Title: The Discovery of Australia
Author: George Collingridge
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Title: The Discovery of Australia
Author: George Collingridge
THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA.
A Critical, Documentary and Historic Investigation Concerning the
Priority of Discovery in Australasia by Europeans before the arrival of
Lieutenant James Cook, in the Endeavour, in the year 1770.
...
With Illustrations, Charts, Maps, Diagrams, etc. Copious Notes,
References, Geographical Index and Index to Names.
...
BY
GEORGE COLLINGRIDGE,
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA,
SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES.
HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF
AUSTRALASIA, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA.
HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE NEUCHATELOISE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND.
HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE PORTUGUESE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,
LISBON.
HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SPANISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,
MADRID, ETC., ETC.
FOUNDER AND FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ART SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES,
SYDNEY.
...
SYDNEY:
HAYES BROTHERS, 55 & 57 ELIZABETH STREET.
1895.
...
TO
THE HONOURABLE
MR. JUSTICE SIR WILLIAM CHARLES WINDEYER, M.A., LL.D., KNT.,
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY,
AND
SENIOR PUISNE JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT, DEPUTY JUDGE OF THE
VICE-ADMIRALTY COURT, AND JUDGE OF THE DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL CAUSES
COURT, OF NEW SOUTH WALES,
EMINENT
NO LESS FOR HIS HIGH LEGAL AND SCHOLASTIC ATTAINMENTS,
AND HIS WIDE AND ACTIVE LITERARY, SOCIAL, AND INTELLECTUAL SYMPATHIES,
THAN FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC SERVICES,
THIS WORK,
DEVOTED TO AN ENQUIRY INTO THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF THE COUNTRY WHICH
HAS BEEN THE SCENE OF HIS LIFE AND LABOURS,
IS
(BY PERMISSION),
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
...
BY THE SAME AUTHOR:
THE EARLY DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA.
In the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of
Australasia, Sydney, New South Wales, 1893.
A RESUME OF AN ADDRESS ON EARLY AUSTRALIAN DISCOVERY,
read at the December 1891 Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of
Australasia, and further notes on the origin of Early Australian Charts.
In the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of
Australasia, Sydney, New South Wales, 1893.
POINT CLOATES, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AND THE BIRD CALLED ROKH OR RUKH, BY
MARCO POLO.
In the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of
Australasia, Sydney, New South Wales, 1893.
THE FANTASTIC ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN AND OF AUSTRALASIA IN THE
MIDDLE AGES, AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN CONNECTION WITH THE EARLY
CARTOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA.
In the Transactions of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia
(Victorian Branch) Melbourne, 1894.
CIPANGO, NOT JAPAN.
In the Magazine of American History, New York 1893.
PREMIERE DECOUVERTE DE L'AUSTRALIE, DESCRIPTION D'ANCIENNES CARTES DE
L'AUSTRALIE,
leur importance relativement a la decouverte de ce continent.
In the Bulletin de la Societe Neuchateloise de Geographie, Neuchatel
1891.
RESTAURATION DES PREMIERES CARTES DE L'AUSTRALIE.
In the Bulletin de la Societe Neuchateloise de Geographie, Neuchatel,
1893.
THE EARLY CARTOGRAPHY OF JAPAN.
In the Geographical Journal, including the Proceedings of the Royal
Geographical Society, London, 1894.
...
PREFACE.
(ILLUSTRATION 14. INITIAL O. CIRCULAR BOAT OF THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES
FROM NINEVEH SCULPTURES.)
Of the many books which have been published on subjects relating to
Australia and Australian History, I am not aware of any, since my late
friend Mr. R.H. Major's introduction to his valuable work, Early Voyages
to Terra Australis, which has attempted a systematic investigation into
the earliest discoveries of the great Southern Island-Continent, and the
first faint indications of knowledge that such a land existed. Mr.
Major's work was published in 1859, at a time when the materials for such
an enquiry were much smaller than at present. The means of reproducing
and distributing copies of the many ancient maps which are scattered
among the various libraries of Europe were then very imperfect, and the
science of Comparative Cartography, of which the importance is now well
recognised, was in its infancy. For these reasons, his discussion, useful
though it still is, cannot be regarded as abreast of modern
opportunities. It is indeed, after the lapse of more than a third of a
century, somewhat out of date. Having therefore been led to give close
attention during several years to the whole subject, I have thought the
time ripe for the present work.
The distance from the great centres and stores of knowledge at which I
have been compelled to labour will excuse to the candid critic the errors
which will no doubt be discovered, yet I feel some confidence that these
will prove to be omissions rather than positive mistakes. No pains have
been spared in investigating the full body of documents now available.
Though unable to examine personally some manuscripts of interest and
value, I believe I can truly say that I have read every book, and
examined every map, of real importance to the question, which has been
produced in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch. I
have corresponded also largely, during the past four years, with many of
the most eminent members of the Geographical Societies of London, Paris,
Madrid, Lisbon, Rome, Amsterdam and Neuchatel. To these gentlemen I am
deeply indebted for searches which they have made for me in the libraries
and museums within their reach, for much information readily and kindly
afforded, and for the interest and sympathy which they have at all times
manifested in my labours. My thanks are due also to the gentlemen in
charge of the Sydney Free Public Library, who kindly enriched their
collection with many rare and very useful volumes of permanent importance
which I was unable to procure myself, and who aided my researches by
every means in their power. I cannot hope that in a subject so vast and
interesting I shall be found to have said the last word, yet I trust that
my book may prove to be of value, both in itself and as directing the
attention of others to a field which should be mainly explored by
residents in Australia. Such as it is, I now send it forth, with the
natural solicitude of a parent, and commend it to the indulgence of the
reader, and the kindly justice of the critic.
GEORGE COLLINGRIDGE.
Jave-la-Grande,
Hornsby Junction,
July, 1895.
...
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1.
Introduction.
CHAPTER 2.
The Dawn of Geographical Knowledge, especially with Reference to the
Southern Hemisphere.
CHAPTER 3.
An Inquiry concerning the Position of North and South in Ancient
Geography.
The Equatorial Regions Distorted.
Taprobana and Ceylon.
CHAPTER 4. A.D. 1 TO 150.
St. Thomas.
Strabo.
Ptolemy.
Galvano's Opinion on Ptolemy's Geography.
CHAPTER 5.
Early Manuscript Maps of the First Period of the Middle Ages.
CHAPTER 6. A.D. 1295.
Marco Polo.
Java Minor and Java Major.
Five types of Maps with Marco Polo's Nomenclature.
Mandeville.
Odoric de Pordenone.
CHAPTER 7.
Prince Henry the Navigator.
CHAPTER 8. A.D. 1444.
Nicolo de' Conti.
CHAPTER 9. A.D. 1457 TO 1459.
Fra Mauro Mappamundi.
CHAPTER 10. A.D. 1471 TO 1478.
The Equator crossed.
Revival of Ancient ideas concerning the sphericity of the Earth.
Toscanelli.
Columbus.
CHAPTER 11. A.D. 1479 TO 1484.
Toscanelli and Columbus.
CHAPTER 12. A.D. 1484 TO 1487.
The Cape of Good Hope Reached.
CHAPTER 13. A.D. 1487 TO 1489.
Bartholomew Columbus' Lost Map of the World.
CHAPTER 14. A.D. 1487 TO 1489.
British Museum Mappamundi.
A possible Copy from Bartholomew Columbus' Map of the World.
CHAPTER 15. A.D. 1492.
Martin Behaim's Globe.
CHAPTER 16. A.D. 1492.
The Australasian Regions on Martin Behaim's Globe.
CHAPTER 17. A.D. 1499.
Terra Australis.
Said to be Discovered.
CHAPTER 18. A.D. 1500.
Juan de la Cosa's Map.
Cantino's Map.
Australia the Baptismal Font of Brazil.
CHAPTER 19. A.D. 1503 TO 1508.
De Gonneville's Alleged Voyage to Australia.
Ludovico Barthema.
CHAPTER 20. A.D. 1506 TO 1511.
Hunt-Lenox Globe.
Ruysch's Mappamundi of 1507 to 1508.
CHAPTER 21. A.D. 1511.
Conquest of Malacca.
D'Abreu's Expedition to the Spice Islands.
CHAPTER 22. A.D. 1512 TO 1521.
Magalhaens and Serrano.
Francisco Rodriguez Portolanos.
CHAPTER 23. A.D. 1515 TO 1517.
The Frankfort-Schonerean Globe of 1515.
The Sunda and Molucca Islands as traced in Pedro Reinel's Chart.
CHAPTER 24. A.D. 1516 TO 1519.
Line of Demarcation of Magalhaens and Pope Alexander VI.
CHAPTER 25. A.D. 1520 TO 1522.
Vastness of the Pacific Ocean gradually Realised.
Petrus Apianus' Mappamundi of 1520.
Mappemonde La Salle, circa 1522.
Juan Vespuccius' Mappamundi of 1522/1523.
The First Circumnavigators.
CHAPTER 26. A.D. 1523.
Maximilianus Transylvanus' Letter.
CHAPTER 27. A.D. 1522 TO 1523.
Alleged Globe of Schoner of 1523.
CHAPTER 28. A.D. 1525 TO 1529.
Loaysa's Expedition to the Spice Islands.
Don Jorge de Menezes.
The Franciscus Monachus Mappamundi of 1526.
Alvaro de Saavedra Discovers nearly the whole of the North Coast of New Guinea.
CHAPTER 29. A.D. 1527 TO 1536.
Spanish Official Maps.
The Anonymous Weimar Mappamundi of 1527.
The Diego Ribeiro Mappamundi of 1529.
The Dauphin Chart, 1530 to 1536.
CHAPTER 30. A.D. 1530 TO 1550.
The Dauphin Chart of the Assigned Date of 1530 to 1536, and other Maps of
the same School.
CHAPTER 31. 1531 TO 1542.
The Mappemonde of Orontius Finaeus of 1531.
Schoner's Weimar Globe of 1533.
G. Mercator's Double Cordiform Mappamundi of 1538.
Hernando de Grijalva's Expedition to the Spice Islands.
Two Maps of Australia by John Rotz (Jean Roze), 1542.
CHAPTER 32. A.D. 1540 TO 1545.
Villalobos' Expedition.
New Guinea named by Inigo Ortiz de Retez and Gaspar Rico.
Juan Gaetan's Account of the Homeward Voyage of the San Juan along the
North Coast of New Guinea.
CHAPTER 33. A.D. 1544 TO 1569.
The Sebastian Cabot Mappamundi of 1544.
The Henri II (so called) Mappamundi of 1546.
Pierre Desceliers' Mappamundi of 1550.
Mendana's Expedition of 1567.
CHAPTER 34. A.D. 1569 TO 1580.
Gerard Mercator's Mappamundi of 1569.
Ortelius' Mappamundi of 1570.
The Rise of England's Maritime Power.
Drake amongst the Islands to the North of Australia.
CHAPTER 35. A.D. 1537 TO 1588.
Cavendish amongst the Islands to the North of Australia.
CHAPTER 36. A.D. 1592 TO 1595.
The Rise of Holland's Maritime Power.
H. Linschoten.
Houtman.
Cornelius Claesz.
Peter Plancius.
The First Voyage of the Dutch to Australasia.
CHAPTER 37. A.D. 1595 TO 1605.
Mendana's Expedition in Search of the Great Southern Continent.
New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Australian Continent on De Bry's
and Wytfliet's Maps.
De Quiros and Torres.
Arrival of the Dutch in the East Indian Archipelago.
CHAPTER 38.
Extract from a Memorial addressed to His Catholic Majesty Phillip III of
Spain, by Dr. Juan Luis Arias, respecting the Exploration, Colonisation,
and Conversion of the Southern Land.
CHAPTER 39. A.D. 1605 TO 1606.
Relation of Luis Vaez de Torres, concerning the Discoveries of Quiros, as
his Almirante, dated Manila, July 12 1607.
CHAPTER 40. A.D. 1605 TO 1607.
The First Claim of Dutch Discovery in Australia.
The Voyage of the Little Dove to the South Coast of New Guinea and the
Gulf of Carpentaria.
CHAPTER 41. A.D. 1606 TO 1613.
Don Diego de Prado's Original Maps, made in 1606, showing the Discoveries
made by the Spaniards that same year in the New Hebrides and New Guinea.
Two letters of Don Diego de Prado to the King of Spain, referring to de
Quiros' Discoveries.
CHAPTER 42. A.D. 1616.
Dirck Hartog's Alleged Discovery on the western coast of Australia.
CHAPTER 43. A.D. 1617 TO 1623.
Other Dutch Discoveries on the western coast of Australia and south coast
of New Guinea.
Abraham Goos' Globe of 1621.
The Discovery of the Land of the Leeuwin.
The Voyage of the Pera and Arnhem to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
CHAPTER 44. A.D. 1624 TO 1629.
An English Petition to King James the First for the right to Colonize the
Terra Australis.
Discovery of the south coast of Australia, 1627.
The Vianen on the north-west coast in 1628.
The Wreck of the Batavia in 1629.
CHAPTER 45. A.D. 1630 TO 1640.
A Pre-Tasmanian Map of Australia.
Discoveries in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Hoeius' Map, circa 1640.
CHAPTER 46. A.D. 1642 TO 1658.
Tasman's First Voyage round about Australia.
Tasman's Second Voyage along the northern and north-western coasts of
Australia.
Wreck of the Golden Dragon.
CHAPTER 47. A.D. 1660 TO 1669.
P. Goos' Maps of Hollandia Nova, circa 1660 to 1669.
CHAPTER 48. A.D. 1688 TO 1700.
The Dawn of the English Period.
W. Dampier's First Voyage to New Holland.
W. de Vlamingh's Voyage.
W. Dampier's Second Voyage.
CHAPTER 49. A.D. 1700 TO 1717.
Voyage of the Nova Hollandia, the Wajer, and Vossenbosch to Melville
Island and the Coburg Peninsula in 1705.
Dampier and Welbe.
CHAPTER 50. A.D. 1717 TO 1770.
John Purry's Propositions.
Roggeween's Expedition.
The Loss of the Zeewyck.
Conclusion.
Appendix.
...
LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
ILLUSTRATION 1. ABRAHAM GOOS' GLOBE.
ILLUSTRATION 2. ADAPTATION OF PORTION OF DAUPHIN CHART, SHOWING THE
PROCESS OF DISTORTION RESORTED TO.
ILLUSTRATION 3. AZTEC CALENDAR OR WATER-STONE.
ILLUSTRATION 4. AUSTRALASIAN REGIONS ON M. BEHAIM'S GLOBE AND HUNT-LENOX
GLOBE COMPARED.
ILLUSTRATION 5. AUSTRALASIAN REGIONS ON G. MERCATOR'S [1569] MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 6. BAY OF ST. PETER OF ARLANZA.
ILLUSTRATION 7. BOWREY'S MAP (CAPTAIN T.) SHOWING TASMAN'S TRACKS IN HIS
FIRST AND SECOND VOYAGES.
ILLUSTRATION 8. BRITISH MUSEUM MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 9. CANNIBALISM.
ILLUSTRATION 10. CARTA MARINA O DA NAVIGARE.
ILLUSTRATION 11. CAVENDISH.
ILLUSTRATION 12. CAVENDISH'S TRACK AS IT WOULD APPEAR ON THE DAUPHIN CHART.
ILLUSTRATION 13. CHALDEAN CONCEPTION OF THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH.
ILLUSTRATION 14. CIRCULAR BOAT OF THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES FROM NINEVEH
SCULPTURES.
ILLUSTRATION 15. COPENHAGEN MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 16. DAMPIER.
ILLUSTRATION 17. DAMPIER'S MAP OF SHARK'S BAY.
ILLUSTRATION 18. DAMPIER'S ROSEMARY.
ILLUSTRATION 19. DAUPHIN CHART OF AUSTRALIA.
ILLUSTRATION 20. DAUPHIN CHART OF AUSTRALIA REDUCED.
ILLUSTRATION 21. DIEGO DO COUTO'S HOG (JAVA).
ILLUSTRATION 22. DIEGO RIBEIRO MAPPAMUNDI (1529).
ILLUSTRATION 23. DRAKE.
ILLUSTRATION 24. DRAKE'S AND CAVENDISH'S TRACKS AS SHOWN ON JODOCUS
HONDIUS' MAP.
ILLUSTRATION 25. DRAKE'S CHAIR.
ILLUSTRATION 26. EGTIS SILLA ON BEHAIM'S GLOBE AND HAME DE SYLLA ON
DAUPHIN CHART COMPARED.
ILLUSTRATION 27. ELEPHANT OF CEYLON.
ILLUSTRATION 28. EL ISTAHKRI MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 29. ESPIRITU SANTO (MODERN MAP).
ILLUSTRATION 30. FRA MAURO MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 31. FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ'S PORTOLANOS.
ILLUSTRATION 32. FRANCISCUS MONACHUS MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 33. GERARD MERCATOR'S DOUBLE CORDIFORM MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 34. PETER GOOS'S MAP OF HOLLANDIA NOVA.
