Waldseemüller, the geographer at St. Dié, drafted the second of these maps, at some date probably after 1504 and certainly not later than 1508. It was published at Strasburg in an edition of Ptolemy in 1513, and was entitled “Tabula Terre Nove.” From its reference to a “former Admiral,” probably Columbus, it has been often called “the Admiral’s map.” This bears testimony that the expedition described by Vespucci as his first voyage passed the Mississippi and charted its mouths; for west of the Atlantic coast and Florida, where the shores and names are closely like the Cantino map, Waldseemüller gave a distorted outline of the Gulf of Mexico, with a large river emptying into it by three mouths, pushing its delta far into the gulf, in which respect the Mississippi surpasses any other river, this being indeed the most remarkable feature of its embouchure. I cannot doubt, therefore, that Vespucci sailed past the Mississippi delta early in the year 1498, surveying the mouths of the river from the masthead, or very likely entering the river and spending some time there. The original “Letter of Amerigo Vespucci upon the Isles newly found in his Four Voyages” was published in facsimile pages, with English translation, under the editorship of George Young, in Philadelphia in 1893, forming a book entitled “The Columbus Memorial,” its earlier half being occupied by facsimiles, translations, and notes of letters by Columbus. Only a very scanty statement was given by Vespucci concerning the voyage from some port on the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico, probably that of Tampico, at the mouth of the Panuco river, to “a harbour the best in the world,” which appears to have been on Pamlico Sound or river, whence, after repairing their vessels, the expedition returned to Spain. Vespucci wrote of the voyage between these ports: “We navigated along the coast, always in sight of land, until we had run 870 leagues of it, still going in the direction of the maestrale [northwest], making in our course many halts, and holding intercourse with many peoples; and in several places we obtained gold by barter, but not much in quantity, for we had done enough in discovering the land and learning that they had gold.” According to Varnhagen and Fiske, the direction of their sailing, noted as northwestward, referred only to the first start from the port in Mexico, after which they continued along the irregular coast line 870 leagues. It seems to me also noteworthy that they came to this Mexican port by a northwestward course, and so perhaps Vespucci meant only that they went directly onward along the coast, which in that part curves very gradually to a nearly north course. From his statements of time, with the date indicated by the maps for passing the south end of Florida, it is probable that the expedition was at the Mississippi river late in March or early in April, 1498. Our history of this river, as known to Europeans, thus extends through four centuries.