is demonstrated by the English flags marked along the coast and the
legend "_Mar descubierto por Ingleses_," because no English but the Cabot
expeditions had been there; and what is evidently intended for Cape Race
is called "Cavo de Ynglaterra." The English flags mark off the coast from
that cape to what may be considered as Cape Hatteras. Cabot, as before
stated, confidently expected to reach Cathay. He sailed for that as his
objective point, and he was looking for a broad western ocean, so that
narrow openings were to him simply bays of greater or less depth. The
sailors of those early voyages coasted from headland to headland, as
plainly appears from many of the maps upon which the recesses of the
sinuosities of the coast are not completed lines, and it must be borne in
mind that in sailing between Newfoundland and Cape Breton the bold and
peculiar contours of both can be seen at the same time. This is possible
in anything like clear weather, but, in the bright weather of Midsummer
Day, Cape Ray would necessarily have been seen from St. Paul's, and the
opening might well have been taken for a deep indentation of the coast.
Between "Cavo descubierto" and "Cavo St. Jorge" such an indentation is
shown on the map, but the line is closed, showing that Cabot did not sail
through.
Cavo descubierto ("the Discovered Cape"), and, close to it, "_Mar
descubierto por Ingleses!_" What can be more evident than that the spot
where Europeans first touched the American continent is thus indicated?
Why otherwise should it especially be called "the Discovered Cape" if not
because this cape was first discovered? It is stated elsewhere that on
the same day, opposite the land, an island was also discovered; and in
fact upon the Madrid fac-simile two small islands are found, one of which
is near Cavo descubierto. The name "the Discovered Cape" at the extreme
end of a series of names tells its own story. Cabot overran Cape Race
and went south of St. Pierre and Miquelon without seeing them, and,
continuing on a westerly course, hit Cape Breton at its most easterly
point. An apt illustration occurs in a voyage made by the ship
Bonaventure in 1591, recorded in Hakluyt. She overshot Cape Race without
knowing it and came to the soundings on the bank south of St. Peter's,
where they found twenty fathoms, and then the course was set northwest by
north for Cape Ray. The course was sharply altered toward a definite
and known point, but, if he did not see Cape Race, not knowing what was
before him, Cabot would have had no object in abruptly altering his
course, but, continuing his westerly course, would strike the east point
of Cape Breton. That point, then, and not Cape North, would be "the
Discovered Cape"--the _prima vista_--and there, not far off "over against
the land," "opposite the land" (_exadverso_), he would find Scatari
Island, which would be the island of St. John, so continually attendant
on Cape Breton upon the succeeding maps. If this theory be accepted, all
becomes clear, and the little Matthew, having achieved success, having
demonstrated the existence of Cathay within easy reach of England,
returned home, noticing and naming the salient features of the south
coast of Newfoundland. She had not too much time to do it, for she was
back in Bristol in thirty-four days at most. This theory is further
confirmed by the circumstance recorded by Pasqualigo that, as Cabot
returned, he saw two islands on the right which he had not time to
examine, being short of provisions. These islands would be St. Pierre and
Miquelon; for there are two, and only two, important islands possible to
be seen at the right on the south coast of Newfoundland on the homeward
course. La Cosa, beside the two small islands above noted, has marked on
his map three larger islands, I. de la Trinidad, S. Grigor, and I. Verde,
but they are not laid down on the map in the places of St. Pierre and
Miquelon, nor are there any islands existing in the positions shown. I.
de la Trinidad is doubtless the peninsula of Burin, as would appear by
its position almost in contact with the land, and its very peculiar
shape. In coasting along, it would appear as an island, for the isthmus
is very narrow, and St. Pierre and Miquelon would be clearly seen as
islands on the right. As for the bearings of the coast, it will appear by
a comparison with Champlain's large map that they are compass bearings,
for they are the same on both.