ILLUSTRATION 35. GREAT BAY OF ST. PHILIP AND ST. JAMES.
ILLUSTRATION 36. GREAT BAY OF ST. LAWRENCE AND PORT OF MONTEREY.
ILLUSTRATION 37. GREEK CONCEPTION OF THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH.
ILLUSTRATION 38. HENRY II MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 39. HOEIUS' MAP.
ILLUSTRATION 40. HUNT-LENOX GLOBE AND RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI COMPARED.
ILLUSTRATION 41. IDOLATRY.
ILLUSTRATION 42. ISLANDS OF GOMEZ DE SEQUEIRA.
ILLUSTRATION 43. JAVA (LINSCHOTEN'S).
ILLUSTRATION 44. JEAN ROZE'S MAP OF AUSTRALIA, NUMBER 1.
ILLUSTRATION 45. JEAN ROZE'S MAP OF AUSTRALIA, NUMBER 2.
ILLUSTRATION 46. JEAN ROZE'S MAP OF AUSTRALIA, NUMBER 2, ORIGINAL PROJECTION.
ILLUSTRATION 47. JUAN VESPUCCIUS' MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 48. LA SALLE MAPPEMONDE.
ILLUSTRATION 49. LINSCHOTEN.
ILLUSTRATION 50. MAGALHAENS.
ILLUSTRATION 51. MAGELLAN'S SHIP.
ILLUSTRATION 52. MAP OF THE WORLD PUBLISHED WITH THE ACCOUNT OF
FROBISHER'S VOYAGES.
ILLUSTRATION 53. MAP SHOWING CENTRE OF MENDANA'S DISCOVERIES.
ILLUSTRATION 54. MAR DI INDIA MAP.
ILLUSTRATION 55. MARTIN BEHAIM, FROM THE PORTRAIT ON HIS GLOBE.
ILLUSTRATION 56. NICOLAI GORES.
ILLUSTRATION 57. OANNES AND EA, THE GREEK AND CHALDEAN FISH-GODS.
ILLUSTRATION 58. ORANGERIE BAY (MODERN MAP).
ILLUSTRATION 59. ORONCE FINE'S MAPPAMUNDI ON OUR PROJECTION.
ILLUSTRATION 60. ORONCE FINE'S TERRA AUSTRALIS.
ILLUSTRATION 61. PARIS WOODEN GLOBE (CIRCA 1535).
ILLUSTRATION 62. PENTAM, ETC., ON BEHAIM'S GLOBE, COMPARED WITH MODERN
EASTERN COASTS OF AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA.
ILLUSTRATION 63. PETRUS APIANUS' MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 64. PIERRES DESCELIERS' MAP OF AUSTRALIA.
ILLUSTRATION 65. PORTION OF DAUPHIN CHART.
ILLUSTRATION 66. PORTS AND BAYS OF THE LAND OF ST. BONAVENTURE, AND
MODERN MAP.
ILLUSTRATION 67. PORTUGUESE CARAVEL.
ILLUSTRATION 68. PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR.
ILLUSTRATION 69. PTOLEMY'S INDIAN OCEAN, AND COMPARATIVE POSITION OF THE
AUSTRALASIAN REGIONS.
ILLUSTRATION 70. RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI AND SCHONEREAN GORES COMPARED.
ILLUSTRATION 71. SCHONER'S ALLEGED GLOBE.
ILLUSTRATION 72. SCHONER'S WEIMAR GLOBE.
ILLUSTRATION 73. SEBASTIAN CABOT MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 74. SOLOMON ISLANDS, SANTA CRUZ AND NEW HEBRIDES.
ILLUSTRATION 75. ST. SEVER MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 76. ST. THOMAS CATECHISING THE NATIVES OF ZANZIBAR ISLAND,
FROM BEHAIM'S GLOBE.
ILLUSTRATION 77. SUNDA AND MOLUCCA ISLANDS AS TRACED ON PEDRO REINEL'S CHART.
ILLUSTRATION 78. TORRES' TRACK FROM THE NEW HEBRIDES TO TORRES STRAITS.
ILLUSTRATION 79. TRACK OF THE DUYFKEN.
ILLUSTRATION 80. TRITON BAY (MODERN MAP).
ILLUSTRATION 81. TURIN MAPPAMUNDI.
ILLUSTRATION 82. VAUGONDY'S MAP OF NEW HOLLAND.
ILLUSTRATION 83. VIEW OF TABLE MOUNTAIN, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
ILLUSTRATION 84. WEST COAST OF BOGUS SUMATRA IN RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI
COMPARED WITH MODERN WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA.
ILLUSTRATION 85. WORLD AS APPREHENDED BY THE PORTUGUESE AND ITALIANS.
ILLUSTRATION 86. WORLD OF PTOLEMY.
ILLUSTRATION 87. WYTFLIET'S MAP OF THE CONTINENT OF AUSTRALIA.
ILLUSTRATION 88. MAP.
ILLUSTRATION 89. INITIAL I.
ILLUSTRATION 90. INITIAL T. ASTRONOMER FROM PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY.
ILLUSTRATION 91. INITIAL W.
ILLUSTRATION 92. INITIAL T.
ILLUSTRATION 93. INITIAL M. MARTIN BEHAIM, CREST AND SEAL.
ILLUSTRATION 94. INITIAL R.
ILLUSTRATION 95. INITIAL F.
ILLUSTRATION 96. INITIAL T.
ILLUSTRATION 97. INITIAL A.
ILLUSTRATION 98. INITIAL T.
ILLUSTRATION 99. INITIAL G.
ILLUSTRATION 100. INITIAL W.
ILLUSTRATION 101. INITIAL I.
ILLUSTRATION 102. INITIAL F.
ILLUSTRATION 103. INITIAL A.
...
(ILLUSTRATION 67. PORTUGUESE CARAVEL.)
...
THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA.
CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION.
"Lifted up on the vast wave, he quickly beheld afar." HOMER.
(ILLUSTRATION 20. INITIAL AUSTRALIA. DAUPHIN CHART OF AUSTRALIA
REDUCED.)*
(*Footnote. The initial sketch-map above is a very much reduced
adaptation of the Dauphin Chart of Australia which accompanies Chapter
30.)
Australia may some day, perhaps in 1899, hold an International
Exhibition, even as America held one in Chicago to commemorate the
four-hundredth anniversary of her discovery.
Looking broadly at the question of American discovery, C. Columbus may be
said to have discovered America in 1492; but the controversy on the
question, for the critic who likes to enquire into details, is not
settled yet.
Concerning the discovery of Australia, we are further off still from a
solution than our cousins of the New World. This is owing partly to the
fact that the matter has not yet received with us the same amount of
attention.
Lately there has been found a wooden globe, now in Paris,* on which an
inscription occurs to the effect that the Terra Australis was discovered
in 1499. The assertion needs confirmation, of course, like all other
assertions, without exception, relating to discoveries.
(*Footnote. This curious globe is preserved in the geographical
department of the Paris National Library (Number 386). For further
particulars concerning this globe we refer our readers to the admirable
work by Henry Harrisse, The Discovery of North America, where it is
described, page 613. H. Harrisse ascribes to it the date of circa 1535.)
The whole question of early Australasian maritime discovery is so
thoroughly enveloped in mystery that it will require not only the
greatest care to fathom it, but also the greatest impartiality and
circumspection to decide to whom the honor of priority of discovery is
due.
As an instance, if we suppose that Captain Cook (Lieutenant at the time)
discovered the eastern sea-board, which, by the way, is the generally
accepted belief, we are met at the outset by the rebuffing testimony of
old charts presenting every portion of that coast line clearly set down
more than two hundred years before his arrival in these seas.
Then, if, taking a step backward, we consider the claims of the next
candidate for the honor, we are confronted by Tasman. What discoveries
did HE make? The old charts we have referred to preclude the possibility
of a discovery by him of the western and eastern shores. As to the
northern and southern coasts, which are not given on the said charts,
there is much incertitude. Who shall say who discovered them?
Again, while, as we shall show, the Portuguese and Spaniards were as a
nation the first Europeans to navigate in Australian waters and must have
discovered Australia, we find no narrative of their discoveries as far as
the continent of Australia is concerned. Furthermore, when we consult the
maps, the prototypes of which were made by them, and on which the
Australian continent, although evidently distorted for a purpose, is set
down with a fair amount of accuracy, we find these very documents
borrowing certain features and a certain nomenclature from older
representations on globes and maps. We are thus thrown back to a period
that antedates the arrival of their fleets in the southern hemisphere.
These older globes and maps connect us with the Ptolemaic period, which,
being one of retrogression in a certain measure, makes it imperative for
us to begin our inquiries with the very dawn of geographical knowledge.
CHAPTER 2.
THE DAWN OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE, ESPECIALLY WITH REFERENCE TO THE
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
(ILLUSTRATION 57. INITIAL W. OANNES AND EA, THE GREEK AND CHALDEAN
FISH-GODS.)
(Footnote. With the initial W are represented Oannes and Ea, the Greek
and Chaldean Fish-Gods.)
We have said that the Ptolemaic period was one of retrogression in a
certain measure. This is apparent when we take into consideration the
fact that the earlier ideas concerning the sphericity of the earth were
generally discredited by Europeans during the prevalence of the Ptolemaic
system, which lasted thirteen centuries. Ptolemy however is not
altogether, if at all, responsible for this; as many errors got abroad
during the prevalence of manuscript copying, and even after the
introduction of printing, that were afterwards attributed to him and
other classical authors. It is therefore a difficult task to separate the
true teachings of early philosophers from the errors introduced
subsequently and which became crystallized in the first printed editions
of their works, appearing early in the sixteenth century. But it is a
task that is being performed by comparing the traditions and records of
western and eastern civilizations. During what has been termed the dark
ages in Europe, Oriental writers preserved in many instances more
faithful traditions, and were more versed in the sciences than the most
eminent men of their time in Europe. Such men as Albert-le-Grand, Bacon,
Pierre d'Abano, Dante, etc. began the work of revision; it is owing to
their knowledge of Oriental languages that they became pre-eminent among
their contemporaries, and they often refer to Oriental authors in matters
connected with geography, cosmography, astronomy and kindred sciences.
However, in order to fully appreciate the changes that took place with
regard to this matter, we must begin at the beginning, for, owing to the
connection and continuity that exist in all geographical representations,
we might overlook or fail to understand many cartographic particularities
if we did not get a clear conception of their origin. We must bear in
mind the theories of early cosmology and the motives that obtained later
on, whereby many features of archaic cosmography may have been altered;
as, for instance, the placing of islands in the northern hemisphere,
which, in reality, belonged to the southern one.
(ILLUSTRATION 13. CHALDEAN CONCEPTION OF THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH.)
It has now been ascertained and demonstrated beyond doubt that the
earliest ideas concerning the laws of the universe and the shape of the
earth were, in many respects, more correct and clearer than those of a
subsequent period.*
(*Footnote. Mr. Hyde Clarke has more than once pointed out: The legend of
the Atlantis of Plato, Royal Historical Society 1886, etc., that
Australia must have been known in the most remote antiquity of the early
history of civilisation, at a time when the intercourse with America was
still maintained. It is certainly remarkable, as we learn from classic
authors, that the school of Pergamos taught that the earth was divided
into four worlds or regions. These were the Great World or Northern
Continent (Asia, Europe. and Africa), the Austral or Southern World
(Australia), the Northern World, opposite this continent--speaking from
Europe--(North America), and the Southern World, to balance the Austral
World (South America). All these were stated to be inhabited. Navis,
Australia and the Ancients, Notes and Queries volume 5 page 356 May 5
1888.)
Let us see what they were. The author of Chaldea* says:
(*Footnote. Chaldea from the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria, etc.
by Zenalde A. Ragozin, London 1889 page 133.)
"According to Mr. Francois Lenormant,* the Shumiro-Accads had formed a
very elaborate and clever idea of what they supposed the world to be
like; they imagined it to have the shape of an inverted** round boat or
bowl, the thickness of which would represent the mixture of land and
water (ki-a) which we call the crust of the earth, while the hollow
beneath this inhabitable crust was fancied as a bottomless pit or abyss
(ge), in which dwelt many powers.
(*Footnote. Lenormant, in the English translation of his La magie chez
les Chaldeens, which is a revised and enlarged edition of that French
work which appeared in the autumn of 1874, says, page 151: "Let us
imagine then a boat turned over, not such an one as we are in the habit
of seeing, but a round skiff like those which are still used, under the
name of Kufa, on the shores of the lower Tigris and Euphrates, and of
which there are many representations in the historical sculptures of the
Assyrian palaces, the sides of this round skiff bend upwards from the
point of the greatest width, so that they are shaped like a hollow sphere
deprived of two-thirds (sic, for one-third, as the context shows. G.C.)
of its height, and showing a circular opening at the point of division.
Such was the form of the earth according to the authors of the Accadian
magical formulae and the Chaldean astrologers of after years. We should
express the same idea in the present day by comparing it to an orange of
which the top had been cut off, leaving the orange upright upon the flat
surface thus produced.")
(**Footnote. See sketch.)
Above the convex surface of the earth (ki-a) spread the sky (ana), itself
divided into two regions--the highest heaven or firmament, which, with
the fixed stars immovably attached to it, revolved, as round an axis or
pivot, around an immensely high mountain, which joined it to the earth as
a pillar, and was situated somewhere in the far North-East--some say
North--and the lower heaven, where the planets--a sort of resplendent
animals, seven in number, of beneficent nature--wandered forever on their
appointed path. To these were opposed seven evil demons, sometimes called
The Seven Fiery Phantoms. But above all these, higher in rank and greater
in power, is the Spirit (Zi) of heaven (ana), ZI-ANA, or, as often,
simply ANA--Heaven. Between the lower heaven and the surface of the earth
is the atmospheric region, the realm of IM or MERMER, the Wind, where he
drives the clouds, rouses the storms, and whence he pours down the rain,
which is stored in the great reservoir of Ana, in the heavenly Ocean. As
to the earthly Ocean, it is fancied as a broad river, or watery rim,
flowing all round the edge of the imaginary inverted bowl; in its waters
dwells EA,* or THE EXALTED FISH, or on a magnificent ship, with which he
travels round the earth, guarding and protecting it." See accompanying
sketch (Illustration 57) of an inverted Chaldean boat transformed into a
terrestrial globe, which will give an idea of the possible appearance of
early globes.
(*Footnote. Berosus, the priestly historian of Babylon, in reporting the
legend concerning the arrival of EA from the East, seems to have given
the God's name EA-han (EA the Fish) under the corrupted Greek form of
OANNES.)
Now, it is remarkable that the Greeks, adopting the earlier Chaldean
ideas concerning the sphericity of the earth, believed also in the
circumfluent ocean; but they appear to have removed its position from
latitudes encircling the ARCTIC REGIONS to a latitude in close proximity
to the equator.
Notwithstanding this encroachment of the external ocean--ENCROACHMENT
WHICH MAY HAVE OBLITERATED INDICATIONS OF A CERTAIN NORTHERN PORTION OF
AUSTRALIA, AND WHICH CERTAINLY FILLED THOSE REGIONS WITH THE GREAT
EARTH--SURROUNDING RIVER OKEANOS--the traditions relating to the
existence of an island, of immense extent, beyond the known world, were
kept up, for they pervade the writings of many of the authors of
antiquity.
One of the most striking of the traditions we refer to is quoted by R.H.
Major* in the following terms:
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, Early Voyages to Australia, page ii line 27.)
"In a fragment of the works of Theopompus, preserved by Aelian, is the
account of a conversation between Silenus and Midas, King of Phrygia, in
which the former says that Europe, Asia, and Africa were lands surrounded
by the sea; but that beyond this known world was another island, of
immense extent, of which he gives a description. The account of this
conversation, which is too lengthy here to give in full, was written
three centuries and a half before the Christian era. Not to trouble the
reader with Greek, we give an extract from the English version by Abraham
Fleming, printed in 1576, in the amusingly quaint but vivid language of
the time:
"THE THIRDE BOOKE OF AELIANUS. PAGE 37.
"(Paragraph mark) Of the familiaritie of Midas, the Phrigian, and
Selenus, and of certaine circumstances which he incredibly reported.
"Theopompus declareth that Midas, the Phrygian, and Selenus were knit in
familiaritie and acquaintance. This Selenus was the sonne of a nymphe
inferiour to the gods in condition and degree, but superiour to men
concerning mortalytie and death. These twaine mingled communication of
sundrye thynges. At length, in processe of talke, Selenus tolde Midas of
certaine ilandes, named Europia, Asia, and Libia, which the ocean sea
circumscribeth and compasseth round about; and that without this worlde
there is a continent or percell of dry lande, which in greatnesse (as hee
reported) was infinite and unmeasurable; that it nourished and
maintained, by the benefite of the greene medowes and pasture plots,
sundrye bigge and mighty beastes; that the men which inhabite the same
climats exceede the stature of us twise, and yet the length of their life
is not equall to ours; that there be many and divers great citties,
manyfold orders and trades of living; that their lawes, statutes, and
ordinaunces are different, or rather clean contrary to ours. Such and
lyke thinges dyd he rehearce." Major adds: "The remainder of this curious
conversation, however apparently fabulous, deserves attention from the
thoughtful reader."
