The voyage of Verrazzano : $b a chapter in the early history of maritime discovery in AmericaMurphy, Henry Cruse
History
The voyage of Verrazzano : $b a chapter in the early history of maritime discovery in America
Murphy, Henry Cruse
America -- Discovery and exploration -- French; Verrazzano, Giovanni da, 1485-1528
EIGHTH. "Departing from thence we kept along the coast, steering
BETWEEN EAST AND NORTH, and found the country more pleasant and
open. Within FIFTY LEAGUES we discovered thirty two islands, all 50
near the mainland."
NINTH. "We had no intercourse with the people. After sailing between
east and north ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY LEAGUES MORE we determined to
return France, having discovered 700 leagues of unknown lands." 150
Making a total of 695 L.
Now let the reader trace for himself, these courses and distances,
as shown on the accompanying sketch of the map of Ribero. according
to the following scale, [Proofreaders Note: scale omitted]
representing the measurements in the letter; which are calculated on
the basis of 15.625 leagues to a degree, while those on the map are
17 1/2 leagues; and he will find, that not only is the whole
littoral distance between the parallels of 34 degrees and 50 degrees
on the map about seven hundred leagues, but that the several courses
and distances, of which this entire distance is composed according
to the letter, correspond with similar divisions on the map, proving
to a certainty that this map was the source from which the line of
coast described in the letter was derived, or the reverse.
It will be observed that the FIRST course, beginning according to
the letter at the landfall, in latitude 34 N., commences on the map
a little north of C. Trafalgar as there laid down, now Cape Fear,
and proceeds southerly fifty leagues to C. de S. Roman.
The first course being retraced, the SECOND, also of fifty leagues,
starting from the landfall near C. Traffalgar, extends to C. de S.
Juan of the map, the well known point of Hatteras.
The THIRD, runs from C. de S. Juan, one hundred leagues NORTHWARDLY,
to the Montana verde, the Navesinks at the mouth of the Hudson,
"described as the pleasant situation among steep hills, through
which a very large river forced its way into the sea." The perfect
identification of this course and distance has already been
observed.
The fourth extends EASTERLY from the Montana verde eighty leagues
and strikes the islands of the C. de Muchas yllas, or Cape Cod,
where, among the Elizabeth islands, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket,
the island of Louise is intended by the letter to be placed. This
course, easterly, fixes the position of that island at this point.
The FIFTH course and distance embrace fifteen leagues from the
islands of C. de Muchas yllas, but the direction is not stated, and
is left to be inferred from the fact which is stated that they
proceeded on to another place where they entered a harbor, at the
mouth of a large bay opening between NORTH and east, of twelve
leagues in width. This course must therefore have been NORTHERLY and
proceeded along the easterly shore of C. de Muchas yllas or Cape
Cod.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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