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Page 32
It is obvious that the discoveries of Verrazzano are thus intended
to embrace the coast from latitude 38 Degrees N. to Cape Breton,
that is, between the points designated by the armorial designations
of Spain and Brittany, and not beyond either, as that would make the
map contradict itself. That they begin at the parallel 38 is shown
by the names of Dieppa and Livorno, (Leghorn), which commemorate the
port to which the expedition of Verrazzano belonged, and the country
in which he himself was born. These names cannot be associated with
any other alleged expedition. They are given on the map which
contains the legend declaring the country generally to have been
discovered by him; and are not found on any other. There can be no
doubt, therefore, that they are meant to indicate the beginning of
his exploration in the south.
That his discoveries are represented as extending in the north to
Cape Breton is proven by the continuation of the names to that
point, showing an exploration by some voyager along that entire
coast, and by the absence of any designation of its discovery by any
other nation than the French; while the distance from Dieppa to Cape
Breton is laid down as seven hundred leagues, the same as claimed
for this exploration.
But in restricting his discoveries to latitude 38 Degrees N. on the
south, this map essentially departs from the claim set up in the
letter ascribed to Verrazzano which carries them to fifty leagues
south of 34 Degrees; and on the other hand, in limiting them, in the
north, to the land discovered by the Bretons, it conforms to its
Portuguese authorities, upon which, as will be seen, it was founded,
but, in so doing, contradicts the letter which extends them to the
point where the Portuguese commenced their explorations to the
Arctic circle, which this map itself shows were on the east side of
Terra Nova. Verrazzano the navigator, therefore, could not have been
the author of the letter and also the authority for the map.
That this map did not proceed from him is also proven by the
representation upon it of a great ocean, called Mare Occidentale,
which is laid down between the parallels within which these
discoveries are confined. It lies on the west side of the continent
but approaches so near the Atlantic, in latitude 41 Degrees N., that
is, in the vicinity of New York, that according to a legend
describing it, the two oceans are there only six miles apart, and
can be seen from each other. This isthmus occurs several hundred
miles north of Dieppa, and therefore at a point absolutely fixed
within the limits of the Verrazzano discoveries, and where the
navigator must have sailed, according to both the letter and the
map, whether the latitudes on the map be correctly described or not.
This western sea is thus made by its position a part of the
discoveries of Verrazzano, and is declared by the legend to have
been actually seen; and as he was the discoverer, it must be
intended to have been seen by him. As, however, there is no such sea
in reality, Verrazzano could never have seen it; and therefore, he
could not have so represented; or if he did, then the whole story
must for that reason alone be discredited. There is no escape from
this dilemma. Verrazzano could not have been deceived and have
mistaken some other sheet of water for this great sea, and so
represented it on any chart, or communicated it in any other way to
the maker of this map; for he makes no mention of the circumstance
in his letter to the king to whom he would have been prompt to
report so important a fact; as it would have proved the
accomplishment of the object of his voyage,--the discovery of a
passage through this region to Cathay, or if not a passage, at least
a way, which could have been made available for reaching the land of
spices and aromatics, by reason of its low grade, evident by one sea
being seen from the other, and its short distance.
The unauthentic character of this map, and the manner in which its
representation of the Verrazzano discoveries was produced,
distinctly appear in its method of construction. Cape Breton and
Terra Nova are represented as they are laid down on the charts of
Pedro Reinel and the anonymous cartographer,--reproduced on the
first and fourth sheets of the Munich atlas and unquestionably
belonging to the period anterior to the discovery of the continuity
of the land from Florida to Cape Breton. They bear the names which
are found on those maps, importing their discovery thus early by the
Bretons and Portuguese. In the south, the designation of Florida as
a Spanish discovery, with its southerly coast running along the
parallel of thirty-three and a half of north latitude, eight degrees
north of its actual position, is precisely the same it as it is
shown on the anonymous Portuguese chart just mentioned. These
representations of the country, in the north and the south, were
thus adopted as the basis of this map. But as there were not seven
hundred leagues of coast between latitude 38 Degrees and Cape
Breton, which is the distance it indicates as having been explored
by Verrazzano, that extent could be obtained only, either by
changing the latitude of Florida or Cape Breton, or prolonging the
coast longitudinally, or both. The latitude of the northerly limit
of Florida having been preserved for the commencement of the
discoveries, Cape Breton had therefore to be changed and was
accordingly carried five degrees and a half further north and placed
in latitude 51-1/2 instead of 46, and by consequence the whole line
of coast was thrown several degrees in that direction, as is proven
by the position of the island of Louise, which thus falls in 46
Degrees N. instead of 41 Degrees, the latitude assigned to it in the
letter. Nothing could more conclusively show the factitious origin
of this delineation and its worthlessness as an exposition of the
Verrazzano discovery.
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