The peculiar Chaldean opinion relating to the boat-shaped form of the
earth is commented upon by Mr. Gladstone in his Homeric Synchronysms.
Speaking of F. Lenormant's description, Gladstone says: "He (Lenormant)
observes that the meaning of scaphoeides is the form of a boat reversed,
and that the boats of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates were circular. They
are so represented on the Nineveh sculptures (Rawlinson, note on
Herodotus, i. 194); and they may still be seen on these rivers in the
like form."
"But he (Lenormant) does not notice," says Gladstone, "what we learn from
Colonel Chesney (Expedition to the Euphrates and Tigris; volume i. page
57; volume ii. page 640; and Rawlinson as before cited) namely, that the
side of the boat curves inwards, so that when reversed the figure of it
would be like an orange with a slice taken off the top, and then set on
its flat side. The Chaldean conception, thus rudely described, shows a
yet nearer approximation (to say the least) to the true doctrine
concerning the form of the globe, when we bear in mind that this actually
is in shape a flattened sphere, with the vertical diameter (so to speak)
the shorter one."
Comparing these early notions, as to the shape and extent of the
habitable world, with the later ideas which limited the habitable portion
of the globe to the equatorial regions, we may surmise how it came to
pass that islands--to say nothing of continents which could not be
represented for want of space*--belonging to the southern hemisphere were
set down as belonging to the northern hemisphere.
(*Footnote. A curious example of the difficulties that early
cartographers of the circumfluent ocean period had to contend with, and
of the sans facon method of dealing with them, occurs in the celebrated
Fra Mauro Mappamundi, which is one of the last in which the external
ocean is still retained. On this map of the world the islands of the
Malay Archipelago follow the shores of Asia from Malacca to Japan.
Borneo, Scelebes and the Philippines are left out, and the cartographer,
conscious of his omissions, excuses himself naively in these terms: "In
questo Mar Oriental sono molte isole grande e famose che non ho posto per
non aver luogo: In this Oriental sea there are great many large and
well-known islands, that I have not set down, because I had no room."
After this admission there was room for improvement.)
We have no positive proof of this having been done at a very early
period, as the earlier globes and maps have all disappeared; but we may
safely conjecture as much, judging from copies which have been handed
down. Globes especially--as being more explicit, because not presenting
the difficulties of planispheric projection--would have been useful, for
they would have shown us exactly what early geographical knowledge must
have been in this respect; unfortunately, whereas the earliest recorded
MENTION of an earth globe is of the one made by Crates (200 B.C.), ten
feet in diameter and described by Strabo, Geographica; Book ii. cap. v.
paragraph 10--the earliest one extant dates no further back than the year
1492. This is the well-known globe of Martin Behaim, of Nuremberg.
Early maps of the world, as distinguished from globes, take us back to a
somewhat remoter period; they all bear most of the disproportions of the
Ptolemaic geography, for none belonging to the pre-Ptolemaic period are
known to exist. The influence of the Ptolemaic astronomical and
geographical system was very great, and lasted for over thirteen hundred
years. Even the Arabs, who, after the fall of the Roman Empire, developed
the geographical knowledge of the world during the first period of the
middle ages, adopted many of its errors. With reference to the earliest
opinions concerning a knowledge of an Australian Continent, R.H. Major
says*:
"Among the very early writers, the most striking quotation that the
editor has lighted upon in connection with the southern continent, is
that which occurs in the astronomicon of Manilius, lib. i. lin. 234, et
seq., where, after a lengthy dissertation, he says:
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, Early Voyages to Australia, Introduction, page
xii. line 14th.)
Ex quo colligitur terrarum forma rotunda;
Hanc circum variae gentes hominum atque ferarum,
Aeriaeque colunt volucres. Pars ejus ad arctos
Eminet, AUSTRINIS PARS EST HABITABILIS ORIS,
SUB PEDIBUSQUE JACET nostris.
The latter clause of this sentence, so strikingly applying to the lands
in question, has been quoted as a motto for the title page of this
volume--Early Voyages to Australia. The date at which Manilius wrote,
though not exactly ascertained, is supposed, upon the best conclusions to
be drawn from the internal evidence supplied by his poem, to be of the
time of Tiberius.
"Aristotle also, in his Meteorologica, lib. ii. cap. 5, has a passage
which, though by no means so distinct as the preceding, speaks of two
segments of the HABITABLE globe, one towards the north, the other towards
the south pole, and which have the form of a drum. Aratus, Strabo, and
Geminus have also handed down a similar opinion, that the torrid zone was
occupied throughout its length by the ocean, and that the band of sea
divided our continent from another, situated, as they suppose, in the
southern hemisphere. (See Aratus, Phoenom., 537; Strabo, i. 7, page 130,
and i. 17; Crates apud Geminum, Elementa Astronomica, c. lxiii. in the
Uranologia, page 31)."
In the 9th century Al-Mamoun had Ptolemy's geography translated, which
became the Almageste, or Great Book of the Arabs. In the course of time,
through practical experience acquired in their extensive voyages to the
east and south-east, the Arabs wrought many improvements in their maps.
An important one was introduced in their maps of the Indian Ocean, and
that is: after having been set down as a Mediterranean, or enclosed sea,
by their predecessors, they represented it as an open sea again, as in
the days of Homer and in the geography of Erathosthenes.
Ptolemy's fantastic islands of the Indian Ocean--fantastic inasmuch as
they had been shifted from the southern to the northern
hemisphere--reappear during the later Arabian period in the southern
hemisphere; but, strangely enough, with others, which in their turn
become fantastic--so to speak--inasmuch as they are set down in the
southern while belonging to the regions north of the equator; the latter
mistake being traceable, principally, to an erroneous interpretation of
the writings of the two great Venetian travellers Marco Polo and Nicolo
de' Conti.
Thus we have a threefold source of information--a Greek, an Arabian, and
an Italian--and we shall find this threefold character in the
nomenclature of the islands we refer to.
CHAPTER 3.
AN INQUIRY CONCERNING THE POSITION OF NORTH AND SOUTH IN ANCIENT
GEOGRAPHY.
THE EQUATORIAL REGIONS DISTORTED.
TAPROBANA AND CEYLON.
Io mi volsi a man destra, e posi mente
All' altro polo; e vidi quattro stelle
Non viste mai, fuor ch' alla prima gente
Goder pareva 'l ciel di lor fiammelle.
O settentrional vedovo sito,
Poiche privato se' di mirar quelle!
Dante, Purgatorio, Canto I.
(ILLUSTRATION 3. INITIAL L. AZTEC CALENDAR OR WATER-STONE.)
(Footnote. With the initial L of this Chapter is represented an Aztec
Calendar or Water-Stone. drawn in facsimile and reduced from the
illustration in Mr. Thomas Crawford Johnston's paper, Did the Phoenicians
discover America? which appeared in a special bulletin of the
Geographical Society of California; dated San Francisco, September 15
1892.
Speaking of this stone Mr. Johnston says: "And perhaps more curious
still, we find among the remains of this people in the ancient and
capital city of Mexico what has been called a calendar stone, which
anyone may see at a glance is a national monument of a seafaring people
in the form of a mariner's compass, and to which they probably attributed
the fact that they had discovered the new world." Pages 12 and 13.)
Let us now examine some of the peculiarities of geographical evolution.
One of these peculiarities is of very great importance, to say the least,
and has never, to our knowledge, been commented upon, or noticed by
cartographers or others with reference to the perturbation and errors
that it may have occasioned. It relates to the position of north and
south.
We have seen that according to the earliest geographical notions the
habitable world was represented as having the shape of an INVERTED round
boat, with a broad river or ocean flowing all round its rim, beyond which
opened out the ABYSS or BOTTOMLESS PIT, which was beneath the habitable
crust.
The description is sufficiently clear, and there is no mistaking its
general sense, the only point that needs elucidation being that which
refers to the position of the earth or globe as viewed by the spectator.
Our modern notions and our way of looking at a terrestrial globe or map
with the north at the top, would lead us' to conclude that the ABYSS or
BOTTOMLESS PIT of the inverted Chaldean boat, the Hades and Tartaros of
the Greek conception, should be situated to the south, somewhere in the
Antarctic regions.
There are reasons to believe however, apart from the evidence we gather
in the Poems,* that these abyssal regions were supposed or believed to be
situated around the North Pole.
(*Footnote. The internal evidence of the Poems points to a northern as
well as a southern location for the entrance to the infernal regions. Mr.
Gladstone seems to incline to this opinion when he says (Homer page 60
paragraph 4. The Outward Geography Eastwards): "The outer geography
eastwards, or wonderland, has for its exterior boundary the great river
Okeanos, a noble conception, in everlasting flux and reflux, roundabout
the territory given to living man. On its farther bank lies the entrance
to the Underworld; and the passage, which connects the sea (Thalassa, or
Pontos) with Okeanos, lies in the east: 'where are the abodes of the
morning goddess, and the risings of the sun' (Od. 12:3). Here however he
makes his hero confess that he is wholly out of his bearings, and cannot
well say where the sun is to set or to rise (Od. 10:139). This bewildered
state of mind may be reasonably explained. The whole northern region, of
sea as he supposed it, from west to east, was known to him only by
Phoenician reports. One of these told him of a Kimmerian land deprived
perpetually of sun or daylight. Another of a land, also in the north,
where a man, who could dispense with sleep, might earn double wages, as
there was hardly any night. He probably had the first account from some
sailor who had visited the northern latitudes in summer; and the second
from one who had done the like in winter. They were at once true, and for
him irreconcilable. So he assigned the one tale to a northern country
(Kimmerie) on the ocean-mouth eastwards, near the island of Kirke, and
the other to the land of the Laistrugonas westwards but also northern,
and lying at some days' distance from Aiolie; but was compelled, by the
ostensible contradiction, to throw his latitudes into something like
purposed confusion."
The author suggests the following as another probable source of
information: The Phoinikes of Homer are the same Phoenicians who as
pilots of King Solomon's fleets BROUGHT GOLD AND SILVER, IVORY, APES AND
PEACOCKS from Asia beyond the Ganges and the East Indian islands. The
Phoenician reports referred to by Mr. Gladstone came most likely
therefore, not so much from the north, as from these regions which,
tradition tells us (See Fra Mauro's Mappamundi), were situated propinqua
ale tenebre. Volcanoes were supposed to be the entrances to the infernal
regions, and towards the south-east the whole region beyond the river
Okeanos of Homer, from Java to Sumbawa and the sea of Banda, was
sufficiently studded with mighty peaks to warrant the idea they may have
originated. Then in a north-easterly direction Homer's great river
Okeanos would flow along the shores of the Sandwich group, where the
volcanic peak of Mt. Kilauea towers three miles above the ocean. Indeed,
wherever we look round the margin of the circumfluent ocean for an
appropriate entrance to Hades and Tartaros, we find it, whether in Japan,
Iceland, the Azores, or Cape Verde Islands.)
European mariners and geographers of the Homeric period considered the
bearing of land and sea only in connection with the rising and setting of
the sun and with the four winds Boreas, Euros, Notos, and Sephuros. These
winds covered the arcs intervening between our four cardinal points of
the compass, which points were not located exactly as with us; but the
north leaning to the east, the east to the south, the south to the west
and the west to the north (see Turin Map).
These mariners and geographers adopted the plan--an arbitrary one--of
considering the earth as having the north above and the south below, and,
after globes or maps had been constructed with the north at the top, and
this method had been handed down to us, we took for granted that it had
obtained universally and in all times.
Such has not been the case, for the earliest navigators, the Phoenicians,
the Arabs, the Chinese, and perhaps all Asiatic nations, considered the
south to be above and the north below.
The reason for this is plausible, for whereas the northern seaman
regulated his navigation by the north star, the Asiatic sailor turned to
southern constellations for his guidance. Many cartographers of the
renascence, whose charts indeed we cannot read unless we reverse them,
must have followed Asiatic cartographical methods, and this perhaps
through copying local charts obtained in the countries visited by them.
It is strange that Mr. Gladstone, in pointing out so cleverly that the
Chaldean conception was more in accordance with the true doctrine
concerning the form of the globe than had been suspected, fails, at the
same time, to notice that Homer in his brain-map reversed the Chaldean
terrestrial globe and placed the north at the top. This is all the more
strange when we take into consideration that, in the light of his
context, the fact is apparent and of great importance as coinciding with
other European views concerning the location of the north on terrestrial
globes and maps. These are Mr. Gladstone's words:
"The surface of the vessel represented is the world which we inhabit. The
mouth lies downward. In the hollow of the solid dwell the Earth-genii of
Tartaros and the Spirits of the dead. Over it extends the compacted mass
of Heaven, with its astral bodies. All this seems to have been adopted by
Homer. But, moreover, the Chaldean Heaven rested upon columns, about
which it revolved; these columns were not at the zenith of the heaven,
which was immediately over Accad, but at the Mountain of the East.* And
even so Homer sets his heaven upon columns, BUT PLACES THEM WITH HIS
ATLAS IN THE SOUTH."
(*Footnote. "North-east, some say north," according to Ragozin. Note of
author.)
(ILLUSTRATION 37. GREEK CONCEPTION OF THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH.)
Greek conception of the shape of the earth.
To resume briefly: The Chaldeans placed their north below; Homer placed
his north above. See Illustration 37. The Chaldeans placed their heaven
in the east or north-east; Homer placed his heaven in the south or
south-west.
During the middle ages, we shall see a reversion take place, and the
terrestrial paradise and heavenly paradise placed according to the
earlier Chaldean notions; and on maps of this epoch, encircling the known
world from the North Pole to the equator, flows the antic Ocean, which in
days of yore encircled the infernal regions. In this ocean we find also
EA the EXALTED FISH, but, deprived of his ancient grandeur and divinity,
he is no doubt considered nothing more than a merman at the period when
acquaintance is renewed with him on the Frankfort gores of Asiatic origin
bearing date 1515. See Mappamundi bearing that date.
At a later period, during which planispheric maps, showing one hemisphere
of the world, may have been constructed, the circumfluent ocean must have
encircled the world as represented by the geographical exponents of the
time being; albeit in a totally different way than expressed in the
Shumiro-Accadian records. The divergence was probably owing in a great
measure to the INABILITY OF REPRESENTING GRAPHICALLY THE PERSPECTIVE
APPEARANCE OF THE GLOBE ON A PLANE; but may be also traceable to an
erroneous interpretation of the original idea, caused by the reversion of
the cardinal points of the compass.
Afterwards came the geographical period, 500 B.C., when Thales drew the
equator across the globe; but the original design of this line of
demarcation became confused also, and so misapplied that it was made to
follow the southern rim of the ocean that girt the world. This
extraordinary manner of distorting the equatorial regions was repeated in
mediaeval charts, and one of its last representations is nowhere more
remarkable than in Fra Mauro's celebrated Mappamundi of 1457/1459, a very
much reduced facsimile of which is given elsewhere.
The zone or climate division of the world was propounded about the same
time. According to this division other continents south of the equator
were supposed to exist and habited, some said, but not to be approached
by those inhabiting the northern hemisphere on account of the presumed
impossibility of traversing the equatorial regions, the heat of which was
believed to be too intense.
It follows from all this that, as mariners DID actually traverse those
regions and penetrate south of the equator, the islands they visited
most, such as Java, its eastern prolongation of islands, Sumbawa, etc.,
were believed to be in the northern hemisphere, and were consequently
placed there by geographers, as the earliest maps of the various editions
of Ptolemy's Geography bear witness.
To these first sources of confusion may be added another that originated
with the misleading accounts in which Ceylon and Sumatra were
indiscriminately described under the Greek name of Taprobana,* and this
confusion of one island with the other led to various forms of
distortion; sometimes Ceylon was placed in the longitude and latitude of
Sumatra; at other times Sumatra was placed where Ceylon stands; but, as
Sumatra was known by some to be cut in two by the equator, Ceylon had to
be enlarged so as to extend sufficiently south to allow for it being
bisected by the equator as mentioned. Then again islands lying south of
the equator came to be taken for Ceylon--Ceram, for instance.
(*Footnote. Taprobana was the Greek corruption of the Tamravarna of
Arabian, or even perhaps Phoenician, nomenclature; our modern Sumatra.
See Alberuni's India volume 1 page 296.)
