation of Vespucci'sletter to Lorenzo de Medici, by Giocondo, in 1504, and issued by himunder the title _Mundus Novus_. This letter is said to have been firstpublished in Lisbon and Augsburg in 1504, and in Strasburg in 1505. 

Pick up this book and nail it to the wall, where it may be observed byall, for it was the very beginning of Vespucci's posthumous troubles. We have read the letter and known it to have been a plain, unvarnishedaccount of Vespucci's third voyage, in which he chanced to say that hethought he had discovered the fourth part of the globe, and proposedto call it _Mundus Novus_, or the New World. He was quite right, andwithin bounds, when he did this, for he was thinking only of thatportion of the _southern hemisphere_ which he had found, and not ofthe entire western hemisphere. He did not extend the term to cover thenorthern regions, discovered by Columbus, for the latter had no ideathat they pertained to a new world; in fact--as we know--believed tothe last that they belonged to Asia or India. 

"At no time during the life of Columbus, nor for some years after hisdeath, " says a learned historian, "did anybody use the phrase 'NewWorld' with conscious reference to his discoveries. At the time of hisdeath their true significance had not yet begun to dawn upon the mindof any voyager or any writer. It was supposed that he had found a newroute to the Indies by sailing west, and that in the course of thisachievement he had discovered some new islands, " etc. 

We must, then, acquit Vespucci of any intention of depriving Columbusof his laurels, when he said he believed he had found a new world, forhe referred only to that portion of South America now known as Brazil. Nor, so far as we know, was he either responsible for, or aware of, the publication of his letters to Medici and Soderini--for those tothe latter were afterwards translated and printed--as he was, at thattime, on the ocean. In truth, as the letters were merely epistles tofriends, who would naturally be interested in his discoveries, and ofcourse overlook any defects of diction, he openly stated that he wasonly waiting leisure for improving and elaborating them for issue inpamphlet form. He never acquired this leisure, and the world, tiredof waiting, seized upon his material and brought it out in print, without so much as saying "by your leave. "

The second person to take liberties with Vespucci's name was oneMatthias Ringmann, a student in Paris, who was acquainted with FriarGiocondo, and of course saw the _Mundus Novus_, which he published inStrasburg in 1505. That same year he was offered the professorship ofLatin in a college at Saint-Dié, a charming little town in the VosgesMountains, which had long been a seat of learning. It is said to havebeen strangely associated with the discovery of America, from the factthat here was written, about 1410, the book called _Imago Mundi_, which Columbus read and probably took to sea with him on his firstgreat voyage. In a double sense, this obscure town and college, nestling in a little-known valley of the Franco-German mountains, isknown in connection with the name America, as will now be shown. 

Young Professor Ringmann found at Saint-Dié a select and distinguishedcompany of scholars, composed of Martin Waldseemüller, professor ofgeography; Jean Basin de Sendacour, canon and Latinist; Walter Lud, secretary to Duke René, patron of literature, and especially of thecollege of Saint-Dié, which was to him as the apple of his eye. He wasthe reigning Duke of Lorraine, and titular "King of Sicily andJerusalem, " but had never strayed far from his own picturesqueprovince, though he had won a great victory over Charles the Bold in1477. He is, no doubt, worthy an extended biographical sketch, but inthis connection can only be referred to as the patron of these greatteachers in Saint-Dié, who, soon after the appearance of Ringmannamong them, conceived the plan of printing a new edition of _Ptolemy_. 

One of them, Walter Lud, was blessed with riches, and as he hadintroduced a printing-press, about the year 1500, the college wasamply equipped. So many discoveries had been made since the lasteditions of _Ptolemy_ had appeared, that the Saint-Dié coterie feltthe need of new works on the subject, and sent Ringmann to Italyhunting for the same. He, it is thought, brought back, among other"finds" of great value, the letter written by Vespucci to Soderinifrom Lisbon, in September, 1504, a certified manuscript copy of whichwas made in February, 1505, and printed at Florence before midsummer, 1506. 

No extended explanation is needed now to elucidate the scheme by whichVespucci's letters were incorporated in the treatise published bythose wise men of Saint-Dié, entitled _Cosmographie Introductio_, or"Rudiments of Geography, " and taken from the press on April 25, 1507. 