I have dwelt at length upon the map of La Cosa, because, for our northern
coasts, it is in effect John Cabot's map. After the return of the second
expedition, the English made a few voyages, but soon fell back into the
old rut of their Iceland trade. The expedition was beyond question a
commercial failure, and therefore, like the practical people they are,
they neglected that new continent which was destined to become the chief
theatre for the expansion of their race. Their fishermen were for many
years to be found in small numbers only on the coast, and, as before,
their supply of codfish was drawn from Iceland, where they could sell
goods in exchange.
Meantime the Bretons and Normans, and the Basques of France and Spain,
and the Portuguese grasped that which England practically abandoned. That
landfall which Cabot gave her in 1497 cost much blood and treasure to win
back in 1758. The French fishermen were on the coast as early as 1504,
and the names on La Cosa's map were displaced by French names still
surviving on the south coast and on what is called the "French shore" of
Newfoundland. Robert Thorne in 1527--and no doubt others unrecorded--in
vain urged upon the English government to vindicate its right. According
to the papal bulls and the treaty of Tordesillas, the new lands were
Portuguese east of a meridian three hundred seventy leagues west of
the Cape de Verd Islands and Spanish to the west of it. Baccalaos and
Labrador were considered to be Portuguese; and, upon the maps, when any
mention is made of English discoveries they are accordingly relegated to
Greenland or the far north of Labrador. The whole claim of England went
by abandonment and default. The Portuguese, as the Rev. Dr. Patterson has
shown, named all the east coast of Newfoundland, and their traces are
even yet found on the coasts of Nova Scotia and of Cape Breton.
Therefore it is that the maps we have now to refer to are not so much
Spanish as Portuguese. They will tell us nothing of the English, nor of
Cabot, but we shall be able to follow his island of St. John--the only
one of his names which survived. The outlines of some very early maps are
given by Kunstmann, Kretschmer, and Winsor, but until 1505 they have
no bearing upon our problem. In that year Reinel's map was made, and,
although Newfoundland forms part of _terra firma_, the openings north
and south of it are plainly indicated by unclosed lines. Cape Race has
received its permanent name, "_Raso_" and, although only the east coast
of Newfoundland is named, there is no possibility of mistaking the
easternmost point of Cape Breton. Just opposite _(ex adverso_) is laid
down and named the island of Sam Joha, in latitude 46°, the precise
latitude of Scatari Island. Here, then, in 1505, is in this island of
St. John an independent testimony to the landfall of 1497--not off Cape
North, which does not yet appear, nor inside the gulf, for it is not even
indicated--but in the Atlantic Ocean, at the cape of Cape Breton--the
"Cavo descubierto" of La Cosa.
I have not considered it necessary to prove that if Cabot's landfall were
Cape North he could not have discovered the low lying shore of Prince
Edward Island on the same day. I have preferred to show that Prince
Edward Island was not known as an island and did not appear on any map
for one hundred years after John Cabot's death. If Cabot had possessed a
modern map, and had been looking for Prince Edward Island, and had pushed
on without landing at the north cape of Cape Breton, and had shaped his
course southward, he might have seen it in a long Midsummer Day, but
Cabot did not press on. He landed and examined the country, and found
close to it St. John's Island, which he also examined. Upon that
easternmost point of this Nova Scotian land of our common country John
Cabot planted the banner of St. George on June 24, 1497, more than one
year before Columbus set foot upon the main continent of America, and
now, after four hundred years, despite all the chances and changes of
this Western World, that banner is floating there, a witness to our
existing union with our distant mother-land across the ocean.
THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA
VASCO DA GAMA SAILS AROUND AFRICA
A.D. 1498
CASPAR CORREA[1]
The same goal which attracted the Spaniards westward drew the Portuguese
south, the desire to find a sea route to India, and thus garner the
enormous profits of the trade in spices and other Indian wealth. In the
early years of the fifteenth century the Portuguese, overshadowed by the
Spanish kingdom, which almost enclosed their country, realized that they
could extend their territory only by colonizing beyond seas. They began,
therefore, to send out expeditions, and in 1410 discovered the island
of Madeira. Soon afterward discoveries were undertaken by Prince Henry,
called the "Navigator," whose whole life was given to these enterprises.