These mistakes were the result doubtless of an erroneous interpretation
of information received; and the most likely period during which
cognizance of these islands was obtained was when Alexandria was the
centre of the Eastern and Western commerce of the world. About this time
Erathosthenes was the chief or great Librarian at Alexandria (230 to 220
B.C.). Geographical science was on the eve of reaching its apogee with
the Greeks, ere it was doomed to retrograde with the decline of the Roman
Empire. The views of the three great Greek astronomers and
cartographers--Dicearchus, Erathosthenes and Hipparchus (300 to 125
B.C.)--comprising the origin of degrees of longitude and latitude, the
inauguration of the principle of stereographic projection and the
division of the circle into 360 degrees, give us an idea of the progress
made at the time. Although these views were continued and developed to a
certain extent by their successors, Strabo and Ptolemy, through the Roman
period, and more or less entertained during the Middle Ages, they became
obscured as time rolled on. The earliest known maps of the mediaeval
epoch present the appearance of rough delineations of land and water, a
corrupted nomenclature, and no reference whatsoever to degrees of
longitude or latitude. No geographical progress, in fact, was made by
Europeans until Marco Polo, Odoric of Pordenone, and Nicolo de' Conti,
the three great Italian travellers, revealing afresh the vast extent and
wonders of the eastern and southern hemisphere, created the interest that
brought about the rediscovery of new worlds.
But to return to the earlier Pre-Ptolemaic period which we have left, and
to form an idea of the chances of information which the traffic carried
on in the Indian Ocean may have offered to the Greeks and Romans, let us
listen to what Galvano* says, quoting Strabo and Pliny (Strabo, lib. 17;
Plinius, lib. 12, cap. 18). The quaint phraseology of his translator runs
thus: "For the trafficke grew so exceeding great that they sent every
yeere into India a hundred and twenty ships laden with wares, which began
to set saile from Myos-Hormos about the middle of July, and returned
backe againe within one yeere. The marchandise which they did carrie
amounted unto one million two hundred thousand crownes; and there was
made in returne of every crown an hundred. In so much that, by reason of
this increase of wealth the matrones, or noblewomen, of that time and
place (Rome) spent infinitely in decking themselves with precious stones,
purple, pearles, gum benzoin, frankincense, musk, amber, sandalwood,
aloes, and other perfumes, and trinkets, and the like; whereof the
writers and historians of that age speake very greatly."
(*Footnote. The discoveries of the world from their first original unto
the year of our Lord 1555, by Antonio Galvano, Governor of Ternate.
Corrected, quoted, and published in England by Richard Hakluyt 1601 page
47.)
Now as the above articles of commerce, mentioned by Strabo and Pliny,
after leaving their original ports in Asia and Austral-Asia, were
conveyed from one island to another, any information--when sought
for--concerning the location of the islands from which the spices came,
must necessarily have been of a very unreliable character, for the
different islands at which any stay was made were invariably confounded
with those from which the spices originally came.* We shall see, when
dealing with Ptolemy's map of the world, some of the results of this
confusion.
(*Footnote. Such misnomers as Turkey-cock and Turkey rhubarb remind one
of the same peculiar way of confusing names.)
CHAPTER 4. A.D. 1 TO 150.
ST. THOMAS.
STRABO.
PTOLEMY.
GALVANO'S OPINION ON PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY.
(ILLUSTRATION 76. INITIAL D. ST. THOMAS CATECHISING THE NATIVES OF
ZANZIBAR ISLAND, FROM BEHAIM'S GLOBE.)
(Footnote. With the initial D of this Chapter is represented St. Thomas
catechising the inhabitants of Zanzibar island as represented on Martin
Behaim's globe of 1492.)
During the first years of the first century of our epoch there lived two
personages of a somewhat different character, but having both a claim on
our attention as connected more or less with our subject. These two
personages are: St. Thomas the Apostle, and Strabo the Greek geographer.
According to the Lives of the Saints St. Thomas, after the dispersion of
the Apostles, preached the Gospel to the Parthians and Persians; then
went to India, where he gave up his life for Jesus Christ. John III, King
of Portugal, ordered his remains to be sought for in a little ruined
chapel that was over his tomb, outside Meliapur or Maliapor. The earth
was dug in 1523, and a vault was discovered shaped like a chapel. The
bones of the holy apostle were found, with some relics which were placed
in a rich vase. The Portuguese built near this place a new town which
they called St. Thomas or San-Thome. We shall have to refer to this town,
when the name first appears in chronological sequence.
In Strabo's Geography* there are these four points of importance with
reference to our subject:
1. That he corroborates Homer's views as to the sphericity of the earth
by describing Crates' terrestrial globe (Geographica; Book ii. cap. v.
section 10).
2. That he accentuates Homer's views concerning the black races which
lived some in the west (the African race) others in the east (the
Australian race).
3. That he shows the four cardinal points of the compass to have been
situated somewhat differently than with us, for he says (Book 1, c. iv.
section 6): "...SO THAT IF THE EXTENT OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN WERE NOT AN
OBSTACLE, WE MIGHT EASILY PASS FROM IBERIA TO INDIA, STILL KEEPING IN THE
SAME PARALLEL, ETC." This is the idea that C. Columbus endeavoured to put
into practice; but had he followed the parallel mentioned, instead of
reaching the islands now called the West Indies, he would have reached
the latitude where New York now stands. Again, if we consider the
Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans as devoid of the American Continent,
and the Atlantic Ocean as stretching to the shores of Asia, as Strabo
did, the parallel of Iberia (Spain) would have taken Columbus' ships to
the north of Japan--i.e. much further north than the India of Strabo.
4. That he appears to be perpetuating an ancient tradition when he
supposes the existence of a vast continent or antichthonos in the
southern hemisphere to counterbalance the weight of the northern
continents.
(*Footnote. Bohn's Classical Library.)
From these facts, and many others, such as the positions given to the
Mountain of the East or North-East of the Shumiro-Accads, the Mountain of
the South, or South-West, of Homer, and the Infernal Regions, we may
conclude that the North Pole of the Ancients was situated somewhere in
the neighbourhood of the Sea of Okhotsk. The relativeness of these
positions appears to have been maintained on some mediaeval maps. See the
Turin Mappamundi and Fra Mauro's.
PTOLEMY'S MAP OF THE WORLD.
A.D. 150.
(ILLUSTRATION 27. INITIAL I. ELEPHANT OF CEYLON.)
(Footnote. Our initial I has a representation of an elephant of Ceylon
taken from an old edition of Ptolemy's geography.)
If we consult the scanty evidence distributed here and there during the
middle ages in old manuscripts, cosmographies, maps, etc. we shall see by
the data they furnish how slowly the geographical evolution proceeded.
Hundreds of years elapsed without any apparent progress. Yet progress of
a practical kind was being made all the time. Whilst, as Galvano's
Translator* quaintly puts it: "All the world was in a hurly burly"; the
Arabs were extending their navigations and trade to Malacca and China.
(*Footnote. Galvano page 51.)
Then the great period of general renascence brought about a revival in
geography as in other studies, and conjecture gave way to truth, as
navigators gradually penetrated to the furthermost regions of the earth.
But even then the first flush of revival brought back Ptolemy to the
front, and it was some time before the errors and disproportions of his
system were rejected. Witness the pertinacity with which C. Columbus
maintained and always believed to the last, that he had reached
India--the India of Marco Polo, Nicolo de' Conti, Pierre d' Ailly, and
Toscanelli--aye, the India of the Ancients--when amongst the islands of
the West Indies and on the north coast of South America.
The early editions of Ptolemy contain a map of the world, which is,--for
aught we know to the contrary--in design and information contemporaneous
with Ptolemy himself. The sketch given here shows the Indian Ocean of a
map of the world in an edition of La Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo
Alexandrino, published in Venice in 1574, the configuration of which map
dates probably as far back as A.D. 150, which is about the period at
which Ptolemy compiled his great work.
(ILLUSTRATION 69. PTOLEMY'S INDIAN OCEAN, AND COMPARATIVE POSITION OF THE
AUSTRALASIAN REGIONS.)
In the entire map the degrees of longitude extend from the Canary Islands
on the west coast of Africa to the longitude of Hong Kong, or thereabouts
on the east coast of China. Towards the south the limits of the known
world do not extend beyond the 16th degree of latitude.
In the portion of the southern hemisphere comprised within these
limits--that is, to the south of the China Sea, we should find the
greater or southern half of Sumatra, the island of Java, and a
south-western portion of Borneo.
What do we really find depicted?
The northern rim of a continent called Terra incognita, which might
comprise a portion of the coast of Australia, but connected east and west
by a continuous line of coast. On this coast the continuous line runs
north, passes the equator, and, still running north, connects with the
east coast of China.
On the west the continuous line of coast follows the 16th parallel until
it reaches the east coast of Africa, a little below the island Menuthias,
the modern Zanzibar.
By the above description we notice that the Indian Ocean becomes a
Mediterranean or enclosed sea. The islands set down to the north of
Australia are: Ceylon, which bears the Greek name Taprobana, and is
traversed in its southern parts by the equatorial line, thus actually
confounded with and in certain respects representing Sumatra; Java,
called Zaba; Sumbawa, named Zibala; and the various Spice Islands in the
Banda Sea, which appear to be represented under the names of Maniole,
Barusae, Sindae, Sabadibae and Labadii; whereas Satiroru may refer to the
north-western parts of New Guinea. It will be noticed that in this map,
Sumatra, being confounded with Ceylon, is removed, together with the
adjoining Eastern Islands, from its position near the Malay Peninsula.
We conclude from the position of most of these islands that all these
places, although evidently visited, either by Phoenician, Malay or
Arabian sailors, were set down by guess on Ptolemy's map of the world,
from accounts more or less trustworthy received at second hand.
Otherwise, why should we find Java and Sumatra placed in the northern
hemisphere and in the longitude of Ceylon; New Guinea, or its
north-western extremity, where the south-west coast of Borneo should be?
The Spice Islands are correctly placed, as far as latitude is concerned,
but they are set down too far to the west.
A few more words on Ptolemy's map of the world before we dismiss this
relic of a bygone age.
It is strange how its configuration, in that portion of it which occupies
us just now, follows the outlines of lands represented in the latest
surveys as having been above the sea level during a period when man was
in existence, and who shall say to what extent those archaic
representations may not have been correct at one time? It is only fair
therefore to point out that excuses--not to say reasons--were not wanting
to account for Ptolemy's discrepancies. As an instance of the firm belief
in the soundness of his views and in the correctness of his geographical
representations, the following few remarks from a man of rare
talent--Galvano, the founder of historical geography--may be quoted.
Writing towards the end of the first half of the 16th century, Galvano
says*:
(*Footnote. Galvano's Discoveries of the World, printed for the Hakluyt
Society, page 26 et seq.)
"In India also, and in the land of Malabar, although now there be great
store of people, yet many writers affirme that it was once a maine sea
into the foot of the mountaines; and that the Cape of Comarim and the
Island of Zeilan were all one thing. As also that the Island of Samatra
did ioine with the land of Malacca by the flats of Caypassia; and not far
fro thence there stands now a little island, which feu yeeres past was
part of the firme land that is ouer against it.
"Furthermore, it is to be seene how Ptolemy in his tables doth set the
land of Malacca to the south of the line in three or fower degrees of
latitude, whereas now it is at the point thereof, being called Jentana,
in one degree on the north side, as appeereth in the Straight of
Cincapura, where daily they doe passe through unto the coast of Sian and
China, where the Island of Aynan standeth, which also they say did ioine
hard to the land of China: and Ptolemy placeth it on the north side far
from the line, standing now aboue 20 degrees from it towards the north,
as Asia and Europe now stand.
"Well it may be that in time past the land of Malacca and China did end
beyond the line on the south side, as Ptolemy doth set them foorth:
because it might ioine with the point of the land called Jentana, with
the Islands of Bintan, Banca, and Salitres being many that waies, and the
land might be all slime and oaze; and so ye point of China might ioine
with the Islands of Lucones, Borneos, Lequeos, Mindanaos, and others
which stand in this parallele; they also as yet hauing in opinion that
the Island of Samatra did ioine with Java by the channel of Sunda, and
the Islands of Bali, Anjane, Sambana, Solor, Hogaleas, Maulua, Vintara,
Rosalaguin, and others that be in this parallele and altitude, did all
ioine with Jaua (and form one land); and so they seeme outwardly to those
that descrie them. For at this day the islands stand so neere the one to
the other, that they seeme all but one firme land; and whosoever passeth
betweene some of them may touch with the hand the boughs of the trees on
the one and on the other side also. And to come neerer to the matter, it
is not long since that in the east the Islands of Banda were diuers of
them overflowen and drowned by the sea.* And so likewise in China about
nine score miles of firme ground is now become a lake, as it is reported.
Which is not to be thought maruellous; considering that which Ptolemy and
others haue written in such cases, which here I omit, to return to my
purpose."
(*Footnote. The connection of these islands was well illustrated the
other day when the volcanic disturbances in Sanghir were found to affect
the volcanos of Borneo and Scelebes.)
CHAPTER 5.
EARLY MANUSCRIPT MAPS OF THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
(ILLUSTRATION 90. INITIAL T. ASTRONOMER.)
(Footnote. The initial T of this Chapter is adapted from Ptolemy's
geography.)
There are no maps of the world extant of the first centuries of our era,
so says Santarem.* Those of the first period of the middle ages are
exceedingly scarce. We shall give a few of these, because there may be,
in some of them, preserved by tradition, or copied from earlier
prototypes, certain features and nomenclature that, with the help of
fresh data, will form, at the least, the disjecta membra of a chain of
evidence that may throw additional light on ancient geography generally,
and on the geography of Australasian regions in particular.
(*Footnote. Essai sur l'Histoire de la Cosmographie et de la Cartographie
du Moyen-Age 1849.)
(ILLUSTRATION 15. COPENHAGEN MAPPAMUNDI.)
Number 1 is a Mappamundi given in Jomard's collection from the library of
Copenhagen. It bears no date. The south is placed at the top as indicated
by the lettering. In the northern hemisphere, which is placed below, we
notice Asia, Europa and Affrica. Africa is set down according to the
Homeric and Strabonean geography which limits its extent to the northern
hemisphere. The Australian regions bear the name Synti bygd, which we are
unable to explain. The circumfluent ocean surrounds the hemisphere
represented, which is cut in two by the torrid zone, the two habitable
temperate zones being bounded north and south by their respective glacial
zones. A band cutting the equinoctial at the correct angle answers to the
plane of the celestial ecliptic. It is a pity that the information it
affords is so limited, but, such as it is, it is worth noting.
(ILLUSTRATION 81. TURIN MAPPAMUNDI.)
Number 2 is a Mappamundi given in Santarem's and Jomard's collections; it
is from the Royal Library of Turin, where it is to be seen in a
manuscript of the Apocalypse written in the 8th century. In it the east
is at the top, where Adam and Eve form a conspicuous feature in the
Asiatic landscape there represented by various mountains and rivers.
Asia, Europe and Africa are represented as separated from each other by
expanses of sea drawn at right angles; except where a connection between
Asia and Africa is left at the head waters of the Blue Nile and the
south-eastern extremity of the Red Sea. To the north-west of this
isthmus--our modern isthmus of Suez--the White and Blue Nile, in a
strangely overlapping way which reminds one of a flying pennant, flow
into the Mediterranean opposite an island without name, intended no doubt
for Crete or Cyprus.
The narrow isthmus of Suez, instead of being laved on the north side by
the Mediterranean, is confined on that side by a spur of the mountains of
the moon and the source of the Blue Nile indicated by a lake, which must
be meant for Lake Tzana, otherwise called Dembea. On the side of the Red
Sea the waters represented are those of the Gulf of Aden at the south
entrance to the Red Sea; Mushkah Bay and the promontory that juts out to
the north of the islands of that name being clearly set down close to the
words Mare rubrum on the map. Away to the west another lake--either the
Albert Nyanza or the Victoria Nyanza--indicate the source of the White
Nile. The Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean are indicated, but bear no names.
Of the two islands in the extreme east, i.e. at the top of the map, one
bears the name of Crisa and is either meant for the Golden Chersonesus or
Sumatra; the other island may be intended for Java.
We come now to a part of the map that has a distinct and decided interest
for Australians. To the south of Africa AND Asia, and separated by the
Indian Ocean, a fourth part of the world is represented beyond the
Equator. This fourth part of the world bears the following Latin legend
written right across it: Extra tres aut partes orbis quarta pars trans
oceanum interior est qui solis ardore incognita nobis est cuius finibus
Antipodes fabalatore inhabitare pduneur. Besides these three parts of the
world there is a fourth part beyond the interior ocean (Indian Ocean,
supposed by some to be a Mediterranean ocean, hence the term interior
ocean), which on account of the heat of the sun is unknown to us, and
where may live the fabulous antipodeans.
This then is the origin of the terra Australis incognita; at least it is
so far the first representation we have of it on a map. Nor can we argue
that because it is roughly set down, it was not known, because Asia,
Europe, and Africa are set down in the same way. The geometrical
arrangement of the Mappamundi points to an archaic origin, preserved in
later, and especially Arabian, maps.
Other features of this venerable specimen of cartography can be traced to
an early period; we have seen, for instance, reference made to a southern
continent* 350 years before our era. The immediate origin however of the
Latin legend quoted above may be attributed to Isidore of Seville.