It was a small pamphlet, with engravings of the crudest sort, but itmade a stir in the world such as has been caused by but few bookssince. But one copy of this first edition is said to be extant, andthat is in the Lenox Library, New York City. It caused a flutter incosmographical circles, not alone at the time of its issue, but forcenturies thereafter, for in it first occurs in print the suggestionthat the "fourth part of the world, " discovered by Amerigo Vespucci, should be called AMERICA. [15]

Professor Martin Waldseemüller was the culprit, and not AmerigoVespucci, for he says, in Latin, which herewith find turned intoEnglish: "But now these parts have been more extensively explored and_another fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vespucius_ (aswill appear in what follows): _wherefore I do not see what is rightlyto hinder us from calling it Amerige, or America--i. E. , the land ofAmericus, after its discoverer, Americus, a man of sagacious mind_, since both Europe and Asia have got their names from women. Itssituation and the manners and customs of its people will be clearlyunderstood from the twice two voyages of Americus, which follow. "

It was a suggestion, merely, and by one who was a perfect stranger toVespucci; but it promptly "took, " for the word America was euphonious, it seemed applicable, and, moreover, it was to be applied only to thatquarter in the southern hemisphere which had been revealed by AmerigoVespucci. It was a suggestion innocently made, without any sort ofcommunication from Amerigo himself, intended to influence the opinionof contemporaries or the verdict of posterity. 

[Illustration: NORTH AMERICA FROM THE GLOBE OF JOHANN SCHÖNER]

"But for these nine lines written by an obscure geographer in a littlevillage of the Vosges, " says Henry Harrisse, "the western hemispheremight have been called 'The Land of the Holy Cross, ' or 'Atlantis, 'or 'Columbia, ' 'Hesperides, ' 'Iberia, ' 'New India, ' or simply 'TheIndies, ' as it is designated officially in Spain to this day. " . .. "Asit was, however, " says another writer, "the suggestion byWaldseemüller was immediately adopted by geographers everywhere; thenew land beyond the Atlantic had, by a stroke of a pen, beenchristened for all time to come. "

The full title of the _Cosmographie Introductio_ reads: "AnIntroduction to Cosmography, together with some principles of Geometrynecessary to the purpose. Also four voyages of Americus Vespucius. Adescription of universal Cosmography, both stereometrical andplanometrical, together with what was unknown to Ptolemy and has beenrecently discovered. "

Notwithstanding the name was "promptly adopted" by the geographers, atthe same time it "came slowly into use, " for geographical knowledgewas then in an inchoate state, especially as respected the New World. It is said to have first appeared on a map ascribed to Leonardo daVinci in 1514; but in a pamphlet accompanying "the earliest knownglobe of Johann Schöner, " made in 1515, the new region is described asthe "fourth part of the globe named after its discoverer, AmericusVespucius, who found it in 1497. " Vespucci did not find it, and henever made the claim that he discovered more than is given in hisletters; but this misstatement by another caused him to be accused offalsifying the dates of his voyages in order to rob Columbus of hisdeserts. 

It will be perceived, however, that the name was not applied at firstto the entire land masses of America, but merely to that portion nowknown as Brazil, called by Cabral "_Terra Sanctæ Crucis_, " or "Land ofthe Holy Cross, " and by Vespucci, who continued his explorations, "_Mundus Novus_. " Further than this Vespucci never went, and, moreover, he passed away "before his name was applied to the newdiscoveries on any published map. " He was living, of course, when the_Cosmographie_ appeared, and may have seen a copy of the book; but theargument advanced by some that he dedicated this work to Duke René ofLorraine, and hence must have written it, falls to the ground whenthat dedication is examined. The worthy canon who translatedVespucci's letter to Soderini into Latin, copied the dedication in theoriginal, which was addressed to "His Magnificence, Piero Soderini, etc. , " but substituted for the last-named his patron, Duke René. Thisis proved by the title "His Magnificence, " which was used inaddressing the Gonfaloniere of Florence, and never in connection withDuke René of Lorraine. 

