THE EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THE CLAIM. I. DISCOURSE OF THE
FRENCH SEA-CAPTAIN OF DIEPPE.
The extrinsic evidence which in urged in support of the claim to the
discovery by Verrazzano is not of great amount. It is certain,
however, that if the letter upon which the claim is founded, be
spurious and fictitious, as for the reasons assigned, it is
considered to be, any extraneous evidence, must either partake of
the same character, or have originated in some misconception or
error. What exists upon the subject consists principally of two
pieces, which have only recently been regarded of any importance for
this purpose, and in connection with which the others may be
considered.
One of them is an anonymous paper entitled in full, "Discourse of a
great sea-captain, a Frenchman of the town of Dieppe, as to the
voyages made to the new land of the West Indies, called New France,
from the 40 Degrees to the 47 Degrees under the Arctic pole, and
concerning the land of Brazil, Guinea, the island of St. Lawrence
and that of Sumatra," the other is a map of the world, bearing the
name of Hieronimo de Verrazzano.
The discourse of the French captain does not, any more than the
letter of Verrazzano, exist in the original; nor has any copy of it
ever been produced, except in a printed translation by Ramusio in
the same volume, as that in which his version of that letter
appears, and immediately following it. Ramusio states that it was
written in 1539, as may he inferred from the letter itself in its
present form, and that he had translated it from the French,
grieving much that he did not know the name of the author, because
not giving it he seemed to do wrong to the memory of so valiant and
noble a gentleman. It is evident, however, upon comparing the
description, which it gives, of a voyage made from Dieppe to
Sumatra, with the original journal, first brought to light and
published a few years ago, of such a voyage made by Jean Parmentier
in 1529, that this discourse was written by some one of the persons
engaged in that expedition.[Footnote: Voyages et decouvertes des
navigateurs Normands. Par L. Estancelin, p. 241. (Paris 1832.) M.
Estancelin supposes that Pierre Mauclere the astronomer of one of
the ships composing the expedition of Parmentier, was the author of
this discourse (p. 45, note). But M. D'Avezac attributes it to
Pierre Crignon, who also accompanied Parmentier, and who besides
being the editor of a collection of poems by Parmentier, after his
death, evinced his knowledge of nautical matters by writing a
dissertation on the variation of the needle. Introduction to the
Brief Recit of Jacques Cartier, p. VIL (Tross, Paris, 1868.) Brunet,
sub Parmentier. Margry, Les navigateurs Francaises, p. 199. ] Its
authenticity, in general, may therefore not be questioned. But as
the original has never been produced and it is only known through
this version of Ramusio, experience in regard to his practice as a
compiler, of altering texts according to his judgment of their
defects and errors, proves that we have by no means a reliable copy
for our guidance. In fact, as given by Ramusio, its recognition of
the Verrazzano discovery is only by way of parenthesis, and in such
antagonism to the context, as to render it quite certain that this
portion of it is by another hand.
The writer, after explaining the nature of latitude and longitude,
and taking the meridian of no variation running through the eastern
extremity of the Cape de Verde islands as the basis of his
observations of longitude, proceeds to a description of Terra Nova;
so much of which as is pertinent is here abstracted.
"The Terra Nova, the nearest cape of which is called the Cape de
Ras, is situated west of our diametrical or meridional line whereon
is fixed the first point of longitude according to the true meridian
of the compass; and the said Cape de Ras is in west longitude 40
Degrees and 47 of North latitude. The Terra Nova extends towards the
Arctic pole from 40 Degrees to 60, and from Cape de Ras going
towards the pole, the coast almost always runs from south to north,
and contains in all 350 leagues, and from said Cape de Ras to the
cape of the Brettons, the coast runs east and west, for an hundred
leagues, and the cape of the Brettons is in 47 Degrees west
longitude and 46 north latitude. To go from Dieppe to the Terra
Nova, the course is almost all east and west, and there are from
Dieppe to said Cape de Ras 760 leagues.