Speaking of Mela and Isidore de Seville with reference to the Alter orbis
and Antichthone, Santarem says (T.I., page 22) of Isidore de Seville, who
lived in the 8th century, i.e., just before the Mappamundi we refer to
was drawn: "Il admet aussi l'Antichthone, en soutenant qu'il y a une
quatrieme partie du monde, au-dela de l'ocean interieur, c'est-a-dire au
midi, qui en raison de l'ardeur du soleil, est inconnue, et dans
l'extremite de laquelle on pretend que les Antipodes fabuleux font leur
demeure."
(*Footnote. Above, Silenus.)
As another proof of the antiquity of the origin of this Mappamundi we
cannot do better than call the critic's attention to those quaint figures
dispensing wind and rain from sea shells and inflated skins in the
atmospheric regions which correspond with the realm of IM or MERMER of
the Shumiro-Accadian records. These figures represent Boreas, Euros,
Notos and Zephuros of the early Greek period, as far as their respective
positions are concerned. We shall see the idea perpetuated in later
documents, the rain however being left out.
(ILLUSTRATION 28. EL ISTAHKRI MAPPAMUNDI.)
Number 3 is a Mappamundi of the 9th century from El Istahkri, the Arabian
geographer. In it the circumfluent ocean is represented, and it is in
communication with the Indian Sea. The coastal lines are drawn with rule
and compass, a method which may be termed a decorative one, and often
used by the Arabs. The south is at the top. At this period the
geographical knowledge of the Arabs must have been far superior to what
this miserable specimen of cartography would lead us to believe, for they
had, at the time, passed the Straits of Malacca, and traded regularly
between Omaun, on the Persian Gulf, and China. All the trade of China and
India was in their hands, whilst the nation that possesses most of it
nowadays was defending her coasts and ports against Danish pirates, and
King Alfred, in consequence, was commanding boats and long ships to be
built throughout the kingdom.
(ILLUSTRATION 75. ST. SEVER MAPPAMUNDI.)
Number 4 is a Mappamundi, the original of which covers two pages of the
Latin manuscript Number 8878 in the French National Library, Paris. The
manuscript was executed towards the middle of the 11th century in the
Monastery of St. Sever in Gascony, under the guidance of L'abbe Gregoire,
who administered the establishment from 1028 to 1072. The accompanying
sketch is a facsimile of an abridged and reduced copy of the original
taken from the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie Commerciale de
Bordeaux, Number 19, October 3 1892.
As in the Mappamundi Number 2, the east is placed at the top, where Adam
and Eve, here also, hold a conspicuous position. To the south of India we
notice a large island, I. Tapaprone, Indie--the Taprobana of the
ancients. Whether it represents Ceylon or Sumatra is difficult to say.
There are three other islands in the same ocean, Scolera, Crise, and
Argire. According to the internal evidence of later maps, but as far only
as nomenclature is concerned, Scolera (the Scoyra of the Frankfort gores)
is meant for Socotra, and Crise for the Malay Peninsula. According
however to the position of these two islands and of Argire, two of them,
at least, may have been intended originally, i.e., in the prototype, for
Sumatra and Java; whereas Crise represented probably the Malay Peninsula.
In the original document, near the island Argire, there is a legend that
has been omitted on the Mappamundi of the Bordeaux Bulletin. This legend
however has been given by the author of the description; we translate it
as follows: "This country is near India and the island Taprobane; it is
also near the islands Argire and Crise, where quantities of gold and
silver are collected. There are in these parts elephants and dragons,
spices and aromatics, precious stones. Monsters prevent men from
approaching." It is well to note this legend and fix its origin thus far,
as we shall find it handed down and often repeated with slight variation
on maps and in descriptions of a later period.
To the south of Africa and Asia, the fourth part of the world is set down
with a little less importance than in Mappamundi Number 2. The Latin
legend, also, is abridged, but this may not be so on the original, for
the author of the French description, which accompanies the reduced copy
of the map from which we have taken ours, wisely acknowledges the unwise
act of leaving out a part of the nomenclature; in his words "pour eviter
la confusion du dessin, nous ne donnous que quelques-uns des noms
inscrits sur la carte, nos lecteurs pouvant se reporter a l'original pour
les details qui les interesseraient plus particulierement, page 505, lin.
20."
The circumfluent ocean surrounds the elliptical form of the hemisphere
represented.
CHAPTER 6. A.D. 1295.
MARCO POLO.
JAVA MINOR AND JAVA MAJOR.
FIVE TYPES OF MAPS WITH MARCO POLO'S NOMENCLATURE.
MANDEVILLE.
ODORIC DE PORDENONE.
(ILLUSTRATION 89. INITIAL I.)
In 1295, after an absence of many years, Marco Polo, the great Venetian
traveller, returned to Venice. He had travelled more extensively in the
East and had penetrated further than any other European. Since the days
of Alexander the Great, no traveller had brought back from Asia such a
store of information of every kind. On his way back, and in the vicinity
of the straits of Malacca, the fleet that Marco Polo was with was
compelled to wait for the favourable monsoon. Previous to this stay he
had sojourned for some time on the coast of Cochin-China. Meanwhile, he
gathered information concerning the islands that lay toward the south.
His chief informers, the Arabs, or Moors, as they were called, used to
give the generic term iaoas to all the islands in those regions. The
terms Java Major and Java Minor occur frequently in Marco Polo's
descriptions, and, judging from the confusion which reigns supreme in
subsequent descriptions and maps wherever these names appear, it would
seem that Marco Polo's ideas on the subject were of a very mixed nature.
Such was not the case.
At a later period Nicolo de' Conti was also in the same localities, and
in describing them HE also mentions Java Major and Java Minor; his Java
Minor however does not apply to the same island as Marco Polo's.
The confusion we have referred to was brought about through the
insufficiency of knowledge of subsequent writers, some having read Marco
Polo's descriptions and not Nicolo de' Conti's, whilst other writers had
done the reverse.
Mistakes of the kind will arise also when persons consider a subject from
their point of view, instead of considering it from the point of view of
the person who introduces the subject.
Marco Polo considered our modern JAVA AND AUSTRALIA AS ONE--the south
coast of Java being unknown--and called it Java Major. He also gave this
generic name of Java to Sumatra; and to distinguish it from the larger
one, he called it Java Minor.
We must bear this fact in mind, because many errors have occurred through
mistaking Polo's Java Minor (Sumatra) for Java Major (Australia and
Java).
For superficial inquirers the mistake was an easy one to make, as Java
Minor seems to be the more suitable term for the lesser island; but then,
as we have said, Marco Polo connected, in his mind, Java with Australia,
describing it as THE LARGEST ISLAND IN THE WORLD.
Although some time elapsed after the return of Marco Polo before the
various manuscript editions of his travels appeared, the news of his
voyages spread wide and far. He was interviewed by the learned men of the
day, and the field of geographical knowledge was widened in consequence.
We do not know whether Marco Polo brought back from the East any maps of
the countries he visited; but, as an example of Marco Polo's
descriptions, we give the following, which not only refers to our subject
but is of the greatest importance in connection with it, as illustrating
what enormous mistakes were possible when no degrees of latitude or
longitude were given.
Owing to the word Java being used instead of Chiampa,* as a point of
departure, a whole set of maps were constructed, in which the islands
Marco Polo describes were set down in erroneous positions. Marco Polo's
description, which caused these mistakes, runs thus: "When you leave Java
and steer a course between south and south-west seven hundred miles, you
fall in with two islands, the larger of which is named Sondur and the
other Kondur. Both being uninhabited, it is unnecessary to say more
respecting them. Having run the distance of fifty miles from these
islands in a south-easterly direction, you reach an extensive and rich
province that forms a part of the mainland, and is named Lochac. Its
inhabitants are idolators. They have a language peculiar to themselves,
and are governed by their own king, who pays no tribute to any other, the
situation of the country being such as to protect it from any hostile
attack. Were it assailable, the Grand Khan would not have delayed to
bring it under his dominion.
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, in his biography of Prince Henry the Navigator,
page 307, says: "Now, although all the manuscripts and texts of Marco
Polo read 'when you leave Java,' Marsden has shown that the point of
departure should really be Chiampa, a name in old times applied by
Western Asiatics to a kingdom which embraced the whole coast between
Tongking and Cambodia, including all that is now called Cochin China.")
"In this country sappan or brazil-wood is produced in large quantities.
Gold is abundant to a degree scarcely credible; elephants are found
there; and the objects of the chase, either with dogs or birds, are in
plenty. From hence are exported all those porcelain shells which, being
carried to other countries, are there circulated for money, as has been
already noticed. Here they cultivate a species of fruit called berchi, in
size about that of a lemon, and having a delicious flavour. Besides these
circumstances there is nothing further that requires mention, unless it
be that the country is wild and mountainous, and is little frequented by
strangers, whose visits the king discourages, in order that his treasure
and other secret matters of his realm may be as little known to the rest
of the world as possible.
"Departing from Lochac and keeping a southerly course for five hundred
miles, you reach an island named Pentam, the coast of which is wild and
uncultivated, but the woods abound with sweet scented trees. Between the
province of Lochac and this island of Pentam, the sea, for the space of
sixty miles, is not more than four fathoms in depth, which obliges those
who navigate it to lift the rudders of their ships, in order that they
may not touch the bottom. After sailing these sixty miles in a
south-easterly direction, and then proceeding thirty miles further, you
arrive at an island, in itself a kingdom, named Malaiur, which is
likewise the name of its city. The people are governed by a king, and
have their own peculiar language. The town is large and well built. A
considerable trade is there carried on in spices and drugs, with which
the place abounds. Nothing else that requires notice presents itself.
Proceeding onwards from thence, we shall now speak of Java Minor."
With Marsden's rectification--see note above--it is easy to follow Marco
Polo's route on the map; it extends from the coast of Cochin China to the
Pulo Condore islands, thence to the coast of Cambodia.* From the coast of
Cambodia the next place mentioned is the island of Pentam, which has been
identified, by good authority, as Bintang, near Singapore; then the
island, IN ITSELF A KINGDOM, of the name of Malaiur, can be no other
country than the Malay Peninsula. Following the itinerary, he afterwards
describes Sumatra under the name of Java Minor.
(*Footnote. Marsden shows from the circumstances that it is highly
probable that Lochac is intended for some part of the country of
Cambodia, the capital of which was named Loech, according to the
authority of Gaspar de Cruz, who visited it during the reign of
Sebastian, King of Portugal. See Purchas, volume iii. page 169. The
country of Cambodia, moreover, produces the gold, the spices, and the
elephants which Marco Polo attributes to Lochac.)
The maps that began to appear after Marco Polo's and Nicolo de' Conti's
return, and which bear their nomenclature, are of five different types.
If we consider them in chronological order, there is:
1st. Shortly after M. Polo's return, but prior to Nicolo de' Conti's, the
primitive type; in it the circumfluent ocean is set down, and the
southern portion of Africa, from the equator to the Cape of Good Hope, is
bent round, so as to almost join the Malay Peninsula, like in the Arabian
maps. There is no mention of the islands Java Major, Java Minor, Pentan,
Condur, etc., which form such a conspicuous feature in later maps. This
class of map is best represented by the Mappamundi of Marino Sanuto,
1321.
In the 2nd type, of which only one specimen exists--the famous Fra-Mauro
Mappamundi--the circumfluent ocean is still retained, and, in
consequence, the islands of the Indian and Chinese seas lack space.
Nevertheless, Java Major, Java Minor, Pentan, etc. are represented. The
date, 1457/1459, allows for the introduction of information derived from
Nicolo de' Conti's writings.
In the 3rd type a decided progress is apparent. The circumfluent ocean is
rejected. Africa and Asia stretch beyond the equator, the Southern Sea is
studded with islands named after Marco Polo's descriptions, such as: Java
Major, Java Minor, Condur, Sondur, Pentan, Neucuram, Angania, etc. This
type, on which no Australian continent appears, is represented by what
may be termed the Behaimean and Schonerean maps--1477 to 1535, and even
to 1570.
The 4th type is of a mysterious kind; it shows signs of an early
beginning, yet contains some of the latest features, features, indeed,
that are still present on our modern maps and belong to the Australian
regions. It appears to be more independent and less connected with the
other three types than those types are relatively to each other. On maps
of this type the Australian continent is called Java Major, according to
the correct interpretation of Marco Polo's writings. This type of map is
represented by the Dauphin chart, circa 1530.
The 5th type is a fantastic one, we were going to say altogether
fantastic; it has however some features of actuality about it. It bears
the nomenclature of Marco Polo, but the term Java Major no longer refers
to Australia, which is called Terra Australis. The real Java is termed
Java Major. Java Minor, Pentan, and other misplaced islands are thrown
here and there at random. The Austral regions called Terra Australis
envelope the South Pole and extend in the correct longitude sufficiently
North to warrant the supposition of a knowledge of the Australian
continent. A strait between New Guinea and the Terra Australis is another
feature of this type. It is represented by the fine specimens of
cartography of Ortelius (1570) and Mercator (1569 to 1587).
It will be seen that the influence of Marco Polo's writings was very
great, and that their effect on the cartography of the Australasian
regions lasted for nearly three hundred years; but during this period
other travellers brought their quota of information to bear on the
improvements and consequent modifications that were wrought in the maps
we have alluded to.
There was Odoric of Pordenone and Mandeville, the mendacious Mandeville,
as he has been called. Concerning him, we notice in B. Quaritch's
catalogue, 1891, Number iii. page 39, the following: "The latest theory
developed from a study of Sir John Mandeville's travels, and supported by
Sir Henry Yule, Mr. E.B. Nicholson, and others, is destructive of the
interesting personality of the Knight of St. Albans. Just as Raspe
compiled the adventures of Munchhausen, so a certain Canon of Bruges is
considered to have concocted these wonderful travels and invented the
traveller. It is however at least probable that he met a real Englishman
whose career suggested the work."
Whoever the traveller may have been, he is quoted as an authority under
the name of Johan de Mandevilla on Martin Behaim's Globe, 1492.
Colonel H. Yule's verdict was that Mandeville's account of his voyages
was mostly inspired, not to say plagiarised, from Odoric de Pordenone's
descriptions. In those parts which concern our subject the plagiary is
evident.
ODORIC OF PORDENONE.
After Marco Polo, Odoric of Pordenone was certainly one of the most
renowned travellers in his days; he also, like the great Venetian
traveller, visited far Cathay, following somewhat the itinerary of his
predecessor, reaching however nearer to Australia than Marco Polo ever
did, for, whereas the latter described the Australasian regions only from
hearsay, the Franciscan Monk Odoric actually visited Java and some of the
islands of the eastern Archipelago.
He started on his wanderings some time between 1316 and 1318, and
returned to Italy in the beginning of the year 1330, where he died the
following year from the hardships he had met with during his ten or
twelve years' travels.
Numerous manuscripts of the blessed Odoric's narrative spread rapidly
abroad during the fourteenth century, and his geographical descriptions
had some influence on the cartography of the period. These manuscripts
were derived from a copy dictated by the dying man, and written by a
friar of less literary attainments than Odoric; hence no doubt the
obscurity of many passages. Besides these obscure passages, there appears
to have crept into the text of some of these manuscripts several
interpolations, especially in those parts of the narrative that relate to
the Australasian regions.
Yule says..."The real difficulties of Odoric's story are the accounts of
the Islands of Nicoverra and Dondin"...etc.
We shall see with the help of comparative cartography whether these
difficulties may be overcome, or explained to a certain extent.
Odoric's course of peregrinations may be rapidly sketched thus:
Constantinople, Trebizond, Erzerum, Tabriz, Soltania, Kashan, Yezd,
Persepolis, Shiraz, Bagdad, Persian Gulf, Hormuz, where he embarks for
Tana in Salsette, Malabar, Pandarani, Cranganor, Kulam, Ceylon; the
shrine of St. Thomas at Mailapoor, Sumatra, Java, and some other islands
thereabouts, probably southern or eastern Borneo, Champa, and Canton. He
returns overland to Venice.
We give here Odoric's account of the regions south of the equator from
Yule's excellent and now scarce work, Cathay and the way Thither,
published by the Hakluyt Society.--Volume. i., page 87.
"21. THE FRIAR SPEAKETH OF THE EXCELLENT ISLAND CALLED JAVA.
"In the neighbourhood of that realm is a great island, Java by name,
which hath a compass of a good three thousand miles. And the king of it
hath subject to himself seven crowned kings. Now this island is populous
exceedingly, and is the second best of all islands that exist. For in it
grow camphor, cubebs, cardamons, nutmegs, and many other precious spices.
It hath also very great stores of all victuals save wine.
"The king of this island hath a palace which is truly marvellous. For it
is very great, and hath very great staircases, broad and lofty, and the
steps thereof are of gold and silver alternately. Likewise the pavement
of the palace hath one tile of gold and the other of silver, and the wall
of the same is on the inside plated all over with plate of gold, on which
are sculptured knights all of gold, which have great golden circles round
their heads, such as we give in these parts to the figures of saints. And
these circles are all beset with precious stones. Moreover, the ceiling
is all of pure gold, and to speak briefly, this palace is richer and
finer than any existing at this day in the world.