It was not until near the middle of the sixteenth century that"America" was recognized "as the established continental name, " when, after Mexico had been conquered by Cortés, Peru by Pizarro, and thePacific revealed by Balboa and Magellan, it first appears on the greatMercator map of 1541. The appellation "America" had superseded _MundusNovus_ on several maps previous to this, but only as a term applied torestricted regions. "The stage of development, " says the learnedauthor of the _Discovery of America_, "consisted of five distinctsteps. .. . 1. Americus called the regions visited by him _beyond theequator_ a 'New World, ' because they were unknown to the ancients; 2. Giocondo made this striking phrase, _Mundus Novus_, into a title forhis translation of the letter, which he published at Paris (1504)while the author was absent from Europe, and probably without hisknowledge; 3. The name _Mundus Novus_ got placed upon several maps asan equivalent for _Terra Sanctæ Crucis_, or what we call Brazil; 4. The suggestion was made that _Mundus Novus_ was the Fourth Part of theEarth, and might properly be named America, after its discoverer; 5. The name America thus got placed upon several maps as an equivalentfor what we call Brazil, and sometimes came to stand alone for what wecall South America, but still signified _only a part of the dry landbeyond the Atlantic to which Columbus had led the way_. "

That there was no evil intention on Vespucci's part is amply proved bythe fact that, while he himself lived four years after the_Introductio_ was published, a certain contemporary of his, oneFerdinand Columbus, who was most acutely interested in seeing justicedone the name and deeds of his father, survived Vespucci twenty-sevenyears. He not only saw this book, but owned a copy, which, accordingto an autograph note on the flyleaf, he had bought in Venice in July, 1521, "for five _sueldos_. " This book is still contained in thelibrary he founded at Seville, and as it was copiously annotated byhim, it must have been carefully read; yet, though he has the creditof having written a life of his father, Christopher Columbus, he makesno mention whatever of the "usurpation" by Vespucci. 

Ferdinand Columbus knew the Florentine, and was an intimate friend ofhis nephew, Juan Vespucci; yet the question seems never to have arisenbetween them as to the great discoverers' respective shares of glory. The explanation lies in this fact: that Vespucci's name had beenbestowed upon a region far remote from that explored by his father, who had never sailed south of the equator. Notwithstanding the goodfeeling that prevailed between them, however, long after Ferdinand'sdeath, when the name America had become of almost universalapplication, the veteran Las Casas, in writing his great history, marvels that the son of the old Admiral could overlook the "theft andusurpation" of Vespucci. The old man's indignation was great, for hewas a stanch friend of Columbus, and revered his memory. He made out avery strong case against Vespucci--being in ignorance of the manner inwhich his name came to be given to the lands discovered byColumbus--and when, in 1601, the historian Herrera, who made use ofthe Las Casas manuscripts, repeated his statements as those of acontemporary, all the world gave him credence. 

Vespucci's name rested under suspicion during more than threecenturies, and was not even partially cleared until 1837, whenAlexander von Humboldt undertook the gigantic task of vindication. Itwas not so much to vindicate Vespucci, however, as to ascertain thetruth, that Humboldt made the critical and exhaustive examinationwhich appeared in his Examen _Critique de l'Histoire de la Géographiede Nouveau Continent_. 

Even Humboldt, however, did not secure all the evidence available, butby the discovery of valuable documents the missing links in the chainwere supplied: by Varnhagen, Vespucci's ardent eulogist, by Harrisse, and finally by Fiske. The last-named truthfully says: "No competentscholar anywhere will now be found to dissent from the emphaticstatement of M. Harrisse--'After a diligent study of all the originaldocuments, we feel constrained to say that there is not a particle ofevidence, direct or indirect, implicating Amerigo Vespucci in anattempt to foist his name on this continent. '" And moreover, "no shadeof doubt is left upon the integrity of Vespucci. So truth is strong, and prevails at last. "

This is the conclusion arrived at by the impartial historian, who, without disparaging the deeds of Columbus, without detracting in anymanner from his great discoveries, has restored Amerigo Vespucci tothe niche in which he was placed by the German geographers fourhundred years ago, and from which he was torn by injudiciousiconoclasts, fearful for the fame of Spain's great Admiral. 

It is enough for Columbus to have discovered America; it was far morethan Amerigo Vespucci deserved to have this discovery given his name, by which it will be known forever; but this honor, though unmerited, was at the same time unsought. 

FOOTNOTES:

[15] For an excellent article on Saint-Dié and the naming of America, see _Harper's Magazine_, vol. Lxxxiv. , p. 909 (1892). 

