|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 29
"Between Cape de Ras and cape of the Brettons dwell an austere and
cruel people with whom you cannot treat or converse. They are large
of person, clad in skins of seals and other wild animals tied
together, and are marked with certain lines, made with fire, on the
face and as it were striped with color between black and red, (tra
il nero & berrettino) and in many respects as to face and neck, are
like those of our Barbary, the hair long like women, which they
gather up on top of the head as we do with a horse's tail. Their
arrows are bows with which they shoot very dexterously, and their
arrows are pointed with black stones and fish bones. * * *
"This land was discovered 35 years ago, that is, the part that runs
east and west, by the Brettons and Normands, for which reason the
land is called the Cape of the Brettons. The other part that runs
north and south was discovered by the Portuguese from Cape de Ras to
Cape Buona-vista, which contains about 70 leagues, and the rest was
discovered as far as the gulf of the Castles, and further on by said
Brettons and Normands, and it is about 33 years since a ship from
Honfleur of which Jean Denys (Giovanni Dionisio) was captain and
Camart (Camarto) of Rouen, was pilot, first went there, and in the
year 1508, a Dieppe vessel, called the Pensee, which was owned by
Jean Ango, father of Monsignor, the captain and Viscount of Dieppe
went thither, the master or the captain of said ship being Thomas
Aubert, and he was the first who brought hither people of the said
country.
"Following beyond the cape of the Brettons there is a land
contiguous to the said cape, the coast whereof extends west by
southwest as far as the land of Florida and it runs full 500
leagues, (WHICH COAST WAS DISCOVERED FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, BY MESSER
GIOVANNI DA VERRAZZANO, IN THE NAME OF KING FRANCIS, AND MADAME THE
REGENT,) and this land is called by many la Francese, and likewise
by the Portuguese themselves and its end towards Florida is at 78
Degrees west longitude and 30 Degrees north latitude. The
inhabitants of this land are tractable peoples, friendly and
pleasant. The land is most abundant in all fruit. There grow
oranges, almonds, wild grapes and many other kinds of odoriferous
trees. The land is called by its people Nurumbega, and between this
land and that of Brazil is a great gulf which extends westwardly to
92 Degrees west longitude, which is more than a quarter of the
circuit of the globe; and in the gulf are the islands and West
Indies discovered by the Spaniards." [Footnote: Ramusio, III. fol.
423-4 (ed. 1556).]
This account emphatically contradicts the Verrazzano letter which
claims the discovery of the coast from Cape Breton in 46 Degrees N,
as far east and north, as 50 Degrees N. latitude, embracing a
distance of two hundred leagues, both according to the letter and
the discourse. It distinctly affirms this long stretch of coast to
have been discovered long before the Verrazzano voyage by the
Portuguese and the Bretons and Normands, assigning to the Portuguese
and French specific portions of it. This is in perfect harmony with
the truth as established by the authorities to which occasion has
already been had to refer. This account therefore unequivocally
repudiates the Verrazzano claim to the discovery of that part of the
country, and thus derogates from the pretensions of the letter
instead of supporting them.
The letter contains a distinct and specific claim for the discovery
of the coast as far north as 50 Degrees N. The writer of the
discourse, if he had any knowledge on the subject, must have known
of the extent of this claim. In attributing to others the discovery
of that large portion of the coast, east and north of Cape Breton,
he must have considered the claim to that extent as unfounded. It is
difficult therefore to account for his admitting its validity as
regards the country south of Cape Breton as he apparently does; as
it is a manifest inconsistency to reject so important a part as
false, and affirm the rest of it to be true, when the whole depends
upon the same evidence.
Another circumstance to be remarked is, that the description, which
follows, of the country said to have been discovered by Verrazzano,
has not the slightest reference to the account given in the letter,
but is evidently derived from other sources of discovery. Two names
are attributed to it, Francese and Nurumbega, both of which owe
their designation to other voyagers. Francese, or French land,
appears for the first time in any publication, on two maps hereafter
mentioned, printed in 1540, under the Latin form of Francisca. It is
called in the manuscript cosmography and charts of Jean Alfonse,
terre de la Franciscane. An earlier map by Baptista Agnese,
described by Mr. Kohl, indicates that the name owes its origin, as
will hereafter be pointed out, to the voyages of the French
fishermen to the shores of Nova Scotia and New England. [Footnote:
Discovery of Maine, p. 202, chart XIV.] Nurumbega, as the writer
himself states, is an Indian name, which could not have been taken
from the Verrazzano account, as that does not mention a single
Indian word of any kind. The statement of the productions of the
country includes oranges, which do not belong to any portion of the
continent claimed to have been visited by Verrazzano, and plainly
indicates an entirely different authority for that portion of the
coast. It is therefore equally unaccountable why the author of the
discourse should have acknowledged the discovery by Verrazzano and,
at the same time, have passed over altogether the description in the
letter, and sought his information in regard to the country
elsewhere, when he had there such ample details, especially in
connection with the great bay.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|