"Now the Great Khan of Cathay many a time engaged in war with this king;
but this king always vanquished and got the better of him. And many other
things there be which I write not.
"22. OF THE LAND CALLED THALAMASIN, AND OF THE TREES THAT GIVE FLOUR, AND
OTHER MARVELS.
"Near to this country is another which is called PANTEN, but others call
it THALAMASYN, the king whereof hath many islands under him. Here be
found trees that produce flour, and some that produce honey, others that
produce wine, and others a poison the most deadly that existeth in the
world. For there is no antidote to it known except one; and that is that
if anyone hath imbibed that poison he shall take of stercus humanum and
dilute it with water, and of this potion shall he drink, and so shall he
be absolutely quit of the poison. [And the men of this country being
nearly all rovers, when they go to battle they carry every man a cane in
the hand about a fathom in length, and put into one end of it an iron
bodkin poisoned with this poison; and when they blow into the cane, the
bodkin flieth and striketh whom they list, and those who are thus
stricken incontinently die.]*
(*Footnote. From Pal. This is a remarkable passage from the Palatine
manuscript, and is, I suppose, the earliest mention of the Sumpit or
blow-pipe of the aborigines of the Archipelago. The length stated is a
braccio, which I have rendered fathom, as nearest the truth, a meaning
which the word seems to have in sea phraseology.)
"But, as for the trees that produce flour, 'tis after this fashion. These
are thick, but not of any great height; they are cut into with an axe
round about the foot of the stem, so that a certain liquor flows from
them resembling size. Now this is put into bags made of leaves, and put
for fifteen days in the sun; and after that space of time a flour is
found to have formed from the liquor. This they steep for two days in
seawater, and then wash it with fresh water. And the result is the best
paste in the world, from which they make whatever they choose, cakes of
sorts and excellent bread, of which I, Friar Odoric, have eaten; for all
these things have I seen with mine own eyes. And this kind of bread is
white outside, but inside it is somewhat blackish.
"By the coast of this country towards the south is the sea called the
Dead Sea, the water whereof runneth ever towards the south, and if anyone
falleth into that water he is never found more. And if the shipmen go but
a little way from the shore they are carried rapidly downwards and never
return again. And no one knoweth whither they are carried, and many have
thus passed away, and it hath never been known what became of them.*
(*Footnote. From Pal. De Barros says that the natives believed that
whoever should proceed beyond the Straits of Bali to the South would be
hurried away by strong currents, so as never to return.)
"In this country, also, there be canes or reeds like great trees, and
full sixty paces in length. There be also canes of another kind which are
called Cassan, and these always grow along the ground like what we call
dog's grass, and at each of their knots they send out roots, and in such
wise extend themselves for a good mile in length. And in these canes are
found certain stones which be such that if any man wear one of them upon
his person he can never be hurt or wounded by iron in any shape, and so
for the most part the men of that country do wear such stones upon them.
And when their boys are still young they take them and make a little cut
in the arm and insert one of these stones, to be a safeguard against any
wound by steel. And the little wound thus made in the boy's arm is
speedily healed by applying to it the powder of a certain fish.
"And thus, through the great virtue of those stones, the men who wear
them become potent in battle and great corsairs at sea. But those who
from being shipmen on that sea have suffered at their hands, have found
out a remedy for the mischief. For they carry as weapons of offence sharp
stakes of very hard wood, and arrows likewise that have no iron on the
points; and as those corsairs are but poorly harnessed, the shipmen are
able to wound and pierce them through with these wooden weapons, and by
this device they succeed in defending themselves most manfully.
"Of these canes called Cassan they make sails for their ships, dishes,
houses, and a vast number of other things of the greatest utility to
them. And many other matters there be in that country which it would
cause great astonishment to read or hear tell of; wherefore I am not
careful to write them at present."
After the above description concerning the bamboo and rattan there
follows a description of three islands which has puzzled many a critic,
principally because it does not appear to refer to any islands in the
vicinity of Java. These three islands bear the names of Nicoverra or
Nicoveran, Sillan, and Dondin.
We are inclined to believe that the reference made to these islands has
been interpolated from Marco Polo's work. Marco Polo describes Nicoveran
(Nicobar Island) and Sillan (Ceylon). Dondin or Dondyn may refer to
Candin or Candyn. If we turn to Martin Behaim's globe, 1492, or to any of
the globes or maps which bear Marco Polo's nomenclature, we shall find
all the islands in question set down in the vicinity of Java, which
appears to solve the mystery.
CHAPTER 7.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR.
(ILLUSTRATION 68. INITIAL B. PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR.)
(Footnote. With the initial B of this Chapter is given a statue of Prince
Henry the Navigator over the side gate of the monastery at Belem, from
R.H. Major's Life of Prince Henry the Navigator.)
But the influence that these and other travellers brought to bear, after
all, was but of slight importance as regards the discovery of the
Australasian regions. Of quite another value was the influence of the
great figure we must now introduce in pursuance of the chronological
order of our scheme, an order which we have endeavoured to follow as
closely as the subject would allow. This great figure--PRINCE HENRY THE
NAVIGATOR--we cannot do better than introduce in the very words of the
late R.H. Major, his able biographer. In the first chapter of Prince
Henry the Navigator Major says:
"The mystery which since creation had hung over the Atlantic, and hidden
from man's knowledge one half of the surface of the globe, had reserved a
field of noble enterprise for Prince Henry the Navigator. Until his day
the pathways of the human race had been the mountain, the river, and the
plain, the strait, the lake, and inland sea; but he it was who first
conceived the thought of opening a road through the unexplored ocean, a
road replete with danger but abundant in promise."
And again, page ix. preface:
"The glory of Prince Henry consists in the conception and persistent
prosecution of a great idea, and in what followed therefrom...That glory
is not a matter of fancy or bombast, but a mighty and momentous reality,
a reality to which the Anglo-Saxon race, at least, have no excuse for
indifference.
"THE COASTS OF AFRICA VISITED; THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE ROUNDED; THE NEW
WORLD DISCLOSED; THE SEAWAY TO INDIA, THE MOLUCCAS, AND CHINA LAID OPEN;
THE GLOBE CIRCUMNAVIGATED, AND AUSTRALIA DISCOVERED; WITHIN ONE CENTURY
OF CONTINUOUS AND CONNECTED EXPLORATION. Such...were the stupendous
results of a great thought, and of indomitable perseverance in spite of
twelve years of costly failure and disheartening ridicule...To be duly
appreciated, this comprehensive thought must be viewed in relation to the
period in which it was conceived. 'The last of the dark ages,' the
fifteenth century has been rightly named, but the light which displaced
its obscurity had not yet begun to dawn when Prince Henry, with prophetic
instinct, traced mentally a pathway to India by an anticipated Cape of
Good Hope. No printing-press as yet gave forth to the world the
accumulated wisdom and experience of the past. The compass, though known
and in use, had not yet emboldened men to leave the shore and put out
with confidence into the open sea; no sea-chart existed to guide the
mariner along those perilous African coasts; no lighthouse reared its
friendly head to warn or welcome him on his homeward track. The
scientific and practical appliances which were to render possible the
discovery of half a world had yet to be developed. But, with such objects
in view, the Prince collected the information supplied by ancient
geographers, unwearingly devoted himself to the study of mathematics,
navigation, and cartography, and freely invited, with princely liberality
of reward, the co-operation of the boldest and most skilful navigators of
every country."
Not only did Prince Henry collect the information supplied by ancient
geographers, but also all the most recent information obtainable in his
days, for we cannot inquire into the geography of his times without
finding him always the first and best informed in matters connected with
the latest discoveries made, or else using all his efforts to obtain such
information.
In 1428 Prince Henry's brother, Dom Pedro, after many years of travel,
returned to Portugal. On his journey home the Prince went to Venice,* and
there received from the Republic, in compliment to him as a traveller and
a learned royal Prince, the priceless gift of a copy of the travels of
Marco Polo, which had been preserved by the Venetians in their treasury
as a work of great value, together with a map which had been supposed to
have been either an original or the copy of one by the hand of the same
illustrious explorer...On his return Dom Pedro devoted himself like his
brother Prince Henry to scientific studies, among which the art of
cartography took a leading place, and there is little doubt that to the
genius and attainments of his elder brother Dom Pedro Prince Henry owed
much of encouragement and enlightenment in his pursuit of geographical
investigation. The Marco Polo Manuscript and the map brought from Venice
would doubtless act as a potent stimulus to these investigations.
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, Prince Henry the Navigator page 51.)
Galvano* refers to the Venetian map in these terms: "In the yeere 1428 it
is written that Don Peter (Dom Pedro), the King of Portugal's eldest
sonne, was a great traveller. He went into England, France, Almaine, and
from thence into the Holy Land, and to other places, and came home by
Italie, taking Rome and Venice in his way: from whence he brought a map
of the world, which had all the parts of the world and earth described.
(*Footnote. Galvano, Discoveries of the World page 66.)
The Streight of Magelan was called in it The Dragon's taile: The Cape of
Bona Speranca, the forefront of Afrike (and so foorth of other places),
by which map Don Henry, the King's third sonne,* was much helped and
furthered in his discoueries."
(*Footnote. Don Henry was King Joao's 5th son; his two first sons, Branca
and Alfonso, died in infancy. See Prince Henry the Navigator page 20.)
And Galvano adds, page 67: "It was tolde me by Francis de Sosa Tauares
that in the yeere 1528 Don Fernando, the King's sonne and heire, did shew
him a map, which was found in the studie of Alcobaza, which had been made
120 yeeres before, which map did set foorth all the nauigation of the
East Indies with the Cape of Bona Speranca, according as our later maps
have described it. Whereby it appeereth that in ancient time there was as
much or more discouered than now there is. Notwithstanding all the
trauaile, paines, and expences in this action of Don Henry, yet he was
neuer wearie of his purposed discouveries."
It is no doubt the one and same map which is referred to as having been
brought back in 1428 by Dom Pedro, and seen in 1528 by Francisco de Souza
Tavarez, for Tavarez says it was made 120 years before, which would allow
for its being 20 years old when presented to Dom Pedro by the Venetians.
It was therefore apparently a copy from an Italian prototype.
Unfortunately this map has disappeared.
Major remarks that "it is a notable fact, and one that greatly redounds
to the honour of Italy, that the three Powers, which at this day possess
almost all America, owe their first discoveries to the Italians: Spain to
Columbus, a Genoese; England, the Cabots, Venetians; and France, to
Verazzano, a Florentine; a circumstance which sufficiently proves that in
those times no nation was equal to the Italians in point of maritime
knowledge and extensive experience in navigation."
The same may be said as regards the earliest information in connection
with the east and the Australasian regions--information that was only to
be obtained from such writers as Marco Polo, the Venetian, Odoric of
Pordenone, Nicolo de' Conti, the Venetian, Ludovico Barthema, the
Bolognese, Giovanni da Empoli, the Florentine, Andrea Corsali, the
Florentine, Hieronimo da San Stephano, the Genoese, etc, etc.
CHAPTER 8. A.D. 1444.
NICOLO DE' CONTI.
(ILLUSTRATION 27. INITIAL I. ELEPHANT OF CEYLON.)
In 1444 Nicolo de' Conti, the emulator of Marco Polo, returned to Italy
after an absence of 25 years. During his peregrinations per tutte l'
Indie orientali, he had, in order to save his life, to renounce his
faith, and Ramusio* tells us: Bisogno ch'egli andasse al sommo Pontefice
per farsi assoluere, che allhora era in Firenze & si chiamaua Papa
Eugenio IIII, che fu dell' anno 1444, il qual dopo, la benedittione, gli
dette per penitenza, che con ogni verita douesse narrar tutta la sua
peregrinatione ad un valent huomo suo segretario detto Messer Poggio
Fiorentino, il quale la scrisse con diligenza in lingua latino.
(*Footnote. Ramusio, Navigationi at viaggi, fol. 338 C.)
Copies of the narrative of his voyages--narrative that Pope Eugene IV
ordered him, as a penance, to dictate to his secretary, Messer
Poggio--became very scarce about a hundred years later, for Ramusio could
not find a single copy, non solamente nella Citta di Venetia, ma in molte
altre d' Italia.
The patriotic Ramusio, wishing to make known to the world the exploits of
his worthy fellow citizen, was compelled, not finding a single copy of
his voyages in any town of Italy, to have recourse to a Portuguese
translation, printed in Lisbon, which he was fortunate enough to hear of.
Thus, the Portuguese were in possession of an account of the voyages of
the Venetian traveller, the memory of which voyages was all that was left
in the minds of Italians of a generation or two later; and Ramusio
informs us how this came to pass in these terms:
Questa scrittura dopo molti anni (the manuscript account) peruenne a
notitia del Serenissimo Don Emanuel primo di questo nome Re di
Portogallo, & fu del 1500, in questo modo: che sapendosi da ogniuno che
sua Maesta non pensaua mai ad altro, se non come potesse far penetrare le
sue carauelle per tutte I' Indie Orientali, le fu fatto intendere, che
questo Viaggio di Nicolo di Conti daria gran luce, & cognitione a i suoi
Capitani & Pilotti, & pero di suo ordine fu tradotto di lingua latina
nella Portoguese, per un Valentino Fernandes, il quale nel suo proemio
dedicato a sua Maesta, tra i altre parole dice queste. Io mi son mosso a
tradur questo Viaggio di Nicolo Venetiano, accio che si legga appresso di
quello di Marco Polo, cognoscendo 'l grandissimo seruitio che ne
resultera a Vostra Maesta, ammonendo, & auisando 1i Sudditi suoi delle
cose dell' Indie, cioe quelle Citta, & popoli, che sieno de Mori, et
quali degli Idolatri, & delle grandi utilita & ricchezze di spetierie,
gioie, oro, & argento, che se ne traggona, & sopra tutto per consolar la
travagliata menta di Vostra Maesta, la quale manda le sue caravelle in
cosi lungo & pericoloso Viaggio, conciosia cosa che in questo Viaggio di
Nicolo si parta particolarmente d' altre citta dell 'Indie, oltra
Calicut, & Cochin, che gia al presente habbiamo Scoperte; & appresso per
aggiugnere un testimonio al Libro di Marco Polo, il qual ando al tempo di
Papa Gregorio X, nelle parti orientali fra 'lvento greco, & levante, &
questo Nicolo dipoi al tempo di Pafa Eugenio IIII. per la parte di
mezzodi penetro a quella volta, & trouo le medesime Terre descritte dal
detto Marco Polo. & questa e stata la principal cagione d' havermi fatto
pigliar la fatica di questa tradutione per ordine suo.
In the above we see that Dom Manoel, King of Portugal, in the year 1500,
obtained a copy of Nicolo de' Conti's voyages, which he entrusted to
Valentino Fernandes to translate into Portuguese, as the account of these
voyages would be of great service to his captains and pilots. We see also
that Valentino Fernandes, in his dedicatory proem, refers to the
additional testimony that Nicolo de' Conti's account will give to Marco
Polo's book.
In the preceding chapter we stated that Dom Pedro in 1428 brought back
from Venice a manuscript of Marco Polo's travels. R.H. Major* says that A
PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION OF THIS WORK (Marco Polo's work) was made and
edited at Lisbon in 1502 by a learned German printer named Valentim
Fernandez, who had established himself in Lisbon at that time.
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, Prince Henry the Navigator page 51 note 3.)
This Valentim Fernandez is no doubt the author of the translation of
Nicolo de' Conti's Voyages, mentioned by Ramusio under the Italian form
of Valentino Fernandes. Unfortunately. this learned German printer does
not appear--in the eyes of Ramusio--to have been a very LEARNED Italian
scholar, whatever his qualifications may have been in other branches of
knowledge, for Ramusio says of his translation: "l' ho ritrouato
grandemente guasto & scorreto," and he adds that he was on the point of
abandoning the idea of publishing it. So that, with Ramusio, we must
content ourselves with what information may be culled from the much
translated translation*: --The first of any importance refers to the city
of Malepur,** situata pur alla costa del mare nell' altro colfo Verso' l'
fiume Gange, doue il corpo di San Thommaso honoreuolmente e sepolto iu
vna chiesa assai grande, & bella, gli habitatori della quale son
christiani detti Nestorini, i quali sono sparsi per tutta l' India, come
fra noi sono li giudei, & tutta questa prouincia si dimanda Malabar.
(*Footnote. We make use of the Portuguese edition translated into Italian
by Ramusio, because it contains the text that caused, in our opinion, the
distortion of the Behaimean and Schonerean charts. The original Latin
edition that Ramusio could not find turned up afterwards, vide note
below.)
(**Footnote. Ramusio, Navigationi, F. 339, B.)
The above passage furnishes an item of information which connects it with
and suggests that it may have served to form the prototype from which
many important, highly interesting, and equally puzzling charts were
made.
Nicolo de' Conti, referring to Malepur, WHERE THE BODY OF ST. THOMAS IS
BURIED, calls that part of the Coromandel coast Malabar; but, as a little
further on he refers to the real coast of Malabar, calling it also
Malabar,* we may presume that he did not confound the one with the other.