INDEX

 Aborigines, described by Vespucci, 84-95; seen in Vespucci's third voyage, 180-183. 

 Aguado, Juan, 151. 

 Amaraca, aboriginal name of province in South America, 137. 

 Amaraca-pan, the land of Amaraca, 137. 

 Amazon River discovered by Pinzon, 105. 

 America, may have been derived from _Amaraca_, 137; when bestowed upon western continents, 200; derivation of name, 238; first applied to continents in 1507, 243, 244. 

 Antilla, island of, 26. 

 Arno, valley of the, 1. 

 Bahia Honda, reference to, 159. 

 Bastidas, Rodrigo de, reference to, 130; expedition of, 155. 

 Berardi, trading-house of, 49, 76; estate of Juan, 80. 

 Book, the first printed in America, 32. 

 Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, coasts South America, 167. 

 Cannibals, giants, and pearls, chap. Ix. 

 Canopi seen by Vespucci, 189. 

 Canovai eulogizes Vespucci, 210, 211. 

 Carabi, aboriginal word, 96. 

 Caravans of the desert, 47. 

 Carib Indians described, 99. 

 Cathay, kingdom of, 26, 29, 36, 39, 46, 50. 

 Cerezo, Maria, married to Vespucci, 168, 235; dependent upon pension, 237. 

 Chambalu, or Peking, 38, 46, 49, 50. 

 Cibao, Indian word of Haiti, 28. 

 Cipango, island of, 26, 28, 30, 42, 44, 50. 

 Coelho, Gonçalo, reference to, 202. 

 Columbus, Christopher, compared with Toscanelli, 18; uses Toscanelli's chart in crossing Atlantic, 1492, 22; letter to, from Toscanelli, 23-27; adopts Toscanelli's ideas, 30; conversations with, chap. V. ; personal appearance of, 63; second voyage of, 76; extravagances of, 77; and Bishop Fonseca, 77-79; and the Pinzons, 149, 150; in friendly rivalry with Vespucci, 198; and Vespucci contrasted, 210-214; misfortunes of, 215; letter written by, with reference to Vespucci, 218. 

 Columbus, Diego, suit of, against the crown, 166. 

 Columbus, Ferdinand, books owned by, 248; acquainted with Juan Vespucci, 249. 

 Commerce, European, of the fifteenth century, 47, 48; of Spain, fifteenth century, 57, 58. 

 Constellations of the southern hemisphere, 189, 190. 

 Coquibacoa, coast of Venezuela, 134, 135, 158, 159. 

 Cosa, Juan de la, with Columbus in Cuba, 107; sails with Ojeda, 129; the great pilot, 153; chart made by, in year 1500, 154; sails with Bastidas, 155; second voyage with Ojeda, 156; horrible death of, 157. 

 _Cosmographie Introductio_, the first book containing name of America, 243, 245. 

 Cumana, on coast of Venezuela, 132, 137. 

 Curiana, or Gulf of Pearls, 132. 

 Dragon's Mouth, strait of the, 132. 

 Emanuel, King of Portugal, 168; invites Vespucci to Portugal, 169; receives Vespucci at court, 171; sends him on two voyages to the Indies, 170; recognizes his genius, 196, 207. 

 Emerson, R. W. , calls Vespucci a "thief and pickle-dealer, " 237. 

 _Examen Critique_, the, by Humboldt, 103, 250. 

 Ferdinand, King of Spain, and Fonseca, 76; parts with Vespucci, 168, 169; diplomacy of, 216; prefers Vespucci to Columbus, 227; calls Vespucci to court, 228; appoints him pilot-major, 229. 

 Fiske, John, explains "debatable voyage, " 104; on Vespucci's letter of July, 1500, 109; quotations from, 124, 125; on historical records, 221. 

 Florence, Vespucci's birthplace, 2, 3; in the Middle Ages, 12. 

 Florentines, the, as merchants in fifteenth century, 5. 

 Fonseca, Bishop, reference to, 76, 77, 79, 82, 126, 127; authorizes Ojeda's voyage, 128. 

 Fortunate Islands, or Grand Canaries, 186. 

 _Four Voyages_, or _Journeys_, of Vespucci, 90, 95; no trace of book containing the, 103; further reference to, 176, 200, 205. 

