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Page 30
The solution of the whole difficulty is to be found in the fact that
the clause relating to Verrazzano was not the work of the author of
the discourse, but of another person. It is not difficult to
understand how and by whom this interpolation came to be made.
Ramusio had both the letter and the discourse in his hands at the
same time, for the purpose of preparing them for publication,
recomposing the one, as has already been shown, and translating the
other from the French into the Italian, as he himself states. In the
execution of the former of these tasks, he took the liberty of
altering the letter, as has been proven, by substituting the phrase
of, THE LAND DISCOVERED BY THE BRETONS, for that of, THE COUNTRY
EXPLORED BY THE PORTUGUESE, as the northern limit of the voyage of
Verrazzano; thereby removing the objection, to which the letter was
obnoxious, of entirely ignoring the discoveries of the Bretons,
which were distinctly asserted in the discourse. In order to conform
to the Verrazzano letter, as it was thus modified, it was necessary
to insert this clause in the discourse, which would else to
contradict the letter entirely. The two alterations, however
necessary they were to preserve some consistency between the two
documents, are, nevertheless, both alike repugnant to the original
letter.
This discourse fails, therefore, as an authority in favor of the
Verrazzano discovery, or even of the existence of a claim in its
behalf; the statement which it contains in relation to Verrazzano,
originating with Ramusio adding nothing to the case. [Footnote: The
writer gives, however, some details in relation to the Indians and
the fisheries along the easterly coast of Newfoundland, illustrative
of certain points which have arisen in the course of this enquiry.
Continuing his remarks, as given in the text, in regard to the
Indians inhabiting the southerly coast between Cape Race and Cape
Breton, he states: "There are many stags and deer, and birds like
geese and margaux. On the coast there is much good fishery of cod,
which fish are taken by the FRENCH AND BRETONS, ONLY BECAUSE THOSE
OF THE COUNTRY DO NOT TAKE THEM. In the coast running north and
south, from Cape de Ras to the entrance of the Castles, [straits of
Belle-Isle] there are great gulfs and rivers, and numerous islands,
many of them large; and this country is thinly inhabited, except the
aforesaid coast, and the people are smaller; and there is great
fishery of cod as on the other coast. There has not been seen there
either village, or town, or castle, except a great enclosure of
wood, which was seen in the gulf of the Castles; and the aforesaid
people dwell in little cabins and huts, covered with the bark of
trees, which they make to live in during the time of the fisheries,
which commences in spring and lasts all the summer. Their fishery is
of seal, and porpoises which, with certain seafowl called margaux,
they take in the islands and dry; and of the grease of said fish
they make oil, and when the time of their fishery is ended, winter
coming on, they depart with their fish, and go away, IN LITTLE BOATS
MADE OF THE BARK OF TREES, called buil, into other countries, which
are perhaps warmer, but we know not where."]
VIII.
II. THE VERRAZANO MAP. IT IS NOT AN AUTHORITATIVE EXPOSITION OF THE
VERRAZZANO DISCOVERY. ITS ORIGIN AND DATE IN ITS PRESENT FORM. THE
LETTER OF ANNIBAL CARO. THE MAP PRESENTED TO HENRY VIII. VOYAGES OF
VERRAZZANO. THE GLOBE OF EUPHROSYNUS ULPIUS.
The map of Hieronimo de Verrazano, recently brought to particular
notice, [Footnote: Journal of the American Geographical Society of
New York. 1873 Vol. IV. Notes on the Verrazano map. By James Carson
Brevoort.] is a planisphere on a roll of parchment eight feet and a
half long and of corresponding width, formerly belonging to Cardinal
Stefano Borgia, in whose museum, in the college of the Propaganda in
the Vatican, it is now preserved. It has no date, though, from a
legend upon it referring to the Verrazzano discovery, it may be
inferred that the year 1529 is intended to be understood as the time
when it was constructed. No paleographical description of it,
however, has yet been published, from which the period of its
construction might be determined, or the congruity of its parts
verified. It may, however, in order to disencumber the question, be
admitted to be the map mentioned by Annibal Caro in 1537, in a
letter to which occasion will hereafter be had to refer, and that
its author was the brother of the navigator, though of both these
facts satisfactory proof is wanting. [Footnote: This map was either
unknown to Ramusio and Gastaldi or discredited by them. Ramusio in
his preface, after mentioning to Fracastor that he placed the
relation of Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier in that volume, adds,
that inasmuch as Fracastor has exhorted him to make, in imitation of
Ptolemy, four or five maps of as much as was known up to that time
of the part of the world recently discovered, he could not disobey
his commands, and had therefore arranged to have them made by the
Piedmontese cosmographer Giacomo de Gastaldi. They are accordingly
to be found in the same volume with the letter of Verrazzano. One of
them is a map of New France extending somewhat south of Norumbega,
but no features of the Verrazzano map are to be traced upon it: and
no other map of the country is given. Fol. 424-5.]
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