(*Footnote. The original Latin description of Nicolo de' Conti's travels,
which Ramusio could not find, appeared afterwards in the fourth book of
Poggio's treatise De Varietate Fortunae libri quatuor, edited by the Abbe
Oliva, Paris 1723 4to., and from that edition R.H. Major edited in 1857
the first English translation for the Hakluyt Society's volume India in
the 15th Century. In this edition Malabar is written Melibaria. See page
7.)
The mistake resulted no doubt from the similarity of the contemporaneous
names given to these two provinces (as they were called), namely:
Provincia di Malabar, on the coast of Malabar. Provincia di Ma'bar or
Mobar, on the Coromandel coast,* where the city of Malepur was situated
and where afterwards the city of San Thome was built.
(*Footnote. See map in Yule's Cathay Volume i.)
But, to come to the item of information which may account, in a certain
measure, for the distortions of Behaimean and Schonerean maps. It is
this: Conti, after describing several towns visited by him on the
Coromandel coast and referring to the location of Malepur, says: situata
pur alla costa del mare nell' altro colfo verso 'l' fiume Gange: situated
also on the sea coast in the other gulf towards the river Ganges.
Now, this passage is ambiguous. Conti spoke as though he were on the
shores of the Arabian Sea, meaning by the OTHER GULF the Bay of Bengal.
Those who had to make out his descriptions and locate on charts the
various places he described did not interpret him that way. By the OTHER
GULF they of course understood the Gulf of Martaban, and placed in
consequence the PROJECTED San Thome on the Tenasserim coast opposite.
In this translatory operation--we must ask the question--what charts did
they work on? They had no choice. There were no others but those of
Ptolemy, IN WHICH THE INDIAN PENINSULA WAS SUPPRESSED. On the Ptolemy map
the two important gulfs were: the Sinus Gangeticus, our modern Bay of
Bengal, and the Sinus Magnus, the Chinese Sea represented as a gulf (see
Ptolemy's map Illustration 69). San Thome was therefore placed in this
OTHER GULF, as may be seen in the 1489 British Museum map.
One fault begot another. Having duplicated in this way the Malay
Peninsula--duplication, let it be said, already suggested in Ptolemy's
map--the speculative cartographers proceeded without more ado to
duplicate on their charts the missing Sumatra, which had been dragged out
of place and stood for Ceylon in the Ptolemy maps, where its enormous
size had no doubt prevented the proper charting of the Indian Peninsula.
The missing Sumatra set down to the south of the duplicate Malay
Peninsula received the name of Cayln, afterwards converted to Seillan,
Seillan insulae pars, etc.; but, as we shall explain, when we come to the
detailed description of these important documents, the west coast and,
probably, north-west coast of this bogus Sumatra were in reality the west
and north-west coasts of Australia.
In Ramusio's description of Nicolo de' Conti's travels we are brought by
a sudden transition from Zaiton (China) to Giava minore & maggiore; the
reason of this suddenness is explained in the text by the notice: Qui
mancan righe; here lines are missing. The description runs thus: Nell'
India interiore vi sono due isole verso l' estremo confine del mondo, &
ambe due sono sono dette le Giave, una delle quali ha di circuito tremila
miglia, & l' altra due, poste verso 'l levante, & per il nome di maggiore
& minore sono differenti l' una dal l' altra, ad arrivar allequal vi
stette un mese continuo di navigatione nel suo ritorno. Da un' isola all'
altra vi sono cento miglia di distantia, dove e la parte piu vicina.
Quivi si fermo per spatio di nove mesi con la moglie, & con i figliuoli,
& con la sua compagnia.
It is strange that after a sojourn of nine months in the Javas, Nicolo
de' Conti's description should be so imperfect. For interiore, we propose
to read inferiore. The two islands in inferior or Austral-India, Giava
minore and Giava maggiore, situated on the confines of the world, must be
Java and Sumbawa, yet from his account we do not know in which he stayed.
Giava minore cannot be Marco Polo's Java Minor, i.e., Sumatra, for Nicolo
de' Conti describes that island under the name of Sumatra anticamente
detta Taprobana, fol. 340 B. Moreover, he says of the two islands: Da un'
isola all' altra vi sono cento miglia di distantia: from one island to
the other the distance is one hundred miles. Again, his context, where he
speaks of cock-fighting, the practice of running amuck, and the vicinity
of the Spice Islands, the produce of which he describes, points to Bali,
Lomboc or Sumbawa, but more probably to the latter as the island called
by him Java Minor. He describes Bandan (Banda) and Sandai. Banda is one
of the Spice Islands; Sandai may be one of them also, but is more
difficult to make out, which may explain how it came to be identified
with Sunda in the Fra Mauro Mappamundi.
The south coasts of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, such as Java,
Bali, Lomboc, Sumbawa, etc., were little known, on account of the strong
currents and consequent dangerous nature of the navigation through the
straits that separate these islands. Nevertheless, the more westerly
coasts of Australia WERE KNOWN, and the supposed connection that some of
the above-mentioned islands had with the southern continent gave rise to
the idea of great extent they were supposed to have, especially the Java
Major.
CHAPTER 9. A.D. 1457 TO 1459.
FRA MAURO MAPPAMUNDI.
(ILLUSTRATION 91. INITIAL W.)
We have seen that in the year 1428 Prince Henry the Navigator and his
brother, Dom Pedro, had become possessed of a manuscript of Marco Polo
and of a map of the world. Twenty-nine years after, King Affonso V of
Portugal sent some documents to Italy to help in the compilation of the
famous mappamundi that forms the subject of this chapter. We shall find
in this mappamundi many traces, not only of the above-mentioned
documents, but also of Nicolo de' Conti's descriptions, showing that
although Ramusio could not find towards 1563 one single copy of Conti's
narrative of travels, the Portuguese Princes had either obtained a copy
long before the year 1500, the year in which, according to Ramusio, D.
Manoel obtained a copy, or copies were obtainable in Italy in 1457/1459,
the date of the compilation of the Fra Mauro Monument of Geography.
Prince Henry, although 63 years of age at the time, does not seem to have
lost sight of the task he had set himself in early life. Indeed Major
says:
Prince Henry the Navigator. Page 187.
"During the long period in which Prince Henry was continuing his maritime
explorations, he did not cease to cultivate the science of cartography.
In this he was warmly seconded by his nephew, King Affonso V. We have
unfortunately nothing to show as the result of the cartographical labours
of the geographer Mestre Jayme, whom the Prince had procured from
Majorca, to superintend his school of navigation and astronomy at Sagres,
whither he had also brought together the most able Arab and Jewish
mathematicians that he could obtain from Morocco or the Peninsula; but at
his instance the King caused to be made in Venice the finest specimen of
mediaeval map-making that the world has ever produced, and which exists
at the present day. The discovery that beyond Cape Verde the coast
trended eastwards inspired the King with new energy, for he assumed
therefrom that it would soon lead to India. He thought it possible that
in that direction the meridian of Tunis, and perhaps even that of
Alexandria, had been already passed. He gave names to rivers, gulfs,
capes, and harbours in the new discovery, and sent to Venice draughts of
maps on which these were laid down, with a commission for the
construction of a mappemonde on which they should be portrayed.
It was to the Venetian Fra Mauro, of the Camaldolese Convent of San
Miguel de Murano, that this commission was entrusted. King Affonso V
spared no expense, and Fra Mauro paid the draughtsmen from twelve to
fifteen sous a day, while from 1457 to 1459 he himself gave all possible
pains to perfecting his task. The practiced draughtsman, Andrea Bianco,
was called to take a part in its execution. At length this magnificent
specimen of mediaeval cartography was completed, and by desire of the
King despatched to Portugal, in charge of the noble Venetian Stefano
Trevigiano on the 24th of April 1459. In the same year, on the 20th of
October, the drawings and writings and a copy of the mappemonde were
enclosed in a chest and sent to the Abbot of the convent, from which it
would seem that Fra Mauro was then dead. It is to be presumed that while
elaborating the mappemonde for King Affonso he made at the same time a
copy which he intended to leave to the convent. In the convent library
still exists the register of receipts and expenditure of the convent,
written by the Abbot, afterwards Cardinal, Maffei Gerard, in which is a
note of the current cost of the map.*
(*Footnote. Note in Prince Henry the Navigator, page 189. A photograph
copy of this planisphere, of the size of the original, and the finest
existing, having been made by Signor Naya, of Venice, under the express
supervision of my friend, Mr. Rawdon Brown, is now in the Department of
Maps and Charts in the British Museum.)
On this map, which preceded by forty years the rounding of the Cape of
Good Hope by Vasco da Gama, we see clearly laid down the southern
extremity of Africa, under the name of Cavo di Diab. North-east of Cavo
di Diab are inscribed the names of Soffala and Xengibar. The southern
extremity is separated from the Continent by a narrow strait. An
inscription on Cape Diab states that in 1420 an Indian junk from the east
doubled the Cape in search of the islands of men and women (separately
inhabited by each), and after a sail of two thousand miles in forty days,
during which they saw nothing but sea and sky, they turned back, and in
seventy days' sailing reached Cavo di Diab, where the sailors found on
the shore an egg as big as a barrel, which they recognised as that of the
bird Crocho, doubtless the roc or rukh of Marco Polo, a native bird of
Madagascar."
There are other inscriptions and names on this wonderful chart, which
have not been noticed by Major or any other critic that we are aware of,
and which are of importance as connecting it with the later maps of the
world of the Behaimean and Schonerean type. But, before we proceed to
notice these, it may be well to consider, with the help of the
accompanying sketch map, the general features of this last of the
planispheric maps of the archaic type in which the circumfluent ocean is
retained.
(ILLUSTRATION 30. FRA MAURO MAPPAMUNDI.)
The above skeleton-map is a much reduced outline facsimile of Fra Mauro's
celebrated Mappamundi.
Owing to the inability of representing graphically the hemisphere, or,
strictly speaking, semi-hemisphere, intended, the longitudinal projection
is confounded with the latitudinal. In this state of things it will be
noticed that it is necessary to place the west at the top in order to
recognise the Australasian regions; for what appears to be the equator
with reference to Java and its eastern prolongation of islands is nothing
else but the outward limit of the circumfluent ocean. We have here, on
the extreme confines of the world, as the cartographer expresses it,
Sumatra, Banda, Java, Bali, Lomboc, Sumbawa, etc. In the large original
map, placed amongst the various islands there are represented rolls of
paper on which the explanatory text shows that the map-maker evidently
held views concerning the shape of the earth somewhat similar to those of
the early Greek period; for the islands referred to are propinqua ale
tenebre: near the exterior darkness.
Yet all kinds of spices are said to be produced in these beautiful
islands, and notice is also taken of the various bright plumaged birds:
Item li se trova papaga tutti rossi salvo i piedi et el becco che son
zali; wherein we recognise Nicolo de' Conti's description. We must take
note of this mention about parrots, because we shall find it revived
later on, and the whole Australian Continent termed Psittacorum regio:
the land of parrots.
We have remarked elsewhere concerning the omission of the islands of the
Chinese Sea, such as Borneo, Scelebes, etc. There was clearly no room for
them, and who knows but that the Australian Continent, or a part of it,
at least, was omitted for the same reason, per non aver luogo.
The inexorable laws of routine and conservatism had not yet, in the year
of grace 1459, sanctioned the breaking of the pagan shackles that
prevented the expansion of the old world. It was reserved for Diaz,
Columbus and Vasco da Gama to do this.
Taking the nomenclature in the order given in the accompanying sketch,
that is, from the true east, westwards, it may be noticed that Sumbawa,
Lomboc, Bali and Java are remarkably well charted, and that an open sea,
albeit the old river Ocean, is shown to the south of these islands. It
will be well to note this fact at this date, 1459, because we shall find
this sea blocked, not without reason, at a subsequent date. Sumatra is
charted nearly as well as Java and its eastern prolongation of islands,
and much better than in many later maps. It is much split up in its
southern extension, but this must not surprise us, as the southern parts
of Sumatra were believed to be formed of several islands as late as the
year 1784--vide map in Marsden's Sumatra. Amongst those islands we notice
Java Minor and Pentan (Bintang), which tallies, in a certain measure,
with Marco Polo's description--Sondai (written Sandai in Ramusio's
account) and Banda are also there, corresponding to Nicolo de' Conti's
text. The cartographer says: Sondai insola propinqua a banda, and
describes the nutmegs, spices, parrots, and white cockatoos found there;
this also corresponds with Nicolo's description. But Nicolo de' Conti
describes the Spice Islands from hearsay, and no doubt confounds some of
them with some port of call on the coast of Sumatra where the spices were
conveyed to, which may explain how Banda came to be placed in propinquity
to Sondai (Sunda). The larger portion of Sumatra bears the name first
given to it by Nicolo de' Conti, Isola Siamotra* over Taprobana--and in
large type TAPROBANA. Another name for Sumatra is referred to in an
inscription in the centre of the island: Questa isola antichissamente era
nominata Si modi (sic for Sismondi). So that there is no mistaking
Sumatra.
(*Footnote. In Ramusio's translation from the Portuguese, this island is
named Sumatra; but in the original Latin of Poggio Bracciolini the name
is Sciamuthera.)
The most interesting inscription however, and one that gave rise to many
strange complications, is set down to the north of some lofty hills on
the north coast, where a couple of lakes are portrayed. Lago and Lago
regno is the inscription. We shall refer to this lake district in due
course.
We may conclude by drawing attention to the fact--an important one--that
the straits of Malacca are shown. Malacca is also set down in its proper
place; but Milapur, Conti's Malepur, is set down on a duplicate Indian
peninsula, for we see towards the west Saylam, i.e. Ceylon, and the true
Indian Peninsula clearly marked.
CHAPTER 10. A.D. 1471 TO 1478.
THE EQUATOR CROSSED.
REVIVAL OF ANCIENT IDEAS CONCERNING THE SPHERICITY OF THE EARTH.
TOSCANELLI.
COLUMBUS.
(ILLUSTRATION 92. INITIAL T.)
The example set by Prince Henry the Navigator was followed by his nephew,
King Affonso V of Portugal, and the voyages towards the south along the
west coast of Africa were continued; nor were these voyages, strictly
speaking, made along the coasts only, as expressed in a paper which has
recently appeared in the Century Magazine,* where the writer says: "The
Portuguese merely felt their way along the coast in all these
voyages;...the coast-line served for a leading-string, holding to which
they felt themselves safe;...they only dared to leave the land in regions
with which they had long been acquainted."
(*Footnote. Columbus, by Professor Dr. S. Ruge, Harper's Monthly Magazine
page 682 line 9 October 1893.)
For Major, on the contrary, says: "It will have been noticed that in
previous voyages, when islands at a distance from the mainland, as for
example Porto Santo and the Cape Verde Islands, had been discovered, it
had been through the vessels being driven on them by storms; but in the
present case we have islands, one, S. Thome, more than fifty, the other,
Annoban, more than eighty leagues distant from the mainland, discovered
without the interference of any storm whatever of which we are informed.
The reasonable inference seems to be that the navigators used their newly
improved nautical instruments to good purpose, AND WERE ABLE TO LEAVE THE
COAST WITH IMPUNITY, which their predecessors were not in the position to
do, for want of being able to take the altitude. In this same year 1471,
FOR THE FIRST TIME WITHIN THE MEMORY OR EVEN THE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN THE
EQUINOCTIAL LINE WAS CROSSED FROM NORTH TO SOUTH. As Cape Lopo Gonsalvez,
now Cape Lopez, was the first locality, south of the equator, to have a
geographical name attached to it, it may fairly be inferred that this was
the name of the navigator who first crossed the line."*
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, Prince Henry the Navigator pages 199 to 200.)
(ILLUSTRATION 86. FIGURE 1. THE WORLD OF PTOLEMY.)
Figure 1. The World of Ptolemy.
The crossing of the line was the first act in the upsetting of the old
world theories concerning the inaccessibility of the regions lying beyond
the circumfluent ocean, and the equatorial regions also inaccessible on
account of the intense heat. Once the equator crossed, the gates of the
ocean were opened and all parts of the world brought into communication.
No objection could henceforth be raised against the habitableness of the
southern hemisphere, and in future maps we shall see the Australasian
regions invaded by the hitherto cramped islands and other features that
the former cartographer could not set down per non aver luogo. The world
which had been represented WITHIN A CIRCLE was in reality only a QUARTER
OF THE SPHERE. See Figure 1, Illustration 86.
(ILLUSTRATION 85. FIGURE 2. THE WORLD AS APPREHENDED BY THE PORTUGUESE
AND ITALIANS.)
Figure 2. The world as apprehended by the Portuguese and Italians.
After the bursting of the Archaic ocean, half the sphere was apprehended
(see Figure 2, Illustration 85), the natural result of the widening of
the sphere being the enlargement of various configurations of land and
water which had been, with or without reason, supposed to have been
dwarfed.