 "Fourth Part of the Earth, " the, chap. Ii. 

 Ghengis Khan, 50. 

 Giacondo, Giovanni, translator of Vespucci's letter, 1504, 198, 199. 

 Giants seen in Curaçao, 119. 

 Gomara, historian, on explorations, 102. 

 Harrisse, Henry, observations on the naming of America, 244. 

 Herrera, Antonio de, accuses Vespucci of stealing from Columbus, 101. 

 Humboldt, Alexander von, vindicates Vespucci, 103. 

 _Igname_, Indian word, 89. 

 Iguana, described by Vespucci, 93. 

 _Imago Mundi_, book owned by Columbus, 241. 

 India house, the great, 80. 

 Irving, Washington, and his _Life of Columbus_, 29; denounces Fonseca, 77; narrates Vespucci's voyage with Ojeda, 125; seeks to disparage Vespucci, 225, 226. 

 Iti, an island in the Caribbean Sea, 98. 

 _Kazabi_, or cassava, 89. 

 Khan, the Grand, 24, 28. 

 Kublai Khan, Mongol emperor, 36-40, 49. 

 Lake Dwellers, the, described by Vespucci, 90-95, 120. 

 Lariab, conjectural province of, 96. 

 Las Casas denounces Vespucci, 249. 

 Lud, Walter, 242. 

 Mandeville, Sir John, 49. 

 Mangi, province of, 26, 46. 

 Maracaibo, Gulf of, discovered by Ojeda, 135. 

 Maracapana (see Amaraca-pan), 132, 137. 

 Marco Polo's _Travels_, 33. 

 Marignoli, John de, traveller, 49. 

 Medici, the Florentine, 4, 5, 10. 

 Medici, Lorenzo de, letter written to, by Vespucci in 1501, 109; in 1503, 179. 

 Michael Angelo, birthplace of, 15. 

 Monte Corvino, John of, 49. 

 _Mundus Novus_, or New World, 46, 239, 246, 248; title of pamphlet containing first account of Vespucci's voyage, 197; when published, 239. 

 Navarrete, Spanish historian, 219, 221, 232, 233. 

 New World, the, southern hemisphere of America, so called by Vespucci, 185. 

 Nicollini, Donato, Vespucci's friend, 56. 

 Nicuesa, explorer, quarrels with Ojeda, 160; whom he rescues, 162. 

 Niño, Pedro, successful voyage of, 137. 

 Ojeda the Fighter, chap. Viii. ; with Columbus, 126; friend of Fonseca, 127; receives authority for a voyage, 128; accompanied by Vespucci, 130; visits Trinidad, Pearl Islands, and Curaçao, 132, 133; finds Lake Dwellers, 134; takes cargo of slaves to Spain, 136; second voyage of (1502), 158; placed in irons, 159; makes third voyage (1509), 156, 160; wounded by poisoned arrow, 163; poverty and death of, 164. 

 Oviedo, historian, on discovery of Bay of Honduras, 105. 

 Paria, Gulf of, 131, 132. 

 Paul the Physicist, 16. 

 Pearls, Gulf of, 132. 

 Pearls obtained by Vespucci, 122, 141, 146. 

 Pelotti, Francesco, 49. 

 Peretola, home of the Vespuccis, 2. 

 Pinelo, Francisco, 77, 78, 81. 

 Pinzon brothers, the, 149, 150, 152. 

 Pinzon, Vicente Yañez, discovers the Amazon, 167. 

 Pliny quoted by Vespucci, 191. 

 Polo, Marco, Vespucci's countryman, 33; taken captive, 34; _Travels_, 36-42. 

 Polo, Maffei, 41. 

 Polo, Nicolo, 36. 

 Prescott, historian, quotation from, 57. 

 Printing-press, the first in America, 32. 

 _Ptolemy_, an improved, 242. 

 _Quattro Giornate_ (Four Journeys), 176. 

 Quinsai, city of, 25, 43, 46. 

 René, Duke of Lorraine, 242, 246, 247. 

 Ringmann, Matthias, contemporary of Vespucci, 241. 

 Roldan, Francesco, combats Ojeda, 136. 

 Saint-Dié, town in which pamphlet was printed containing first reference to America, 241, 242. 

