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Page 56
S. C. C. M. I kiss the sacred feet of your Highness. LICENCLADO
GILES.
VI. THE VERRAZZANO LETTER ACCORDING TO THE ORIGINAL VERSION
Translated by Dr. J. G. Cogswel, from a copy of the MS. in the
Magliahechian Library in Florence, and printed in the Collections of
the New York Historical Society. Second Series. Vol. 1, pp. 41-51
CAPTAIN JOHN DE VERRAZZANO to His Most Serene Majesty the KING OF
FRANCE, writes: [Footnote: This introduction reads in the original:
"Captain John Da Verrazzano Florentine, of Normandy, to the most
Serene Crown of France, relates:"]
Since the tempests which we encountered on the northern coasts, I
have not written to your most Serene and Christian Majesty
concerning the four ships sent out by your orders on the ocean to
discover new lands, because I thought you must have been before
apprized of all that had happened to us--that we had been compelled
by the impetuous violence of the winds to put into Brittany in
distress with only the two ships Normandy and Dolphin; [Footnote:
The signification of Delfina, the name of the Verazzano ship of
discovery, is differently given by the translators. Hakluyt renders
it into English by the Word Dolphin and Dr. Cogswel here does the
same. But this is not correct. The Italian for dolphin is delfino;
which also signifies the dauphin, or oldest son of the King of
France, so called because upon the cession of Dauphiny to the crown
of France, he became entitled to wear the armorial device, which was
a dolphin, of the princes of that province. Delfina is the feminine
noun of Delfino, in that sense, that is the Dauphiness, M. Margry
has so interpreted it in this case, and accordingly gives the vessel
the name of Dauphine (Nav. Fran. 209), which as she is represented
to have belonged to France, would have been her actual name.] and
that after having repaired these ships, we made a cruise in them,
well armed, along the coast of Spain, as your Majesty must have
heard, and also of our new plan of continuing our begun voyage with
the Dolphin alone; from this voyage being now returned, I proceed to
give your Majesty an account of our discoveries,
On the 17th of last January we set sail from a desolate rock near
the island of Madeira, belonging to his most Serene Majesty the King
of Portugal, with fifty men, having provisions sufficient for eight
months, arms and other warlike munition and naval stores. Sailing
westward with a light and pleasant easterly breeze, 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, from
which we escaped unhurt by the divine assistance and goodness, to
the praise of the glorious and fortunate name of our good ship, that
had been able to support the violent tossing of the waves. Pursuing
our voyage towards the west, a little northwardly, in twenty-four
days more, having run four hundred leagues, we reached a new
country, which had never before been seen by any one, either in
ancient or modern times. At first it appeared to be very low, but on
approaching it to within a quarter of a league from the shore we
perceived, by the great fires near the coast, that it was inhabited.
We perceived that it stretched to the south, and coasted along in
that direction in search of some port, in which we might come to
anchor, and examine into the nature of the country, but for fifty
leagues we could find none in which we could lie securely. Seeing
the coast still stretched to the south, we resolved to change our
course and stand to the north-ward, and as we still had the same
difficulty, we drew in with the land and sent a boat on shore. Many
people who were seen coming to the sea-side fled at our approach,
but occasionally stopping, they looked back upon us with
astonishment, and some were at length induced, by various friendly
signs, to come to us. These showed the greatest delight on beholding
us, wondering at our dress, countenances and complexion. They then
showed us by signs where we could more conveniently secure our boat,
and offered us some of their provisions. That your Majesty may know
all that we learned, while on shore, of their manners and customs of
life, I will relate what we saw as briefly as possible. They go
entirely naked, except that about the loins they wear skins of small
animals, like martens fastened by a girdle of plaited grass, to
which they tie, all round the body, the tails of other animals
hanging down to the knees; all other parts of the body and the head
are naked. Some wear garlands similar to birds' feathers.
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