Before his death, 1460, his Portuguese mariners, in successive voyages,
had worked their way well down the western coast of Africa. In 1462 an
expedition reached Sierra Leone, almost half way down the continent. Nine
years later the equator was passed, and in 1486 Bartholomew Dias sailed
around the southern point of Africa, which he had been sent to discover.
On his return voyage, 1487, he found the Cape of Good Hope, having before
doubled it without knowing that he had done so.[2]
To Portuguese navigators the way to India by this route was soon made
clear. In 1497 Vasco da Gama was placed by King Emanuel I of Portugal in
command of an expedition of three small ships sent to discover such a
route. He sailed from Lisbon in July of that year, in November doubled
the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar coast of
India, in May, 1498, and in September, 1499, returned to Lisbon. He was
accompanied by his brother Paulo, who, with other of the celebrated
navigator's companions, appears in the following account of this great
achievement. The quaint narrative was written by the chronicler who
accompanied the expedition in person.
The ships being equipped and ready, one Sunday the King went with Queen
Dona Maria to hear mass, which was said pontifically by the bishop
Calcadilha, who also made a discourse in praise of the voyage, and holy
design of the King in regard to the new discovery which he was commanding
to be made; and he called upon the people to pray to the Lord that the
voyage might be for his holy service, and for the exalting of his holy
faith, and for the increase of the good and honor of the kingdom of
Portugal. At the mass the good brothers Da Gama and their associates were
present, richly dressed, and the King showed them great honor and favor,
as they stood close to the curtain, where also were the principal lords
of the realm and gentlemen of the court. Mass being over, the King came
out from the curtain and spoke to the captains, who placed themselves on
their knees before him; and they spoke to him, saying:
"Sire, the honor we are receiving from your highness is so great that
with a hundred bodies and lives which we might expend in your service we
never could repay the least part of it, since greater honors were never
shown by a sovereign to his vassals than you have shown us, as the great
prince, king, and lord that you are, with such magnanimity and honor
that, if at this very moment we should die, our lineage should remain in
the highest degree of honor which is possible, only because your highness
has chosen and sent us for this work, while you have so many and such
noble vassals to whom to commit it; for which we are already recompensed
before rendering this service, and until we end our lives in performing
it. For this we beg of the mercy of the Lord, that he direct us, and we
may perform such works that he, the Lord, and your highness also, may be
served in some measure in this so great favor that has been shown us, as
he knows that such is our desire; and should we not be deserving to serve
him in this voyage, and so holy undertaking, may the Lord be pleased
though we may pay with our lives for our shortcomings in the work. We
promise your highness that our lives will be the matters of least moment
that we shall adventure in this so great favor that has been shown us,
and that we will not return before your highness with our lives in our
bodies without bringing some certain information of that which your
highness desires."
And they all again kissed the hands of the King and of the Queen. Then
the King came forth from the cathedral and went to his palace, which then
was in the residence of the alcazar in the castle. There went before him
the captains, and before them the standard which was carried by their
ensign in whom they trusted, and on arriving at the palace the King
dismissed them, and they again kissed his and the Queen's hand. Vasco da
Gama on a horse, with all the men of the fleet on foot, richly dressed in
liveries, and accompanied by all the gentlemen of the court, went down to
the wharf on the bank, and embarked in their boats, and the standard went
in that of Paulo da Gama. Then, taking leave of the gentlemen, they went
to the ships, and on their arrival they fired all their artillery, and
the ships were dressed out gayly with standards and flags and many
ornaments, and the royal standard was at once placed at the top of the
mast of Paulo da Gama; for so Vasco da Gama commanded. Discharging all
their artillery, they loosened the sails, and went beating to windward on
the river of Lisbon, tacking until they came to anchor at Belen, where
they remained three days waiting for a wind to go out.