 Savonarola, mention of, 15. 

 Schöner, Johann, globe made by, 245. 

 Sierra Leone, 178. 

 Soderini, Piero, letter written to, by Vespucci, 82, 101; second letter, 170; third letter, 201. 

 _Terra Firma_, definition of term, 70; coast of, 166. 

 _Terra Sanctæ Crucis_, 246, 248. 

 Toscanelli, Florentine astronomer, 16; friendly with Vespucci, 16; great attainments of, 19; corresponds with Columbus, 17, 23-27; sends chart to Columbus, 21; ideas of, adopted by Columbus, 30. 

 Trapobana, island of, 123. 

 Trinidad, visited by Columbus, 131; by Vespucci, 132. 

 Varnhagen, Viscount, explains Vespucci's "second" voyage, 105. 

 Vela, Cape de la, 135. 

 Venezuela, origin of name, 134. 

 Veragua, Duke of, 220. 

 Vespucci, Amerigo, spelling of the name, 1; birthplace of, 2; parents, 3, 4; ancestors, 5, 6; birthplace of, 2; parents, 3, 4; ancestors, 5, 6; youth, 7, 8, 9, 12-14; favorite authors, chap. Iii. ; begins his career, 51; enters service with the Medici, 54; goes to Spain, 55; letter of, from Spain, 56; personal appearance of, 63; characteristics of, 64; debatable voyage of, chap. Vi. ; outfits fleet for Columbus, 76; in pay of Spain, 81; letter of, on alleged first voyage, 82-100; letters to Soderini, 82, 101, 170, 201; his _Four Voyages_, 90; accused of purloining from Columbus, 101; vindicated by Humboldt, 103; more humane than Columbus, 104; second voyage of, chap. Vii. ; oldest known writing relating to his voyages, 109; describes constellations of southern hemisphere, 112, 113; in fight with Indians, 117, 118; mentions giants, 119; discovers Lake Dwellers, 120; takes slaves to Spain, 121, 122; with Ojeda in 1499, 130; quoted by Irving, 134; aborigines seen by, 140-144; finds pearls, 146; fellow-voyagers of, chap. X. ; head of house of Berardi, 151; projected voyage with Pinzon, 153; invited to Portugal, 168; married to Maria Cerezo, 168; leaves Spain for Portugal, 169; makes two voyages under Portuguese flag, 170; account of third voyage, 170-177; encounters cannibals, 180-183; calls his discovery the New World, 185; royally received in Portugal, 195; renowned navigator, 196; first-published letter of, 197; makes a "fourth" voyage to America, 200; returns to Spain, 209; contrasted with Columbus, 209-214; mentioned in a letter by Columbus, 218; pilot-major of Spain, chap. Xv. ; at court, 224; corrects charts made by Columbus, 229; official papers relating to, 233; last will and testament, 234; death of, 235. 

 Vespucci, Anastasio, Amerigo's father, 3, 6. 

 Vespucci, Elizabetta, Amerigo's mother, 3. 

 Vespucci, Georgio Antonio, 8, 11. 

 Vespucci, Giovanni, or Juan, Amerigo's nephew, 55; is bequeathed his uncle's valuable papers, 235. 

 Vespucci, Girolamo, Amerigo's brother, 52, 53. 

 Vespucci, Guido Antonio, epitaph of, 6. 

 Waldseemüller, Martin, German geographer, who gave the name to America, 241-243. 

 Yucca, flour made from, 89

 Zaitun, city of Cathay, 43, 50. 

 Zipangu. _See_ Cipango. 

THE END

 * * * * *

[Transcriber's Notes:

The transcriber made the following changes to the text:

 1. P. 44, The grand Khan ordered --> "The grand Khan ordered 2. P. 69, The accounts of those --> "The accounts of those 3. P. 74, But I perceive, Signor --> "But I perceive, Signor 4. P. 77, "Fonesca" --> "Fonseca" 5. P. 137, "Ojeba" --> "Ojeda" 6. P. 143, They had no victuals --> "They had no victuals 7. P. 170, There came to be a royal --> "There came to be a royal 8. P. 205, In this part --> "In this part 9. Index, Columbus Ferdinand, books owned by, 268; --> Columbus Ferdinand, books owned by, 248;

End of Transcriber's Notes]