"Between Cape de Ras and cape of the Brettons dwell an austere and
cruel people with whom you cannot treat or converse. They are large
of person, clad in skins of seals and other wild animals tied
together, and are marked with certain lines, made with fire, on the
face and as it were striped with color between black and red, (tra
il nero & berrettino) and in many respects as to face and neck, are
like those of our Barbary, the hair long like women, which they
gather up on top of the head as we do with a horse's tail. Their
arrows are bows with which they shoot very dexterously, and their
arrows are pointed with black stones and fish bones. * * *
"This land was discovered 35 years ago, that is, the part that runs
east and west, by the Brettons and Normands, for which reason the
land is called the Cape of the Brettons. The other part that runs
north and south was discovered by the Portuguese from Cape de Ras to
Cape Buona-vista, which contains about 70 leagues, and the rest was
discovered as far as the gulf of the Castles, and further on by said
Brettons and Normands, and it is about 33 years since a ship from
Honfleur of which Jean Denys (Giovanni Dionisio) was captain and
Camart (Camarto) of Rouen, was pilot, first went there, and in the
year 1508, a Dieppe vessel, called the Pensee, which was owned by
Jean Ango, father of Monsignor, the captain and Viscount of Dieppe
went thither, the master or the captain of said ship being Thomas
Aubert, and he was the first who brought hither people of the said
country.
"Following beyond the cape of the Brettons there is a land
contiguous to the said cape, the coast whereof extends west by
southwest as far as the land of Florida and it runs full 500
leagues, (WHICH COAST WAS DISCOVERED FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, BY MESSER
GIOVANNI DA VERRAZZANO, IN THE NAME OF KING FRANCIS, AND MADAME THE
REGENT,) and this land is called by many la Francese, and likewise
by the Portuguese themselves and its end towards Florida is at 78
Degrees west longitude and 30 Degrees north latitude. The
inhabitants of this land are tractable peoples, friendly and
pleasant. The land is most abundant in all fruit. There grow
oranges, almonds, wild grapes and many other kinds of odoriferous
trees. The land is called by its people Nurumbega, and between this
land and that of Brazil is a great gulf which extends westwardly to
92 Degrees west longitude, which is more than a quarter of the
circuit of the globe; and in the gulf are the islands and West
Indies discovered by the Spaniards." [Footnote: Ramusio, III. fol.
423-4 (ed. 1556).]
This account emphatically contradicts the Verrazzano letter which
claims the discovery of the coast from Cape Breton in 46 Degrees N,
as far east and north, as 50 Degrees N. latitude, embracing a
distance of two hundred leagues, both according to the letter and
the discourse. It distinctly affirms this long stretch of coast to
have been discovered long before the Verrazzano voyage by the
Portuguese and the Bretons and Normands, assigning to the Portuguese
and French specific portions of it. This is in perfect harmony with
the truth as established by the authorities to which occasion has
already been had to refer. This account therefore unequivocally
repudiates the Verrazzano claim to the discovery of that part of the
country, and thus derogates from the pretensions of the letter
instead of supporting them.
The letter contains a distinct and specific claim for the discovery
of the coast as far north as 50 Degrees N. The writer of the
discourse, if he had any knowledge on the subject, must have known
of the extent of this claim. In attributing to others the discovery
of that large portion of the coast, east and north of Cape Breton,
he must have considered the claim to that extent as unfounded. It is
difficult therefore to account for his admitting its validity as
regards the country south of Cape Breton as he apparently does; as
it is a manifest inconsistency to reject so important a part as
false, and affirm the rest of it to be true, when the whole depends
upon the same evidence.
Another circumstance to be remarked is, that the description, which
follows, of the country said to have been discovered by Verrazzano,
has not the slightest reference to the account given in the letter,
but is evidently derived from other sources of discovery. Two names
are attributed to it, Francese and Nurumbega, both of which owe
their designation to other voyagers. Francese, or French land,
appears for the first time in any publication, on two maps hereafter
mentioned, printed in 1540, under the Latin form of Francisca. It is
called in the manuscript cosmography and charts of Jean Alfonse,
terre de la Franciscane. An earlier map by Baptista Agnese,
described by Mr. Kohl, indicates that the name owes its origin, as
will hereafter be pointed out, to the voyages of the French
fishermen to the shores of Nova Scotia and New England. [Footnote:
Discovery of Maine, p. 202, chart XIV.] Nurumbega, as the writer
himself states, is an Indian name, which could not have been taken
from the Verrazzano account, as that does not mention a single
Indian word of any kind. The statement of the productions of the
country includes oranges, which do not belong to any portion of the
continent claimed to have been visited by Verrazzano, and plainly
indicates an entirely different authority for that portion of the
coast. It is therefore equally unaccountable why the author of the
discourse should have acknowledged the discovery by Verrazzano and,
at the same time, have passed over altogether the description in the
letter, and sought his information in regard to the country
elsewhere, when he had there such ample details, especially in
connection with the great bay.
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."]