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Page 28
It is evident that whatever may have been the motives of Ramusio in
making these repeated alterations of the statements in the letter,
they not only show his own sense of their necessity, but they have
had the effect to keep from the world the real character of this
narrative in essential particulars, until its exposure now, by the
production of the Carli version.
VII.
THE EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THE CLAIM. I. DISCOURSE OF THE
FRENCH SEA-CAPTAIN OF DIEPPE.
The extrinsic evidence which in urged in support of the claim to the
discovery by Verrazzano is not of great amount. It is certain,
however, that if the letter upon which the claim is founded, be
spurious and fictitious, as for the reasons assigned, it is
considered to be, any extraneous evidence, must either partake of
the same character, or have originated in some misconception or
error. What exists upon the subject consists principally of two
pieces, which have only recently been regarded of any importance for
this purpose, and in connection with which the others may be
considered.
One of them is an anonymous paper entitled in full, "Discourse of a
great sea-captain, a Frenchman of the town of Dieppe, as to the
voyages made to the new land of the West Indies, called New France,
from the 40 Degrees to the 47 Degrees under the Arctic pole, and
concerning the land of Brazil, Guinea, the island of St. Lawrence
and that of Sumatra," the other is a map of the world, bearing the
name of Hieronimo de Verrazzano.
The discourse of the French captain does not, any more than the
letter of Verrazzano, exist in the original; nor has any copy of it
ever been produced, except in a printed translation by Ramusio in
the same volume, as that in which his version of that letter
appears, and immediately following it. Ramusio states that it was
written in 1539, as may he inferred from the letter itself in its
present form, and that he had translated it from the French,
grieving much that he did not know the name of the author, because
not giving it he seemed to do wrong to the memory of so valiant and
noble a gentleman. It is evident, however, upon comparing the
description, which it gives, of a voyage made from Dieppe to
Sumatra, with the original journal, first brought to light and
published a few years ago, of such a voyage made by Jean Parmentier
in 1529, that this discourse was written by some one of the persons
engaged in that expedition.[Footnote: Voyages et decouvertes des
navigateurs Normands. Par L. Estancelin, p. 241. (Paris 1832.) M.
Estancelin supposes that Pierre Mauclere the astronomer of one of
the ships composing the expedition of Parmentier, was the author of
this discourse (p. 45, note). But M. D'Avezac attributes it to
Pierre Crignon, who also accompanied Parmentier, and who besides
being the editor of a collection of poems by Parmentier, after his
death, evinced his knowledge of nautical matters by writing a
dissertation on the variation of the needle. Introduction to the
Brief Recit of Jacques Cartier, p. VIL (Tross, Paris, 1868.) Brunet,
sub Parmentier. Margry, Les navigateurs Francaises, p. 199. ] Its
authenticity, in general, may therefore not be questioned. But as
the original has never been produced and it is only known through
this version of Ramusio, experience in regard to his practice as a
compiler, of altering texts according to his judgment of their
defects and errors, proves that we have by no means a reliable copy
for our guidance. In fact, as given by Ramusio, its recognition of
the Verrazzano discovery is only by way of parenthesis, and in such
antagonism to the context, as to render it quite certain that this
portion of it is by another hand.
The writer, after explaining the nature of latitude and longitude,
and taking the meridian of no variation running through the eastern
extremity of the Cape de Verde islands as the basis of his
observations of longitude, proceeds to a description of Terra Nova;
so much of which as is pertinent is here abstracted.
"The Terra Nova, the nearest cape of which is called the Cape de
Ras, is situated west of our diametrical or meridional line whereon
is fixed the first point of longitude according to the true meridian
of the compass; and the said Cape de Ras is in west longitude 40
Degrees and 47 of North latitude. The Terra Nova extends towards the
Arctic pole from 40 Degrees to 60, and from Cape de Ras going
towards the pole, the coast almost always runs from south to north,
and contains in all 350 leagues, and from said Cape de Ras to the
cape of the Brettons, the coast runs east and west, for an hundred
leagues, and the cape of the Brettons is in 47 Degrees west
longitude and 46 north latitude. To go from Dieppe to the Terra
Nova, the course is almost all east and west, and there are from
Dieppe to said Cape de Ras 760 leagues.
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