There they made a muster of the crews, and the King was there all the
time in the monastery, where all confessed and communicated. The King
commanded that they should write down in a book all the men of each ship
by name, with the names of their fathers, mothers, and wives of the
married men, and the places of which they were native; and the King
ordered that this book should be preserved in the House of the Mines, in
order that the payments which were due should be made upon their return.
The King also ordered that a hundred _crusadoes_ should be paid to
each of the married men for them to leave it to their wives, and forty
crusadoes to each of the single men, for them to fit themselves out with
certain things; for, as to provisions, they had not got to lay them
in, for the ships were full of them. To the two brothers was paid a
gratification of two thousand crusadoes to each of them, and a thousand
to Nicolas Coelho.
When it was the day of our Lady of March (the 25, 1497), all heard mass;
they then embarked, and loosened the sails, and went forth from the
river, the King coming out to accompany them in his boat, and addressing
them all with blessings and good wishes. When he took leave of them, his
boat lay on its oars until they disappeared, as is shown in the painting
of his city of Lisbon. Vasco da Gama went in the ship São Rafael, and
Paulo da Gama in the São Gabriel, and Nicolas Coelho in the other ship,
São Miguel. In each ship there were as many as eighty men, officers and
seamen, and the others of the leader's family, servants and relations,
all filled with the desire to undertake the labor that was fitting for
each, and with great trust in the favors which they hoped for from the
King on their return to Portugal.
Paulo da Gama, as he went out with the Lisbon river, hauled down the
royal standard from the masthead; but at the great supplications of his
brother, who gave him good reasons why it was fitting that he should
carry it, he again hoisted it. The two companions, standing out to sea,
as I have said, made their way toward Cape Verd, and for that purpose
they stood well out to sea to make the coast, which they knew they would
find, as it advanced much to seaward, as they learned from the sailors
who had been in the caravels of Janinfante. They ran as far as they
could to sea in the direction of the wind, to double the land without
difficulty; and thus they navigated until they made the coast, and,
having reconnoitred it, they tacked and stood out to sea, hauling on the
bowline as much as they could, as so they ran for many days.
And as it seemed to them that now they could double the land, they again
tacked toward the coast, also on the bowline, against the wind, until
they again saw the coast, much farther on than where the caravels had
reached, which the masters knew from the soundings which they got written
down from the voyage of Janinfante, and the days which they found to have
less sun by the clocks. Having well ascertained this, they stood out
again to sea; thus forcing the ships to windward, they went so far out to
the sea toward the south that there was almost not six hours of sunlight
in the day; and the wind was very powerful, so that the sea was very
fearful to see, without ever being smooth either by day or night, but
they always met with storms, so that the crews suffered much hardship.
After a month that they had run on this tack, they stood into shore and
went as long as they could, all praying to the Lord that they might have
doubled beyond the land; but when they again saw it they were very sad,
though they found themselves much advanced by the signs of the soundings
which the pilots took, and they saw land of another shape which they had
not before seen.
Seeing that the coast ran out to sea, the masters and pilots were in
great confusion, and doubtful of standing out again to sea, saying that
the land went across the sea and had no end to it. This being heard of by
Vasco da Gama--according, as it was presumed, to the information he had
from the Jew Zacuto--he told the pilots that they should not imagine such
a thing, and that without doubt they would find the end of that land, and
beyond it much sea and lands to run by, and he said to them: "I assure
you that the cape is very near, and, with another tack standing out to
sea, when you return you will find the cape doubled." This Vasco da Gama
said to encourage them, because he saw that they were much disheartened,
and with the inclination to wish to put back to Portugal. So he ordered
them to put the ships about to sea, which they did, much against their
will; for which reason Vasco da Gama determined to stand on this tack so
long as to be able to double the end of the land, and besought all not to
take account of their labors, since for that purpose they had ventured
upon them; and that they should put their trust in the Lord that they
would double the cape.
