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Page 3
The letter, in which the pretension is advanced, professes to be
addressed by Verrazzano to the king of France, at that time Francis
I, from Dieppe, in Normandy, the 8th of July (O. S.), 1534, on his
return to that port from a voyage, undertaken by order of the king,
for the purpose of finding new countries; and to give an account of
the discoveries which he had accordingly made. He first reminds his
majesty that, after starting with four ships, originally composing
the expedition, he was compelled by storms, encountered on the
northern coasts, to put into Brittany in distress, with the loss of
two of them; and that after repairing there the others, called the
Normanda and Delfina (Dauphine), be made a cruize with this FLEET OF
WAR, as they are styled, along the coast of Spain. He finally
proceeded on the voyage of discovery with the Dauphine alone,
setting sail from a desolate rock near the island of Madeira, on the
17th of January, 1524, with fifty men, and provisions for eight
months, besides the necessary munitions of war. This voyage,
therefore, is to be regarded, according to the representations here
made, to have been begun with the sailing of the four ships, from
Dieppe, in the preceding year they fell upon a "country never before
seen by any one either in ancient or modern times." [Footnote: Some
writers have regarded this introductory as referring to two voyages
or cruises, one with the four ships before the disaster, and the
other with the Dauphine afterwards. But it seems clear from their
being described as assailed by tempests in the north, which
compelled them to run into Brittany for safety, that they were not
far distant from Dieppe when the storms overtook them; and must have
been either on their way out or on their return to that port. If
they were on their return from a voyage to America, as Charlevoix
infers (Fastes Chronologiques 1523-4), or simply from a cruise, as
Mr. Brevoort supposes, they would, after making their repairs, have
proceeded home, to Dieppe, instead of making a second voyage. They
must, therefore, be regarded as on their way from Dieppe. The idea
of a voyage having been performed before the storms seems to be due
to alteration which Ramusio made in this portion of the letter, by
introducing the word "success," as of the four ships, Charlevoix
expressly refers to Ramusio as his authority and Mr. Brevoort makes
a paraphrase from the Carli and Ramusio versions combined. (Notes on
the Verrazzano Map in Journal of the Am. Geog. Society of New York,
vol. IV, pp. 172-3)] On leaving Madeira they pursued a westerly
course for eight hundred leagues and then, inclining a little to the
north, ran four hundred leagues more, when on the 7th of March
[Footnote: There is some ambiguity in the account, as to the time
when they first saw land. The letter reads as follows: "On the 17th
of last January we set sail from a desolate rock near the island of
Madeira, and sailing westward, in twenty-five days we ran eight
hundred leagues. On the 24th of February, we encountered as violent
a hurricane as any ship ever weathered. Pursuing our voyage toward
the west, a little northwardly, in twenty-four days more, have run
four hundred leagues, we reached a new country," &c. If the twenty-
four days be calculated from the 24th of February, the landfall
would have taken place on the 20th of March; but if reckoned from
the first twenty-five days run, it would have been on the 7th of
that month. Ramusio changes the distance first sailed from 800 to
500 leagues; the day when they encountered the storm from the 24th
to the 20th of February; and the twenty-four days last run to
twenty-five; making the landfall occur on the 17th or 10th of March
according to the mode of calculating the days last run. As it is
stated, afterwards, that they encountered a gale WHILE AT ANCHOR ON
THE COAST, EARLY in March, the 7th of that month must be taken as
the time of the landfall.] It seemed very low and stretched to the
south, in which direction they sailed along it for the purpose of
finding a harbor wherein their ship might ride in safety; but
DISCOVERING NONE in a distance of fifty leagues, they retraced their
course, and ran to the north with no better success. They therefore
drew in with the land and sent a boat ashore, and had their first
communication with the inhabitants, who regarded them with wonder.
These people are described as going naked, except around their
loins, and as being BLACK. The land, rising somewhat from the shore,
was covered with thick forests, which sent forth the sweetest
fragrance to a great distance. They supposed it adjoined the Orient,
and for that reason was not devoid of medicinal and aromatic drugs
and gold; and being IN LATITUDE 34 Degrees N., was possessed of a
pure, salubrious and healthy climate. They sailed thence westerly
for a short distance and then northerly, when at the end of fifty
leagues they arrived before a land of great forests, where they
landed and found luxuriant vines entwining the trees and producing
SWEET AND LUSCIOUS GRAPES OF WHICH THEY ATE, tasting not unlike
their own; and from whence they carried off a boy about eight years
old, for the purpose of taking him to France. Coasting thence
northeasterly for one hundred leagues, SAILING ONLY IN THE DAY TIME
AND NOT MAKING ANY HARBOR in the whole of that distance, they came
to a pleasant situation among steep hills, from whence a large river
ran into the sea. Leaving, in consequence of a rising storm, this
river, into which they had entered for a short distance with their
boat, and where they saw many of the natives in their CANOES, they
sailed directly EAST for eighty leagues, when they discovered an
island of triangular shape, about ten leagues from the main land,
EQUAL IN SIZE TO THE ISLAND OF RHODES. This island they named after
the mother of the king of France. WITHOUT LANDING UPON IT, they
proceeded to a harbor fifteen leagues beyond, at the entrance of a
large bay, TWELVE LEAGUES BROAD, where they came to anchor and
remained for fifteen days. They encountered here a people with whom
they formed a great friendship, different in appearance from the
natives whom they first saw,--these having a WHITE COMPLEXION. The
men were tall and well formed, and the women graceful and possessed
of pleasing manners. There were two kings among them, who were
attended in state by their gentlemen, and a queen who had her
waiting maids. This country was situated in latitude 41 Degrees 40'
N, in the parallel of Rome; and was very fertile and abounded with
game. They left it on the 6th of May, and sailed one hundred and
fifty leagues, CONSTANTLY IN SIGHT OF THE LAND which stretched to
the east. In this long distance THEY MADE NO LANDING, but proceeded
fifty leagues further along the land, which inclined more to the
north, when they went ashore and found a people exceedingly
barbarous and hostile. Leaving them and continuing their course
northeasterly for fifty leagues FURTHER, they discovered within that
distance thirty-two islands. And finally, after having sailed
between east and north one hundred and fifty leagues MORE, they
reached the fiftieth degree of north latitude, where the Portuguese
had commenced their discoveries towards the Arctic circle; when
finding their provisions nearly exhausted, they took in wood and
water and returned to France, having coasted, it is stated, along an
UNKNOWN COUNTRY FOR SEVEN HUNDRED LEAGUES. In conclusion, it is
added, they had found it inhabited by a people without religion, but
easily to be persuaded, and imitating with fervor the acts of
Christian worship performed by the discoverers.
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