Thus he gave them great encouragement, without ever sleeping or taking
repose, but always taking part with them in hardship, coming up at the
boatswain's pipe as they all did. So they went on standing out to sea
till they found it all broken up with the storm, with enormous waves and
darkness. As the days were very short, it always seemed night; the masts
and shrouds were stayed, because with the fury of the sea the ships
seemed every moment to be going to pieces. The crews grew sick with fear
and hardship, because also they could not prepare their food, and all
clamored for putting back to Portugal, and that they did not choose to
die like stupid people who sought death with their own hands; thus they
made clamor and lamentation, of which there was much more in other ships.
But the captains excused themselves, saying that they would do nothing
except what Vasco da Gama did; and he and his companions underwent great
labor.
As he was a very choleric man, at times with angry words he made them be
silent, although he well saw how much reason they had at every moment to
despair of their lives; and they had been going for about two months on
that tack, and the masters and pilots cried out to him to take another
tack; but the captain-major did not choose, though the ships were now
letting in much water, by which their labors were doubled, because the
days were short and the nights long, which caused them increased fear of
death; and at this time they met with such cold rains that the men could
not move. All cried out to God for mercy upon their souls, for now they
no longer took heed of their lives. It now seemed to Vasco da Gama that
the time was come for making another tack, and he comforted himself very
angrily, swearing that if they did not double the cape he would stand out
to sea again as many times until the cape was doubled, or there should
happen whatever should please God. For which reason, from fear of this,
the masters took much more trouble to advance as much as they could; and
they took more heart on nearing the land, and escaping from the tempest
of the sea; and all called upon God for mercy, and to give them guidance,
when they saw themselves out of such great dangers.
Thus approaching the land, they found their labor less and the seas
calmer, so they went on running for a long time, steering so as to make
the land and to ease the ships, which they were better able to do at
night when the captain slept, which the other ships did also, as they
followed the lantern which Vasco da Gama carried; at night the ships
showed lights to one another so as not to part company. Seeing how much
they had run, and did not find the land, they sailed larger so as to make
it; and as they did not find it, and as the sea and wind were moderate,
they knew they had doubled the cape; on which great joy fell among them,
and they gave great praise to the Lord on seeing themselves delivered
from death. The pilots continued to sail more free, spreading all the
sails; and, running in this manner, one morning they sighted some
mountain peaks which seemed to touch the clouds; at which their pleasure
was so great that all wept with joy, and all devoutly on their knees said
the _Salve_. After running all day till night, they were not able to
reach it, and discovered great mountain ridges; so, as it was night, they
ran along the coast, which lay from east to west; and they took in all
the sails, only running under large sails, for these were the orders of
the captain-major.
The next day at dawn they again set all the sails and ran to the land, so
that at midday they saw a beach which was all rocky, and, running along
it, they saw deep creeks, and such large bays that they could not see the
land at the end of them; they also found the mouths of great rivers, from
which water came forth to the sea with a powerful current; here also,
near the land, they found many fish, which they killed with fish-spears.
The watchmen in the tops were always on the lookout to see if there were
shoals ahead. The crews grew sick with fever from the fish which they
ate, on which account they ate no more. The pilots, on heaving the lead,
found no bottom; so they ran on for three days, and at night they kept
away from the land and shortened sail.
Sailing in this manner, they fell in with the mouth of a large river, and
the captain-major ordered a boat to be lowered, and the pilot to sound
the entrance of the river; and he said it was superfluous, because if
there was a shoal it would be burst through. Then they took in the sails,
excepting the great one with which they entered the river, which was very
large; and they went up it, the boat going before and sounding, and,
approaching land, where they found twelve fathoms, they anchored. There
they found very good fish, for the river was of fresh water; but in the
whole of the river they found no beach, for there was nothing but rocks
and crags. Then Vasco da Gama went to see his brother, and so did Nicolas
Coelho, and they all dined with great satisfaction, talking of the
hardships they had gone through.