The next task for thinking minds of the day, cartographers and others,
was, once the sphericity of the earth practically demonstrated, to
ascertain what remained to be discovered. Cartographers set to work to
construct maps and globes in order to clearly ascertain the proportions
of the undiscovered surface of the globe. Since the days of Crates, who
is mentioned by Strabo as having constructed a terrestrial globe, that is
since 200 years before Christ, little could have been done in the way of
constructing earth-globes, for none have been handed down to us from that
period to the one we are now dealing with. We shall now find--to use an
expressive modern term--a boom in map and globe making. In the
construction of these the older documents were used until fresh data
could be obtained; but, as the world was now enlarged, geographers
naturally thought fit to enlarge the dimensions of the various
configurations of land and water, and in this process the less well known
regions, that is, those most distant, suffered most.
The amount of progress achieved latitudinally had also been made
longitudinally by the Portuguese. In this respect they had also
anticipated the discoveries made under the Spanish flag. As Mr Harrisse
remarks, speaking of C. Columbus:* "It cannot be denied that
notwithstanding his extensive display of Scriptural and scientific
authorities, the great Genoese was also influenced by the attempts of the
Portuguese; from which, in point of history, his theories and
achievements cannot be separated, although they were not precisely of the
same character. The bold seafaring men of Portugal sought to reach
insular regions supposed to be cast far away into the ocean, whilst
Columbus endeavoured to arrive at China and Japan. Still, those islands
were so much believed to be on the route that Toscanelli referred to them
as landing places, when Affonso V should send an expedition in search of
the east coast of Asia. What is more, the map which Columbus took with
him when he started from Spain on his first voyage contained oceanic
isles depicted by himself. Those were necessarily borrowed from charts
then current: 'donde segun parece tenia pintadas el Almirante ciertas
islas por aquella mar.' All those notions therefore were not only co-eval
but also closely connected.
(*Footnote. H. Harrisse, The Discovery of North America page 651 2nd
paragraph.)
"It is unquestionable that Roger Bacon, Pierre d'Ailly, Toscanelli,
Munzmeister, and a host of thinkers, derived their ideas concerning the
existence of transatlantic lands from the hypothesis of Aristotle, more
or less directly; the mariners of the first half of the fifteenth century
however were actuated by different inferences. They firmly believed that
the islands which stud the western seas in all maps and globes of that
period, so far from being imaginary, existed really, and could be
reached. Hence repeated efforts on the part of adventurers, chiefly
Lusitanian, or from the Azores, whose habits of thought precluded them
from entertaining learned or theoretical opinions on the subject, and who
were impelled only by practical ideas.
"We possess abundant proofs that such was actually the case. Where did
Prince Henry send Gonzalo Velho Cabral? In search of the islands marked
on the map which Dom Pedro had brought from Italy in 1428. Where did
Diogo de Teive direct his ship? To the south-west of Fayal to find the
Antilia. What was the island which Affonso V conceded to Fernam Tellez,
and which Joao II afterwards granted to Fernam d' Ulmo? The Island of the
Seven Cities. What isle did the captain in the employ of the Infant Henry
pretend to have discovered? Again, the Antilia. What was the object of
the voyage of Thomas Lloyd? To find the island of Brazil. What
captainship was given to Joao Vogado? That of the Ovo and Capraria
islands, known then chiefly from being marked on charts: 'As quaaes
segumdo a carta de marear.' Did not the Bristol people during seven years
previous to 1498 equip every year two, three, or four caravels to go in
search of the islands of Brazil and of the Seven Cities? None of these
fantastic islands are mentioned in the Opus Majus or in the Imago Mundi;
but they figure in almost every mappamundi and atlas of the fifteenth
century. Nay, do we not see Martin Alonso Pinzon claiming to have been
shown in the Pope's library at Rome, in 1491, a map setting forth the
transatlantic lands which, in company with Columbus, he was destined to
discover a year afterwards?"
Toscanelli appears to have been the first in the field to put these ideas
into shape, by giving the relative distances as considered in connection
with the projection of the earth. The wonderful piece of mediaeval
cartography known as Fra Mauro's Mappamundi served him as a ground plan
to work on; it had no degrees of longitude or latitude; he undertook to
indicate by what he called spaces the missing degrees. On the 25th of
June 1474 he sent to Portugal a copy of a map he had constructed; this
was addressed to Fernam Martins, King Affonso's chaplain, and a letter
accompanied it, in which he says*: "I send to His Majesty a map which I
have designed with my own hands, and on which I have marked the coasts
and islands which may serve to you as a starting point when you undertake
that navigation, in steering always westward."
(*Footnote. H. Harrisse, Discovery of North America page 378.)
On this subject, and with reference to Nicolo de' Conti, Professor Ruge
says*: "After his return (Nicolo de' Conti's return to Italy from the
East) he made a report of his journey to the Pope, and Toscanelli also
gained information from him by word of mouth. Toscanelli possessed energy
and genius. His experience of life was wide. He lived to be a hundred
years old, and he had considerable geographical knowledge. It was natural
enough that such a man should conceive the idea of representing in
visible form on a globe the distribution of land and water. The coast
line of Europe from Scotland southwards, and the western coast of Africa
as far as Guinea, had been correctly depicted by the skilled
cartographers of Italy and Spain. Now it was necessary, from the
information given by Polo in writing and by Conti in conversation, to
construct a picture of the position and size of the countries of Asia, a
picture which might claim to give a true, or, at all events, a probable,
presentation of the facts. A sketch made it quite clear to the Italian
cosmographer that the western ocean was very small. The conviction
gradually grew stronger, and he came to think that a man in the
neighbourhood of Mexico, for example--if I may borrow the geographical
language of our own time--would be on the east coast of Japan. He knew
how the Portuguese were exerting themselves to find a way to India round
Africa. From the Italian agents at Lisbon he constantly heard of new
attempts. His sketch map showed him that this route must be decidedly
longer, even without taking into account the fact that no one had the
least idea how far Africa extended to the south. He wished to put the
Portuguese on the right track, and with this object he made an indirect
application to the King of Portugal."
(*Footnote. Columbus, by Professor Dr. S. Ruge, Harper's Monthly Magazine
page 687 line 4 2nd column.)
Manuscript copies of Marco Polo's travels were no doubt very difficult to
obtain; but, when the Editio Princeps (Fricz Creuszner zu Nurmberg Nach
eristi gepurdt Tausent vierhundert un im siben un sibenczigte iar) (1477)
of his travels, published in any language, appeared, geographers and
cartographers, especially in Germany, were enabled to make use of his
descriptions of countries in the East in the construction of their new
maps of the world. It is no doubt from this date that the various types
of maps that we have mentioned as belonging to the 3rd type began to make
their appearance. The first edition of the Ptolemy Atlas, with the first
set of maps ever produced by copper engraving, which appeared the
following year, 1478, shows the interest that was taken at the time in
connection with geography and cartography.
CHAPTER 11. A.D. 1479 TO 1484.
TOSCANELLI AND COLUMBUS.
(ILLUSTRATION 90. INITIAL T. ASTRONOMER FROM PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY.)
The following year, 1479, C. Columbus may have received* from Toscanelli
a letter and map in answer to inquiries made by him concerning the Land
of Spice. This letter and map appear to have been duplicates of those
sent in 1474 to Affonso V, King of Portugal. Concerning this map and
letter Mr. Harrisse says: "This map was crossed with longitudinal lines
indicating the distances from east to west, and with horizontal ones
showing the distances from north to south. The intervals between those
lines was called a space, and each space measured from east to west 250
Italian miles. The Italian mile was equal to 1481 meters. The early
Spanish navigators considered the nautical league as equal to four miles:
'Volunt leguam Hispani millia passuum quatuor continere mari prasertim;
terra vero tria.' Anghiera Decad. ii., cap. x., page 174.
(*Footnote. The date fixed by Mr. Harrisse is between 1479 and 1484. See
Discovery of North America pages 379, 380.)
"From Lisbon to the city of Quinsay there were 26 such spaces, which 26
spaces represented, in the opinion of Toscanelli, about one-third of the
surface of the entire globe. Las Casas says: 'Tenia en circuito 2,400
millas, que son 600 leaguas.' Historia General, lib. i. cap. i. volume i.
page 360.
"On that map were marked, adjoining the coast of Portugal, islands which
we assume to have been the Azores, and, west of the same, that is, on the
opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the province of Mango, near
Cathay, and the Empire of the Great Khan, the extremity of which bore the
name of Zaitam.
"Nearly in the middle of the Atlantic was the imaginary Antilla Island,
10 spaces distant from the island of Cipango.
"Finally, the map stated 'how much it was necessary to deviate from the
pole and from the equinoctial line.'
"This primitive and original chart was in the possession of Las Casas
when he wrote his History of the Indies, and apparently until the time of
his death, which occurred in 1566. It doubtless belonged originally to
the library of Fernando Columbus, and we are of opinion that it was given
to Las Casas by the Dominican friars, who were yet in charge of that
library as residuary legatees, when he was ordained bishop in their
monastery of San Pablo, at Seville, in 1544.
"There is a minute description of the map in Book I., chapter L., of Las
Casas' Historia General de las Indias, to which we refer the reader.
"But if the map itself is irretrievably lost, we still have the letter
which Toscanelli sent to Columbus at the same time. It is to be found
among the manuscript annotations added by the Great Genoese to the few
books which he possessed, and are now preserved in the Colombina Library,
where they have been an object of curiosity for three centuries, without
anyone suspecting until May 8 1871 that they contain the original Latin
text of Toscanelli's important epistle, theretofore supposed to have been
originally written in Italian.*
(*Footnote. It is owing to Mr. H. Harrisse's indefatigable and
intelligent researches that the Latin text of Toscanelli's letter has
become known to the world. We may therefore be allowed to join the Chief
Librarian of the Colombiana Library who thanks him for having caused the
fact to be known that the text referred to was the original one. George
Collingridge.)
"That letter is so inseparable from the geographical data which led to
the discovery of the New World; it has played so great a part in the
evolution of American cartography in its incipient stage, and it serves
in such a high degree to comprehend the lost map of Toscanelli, that we
feel constrained to reproduce it in connection with the present chapter."
The above paragraph applies with equal if not greater force to Australia;
for was it not to the Land of Spice--that is to the AUSTRALASIAN
REGIONS--that C. Columbus directed his course?*
(*Footnote. See also The Early Cartography of Japan, By George
Collingridge, in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,
London, May 1894. In that paper the author shows that the famous island
of Cipango that Ch. Columbus was in search of was not Japan but Java.)
We shall also therefore reproduce Toscanelli's letter, contenting
ourselves with the vernacular which accompanies in Mr. H. Harrisse's work
the Latin text of Toscanelli.
We continue the quotation as follows: "As the reader is aware, Columbus
wrote a letter to Toscanelli, which is lost. We know however that it was
a request for information concerning the Land of Spice, which he thought
possible to reach direct from Europe by sea. Judging from the
Florentine's reply, Columbus desired more particularly to ascertain what
route he should take, the distance to sail over, the stations on the way,
landfalls, and landing places.
"Toscanelli replied by sending him the above-mentioned map, together with
a copy of a letter which he had formerly addressed to Fernam Martins, the
chaplain of the King of Portugal, in answer to just such a request.
"The letter written to Martins was dated from Florence, June 25 1474, but
Columbus only received communication of it years afterwards. In the note
accompanying the package, Toscanelli says that the original letter had
been written: Antes de las guerras de Castilla--before the wars in
Castille. Consequently the copy was sent after September 24 1479, when
the treaty of peace between Spain and Portugal was signed.
"That letter was translated into Spanish probably by Fernando Columbus
when engaged writing the life of his father. That translation has been
inserted by Las Casas in his Historia General de las Indias, but it is
far from being literal. Certain geographical descriptions, borrowed
apparently from Toscanelli's map, explanations which are regular
commentaries, and personal details, of which we do not know the source,
have been intercalated. Several passages are also inserted not in their
proper place. It follows that the critic can no longer remain satisfied
with the Italian version first published in the Historia in 1571, and
which was the only one known, until the Spanish translation from which it
had been taken was printed with Las Casas' work in 1875. Nor is the
latter version any more satisfactory, as it contains the same defects.
"The original Latin text of that letter is as follows: Copia misa
christofaro, etc. The English translation being: Copy sent to Christopher
Colombo by Paul the physician, with a nautical chart.
"To Ferdinand Martins, a canon in Lisbon, Paul the physician, greeting: I
have learnt with pleasure that your health is good, and that you are on
terms of intimacy with your very generous and very magnificent sovereign.
On a previous occasion I have spoken to you of a sea route to the land of
spice shorter than the one which you (i.e. the Portuguese) take by the
way of Guinea. That is the reason why the Most Serene King (Affonso V,
surnamed The African, (cross symbol) 1481) asks of me today information
on the subject, or rather an explanation sufficiently clear to enable
men, even but little learned, to understand the existence of such a
route. Although I know that it is a consequence of the spherical form of
the earth, I have decided, nevertheless, so as to be better understood
and to facilitate the enterprise, to demonstrate in constructing a
nautical chart that the said route is proved to exist. I therefore send
to His Majesty a map which has been drawn with my own hands, and on which
are marked your coasts and the islands which may be taken as a starting
point, when you undertake the voyage, by steering constantly towards the
west. (Las Casas here--volume 1 page 93--makes the following
interpolation: En la cual esta pintado todo el fin del Poniente, tornando
desde Irlanda al Austro hasta el fin de Guinea...con las islas. These
details may be added to his description of the map.) You will also find
thereon the indication of the countries which you must fall in with; how
much you will have to deviate from the pole, and from the equinoctial
line; and finally, the space--that is to say, the number of leagues--you
have to sail over to reach the country, which is so rich in spice and
precious stones of all sorts. Do not be surprised if I call the country
of spices a WESTERN country, whilst it is the custom to call it EASTERN.
The reason is that in making the voyage by sea, in the hemisphere which
is opposite our own, that country will always be found on the west side.
If, on the contrary, the land route is adopted, in crossing the higher
hemisphere it will always be found in the east. The longitudinal lines
traced on the map show the distance from east to west; the horizontal
ones show the distance from south to north. I have also marked, for the
use of navigators, several countries where you may touch in case contrary
winds or some accident should drive mariners to some other coast than the
one intended. I wanted to enable them to show the aborigines that we were
not without possessing some knowledge of their country, which must please
them. Only merchants, as we are informed, settle in those islands; for
there is such a great concourse of navigators with goods that the port of
Zaiton alone, which is famous, contains a greater number of them than all
the rest of the world together. It is asserted that every year one
hundred large vessels, loaded with pepper, arrive in that port; without
speaking of the other ships which bring different kinds of spice. That
country is very much peopled, and very rich. It is composed of a
multitude of provinces, kingdoms, and innumerable cities, all of which
are under the sway of a single prince, called The Grand Khan. That title
means, in Latin, The King of Kings. His residence is mostly in the
province of Cathay. His ancestors being desirous to have intercourse with
the Christians, sent, two hundred years ago, an embassy to the Pope to
obtain doctors in theology to teach them the Catholic religion; but the
envoys were prevented from continuing their route, and returned home. In
the time of Eugene,* one of them visited the Pope, and assured him that
his countrymen entertained very good feelings towards Christians. I have
conversed with him a great deal on all topics. He spoke to me of the
large size of the royal palaces; of the prodigious extent of rivers in
breadth and length; of the multitude of cities built on their banks
(nearly two hundred towns were on the banks of a single river); finally,
of marble bridges very wide and very long, adorned with a double row of
columns. That country deserves to be sought after by the Latins, not only
because enormous wealth can be acquired there, in gold, in silver, in
precious stones of all kinds, and in certain sorts of spice which never
reach our country, but on account of the scholars, philosophers, and
learned astrologers (from India), who may teach us by what means a
province so powerful and so magnificent is governed, and their manner of
waging war.
(*Footnote. See the relation of N. Conti in Poggii Bracciolini Florent.
Historiae de Varietate Fortunae; Paris 1723 4to lib. iv. Also Yule,
Cathay and the way thither; London 1866 page cxxxviii.; and Cordier,
Bibliotheca Sinica volume i.)
"Let these short details suffice to satisfy, in a measure, the king who
asked for information. My occupations, which absorb my entire time, do
not allow me to speak more at length. But, later on, I shall be disposed
to comply with the desires of His Royal Majesty as extensively as he may
wish.
"Given at Florence on the 25th of June 1474.
"From the city of Lisbon, towards the west, in a direct line, there are
twenty-six spaces (of 250 miles each) marked on the map as far as the
famous and very large city of Quinsay. The circumference of that city is
100 miles. It possesses ten bridges, and its name means The city of the
Heavens. They relate marvellous things relative to the multitude of
objects (of art ?) found there, and the amount of its revenue. That space
is about one-third of the entire globe.* The city is in the province of
Mango, near that of Cathay, in which is the royal residence. From the
Antilia Island, which you know, to the famous island of Cipango there are
ten spaces. That island yields quantities of gold, pearls, and precious
stones. The temples and palaces of the king are inlaid with plates of
gold. It will not be necessary therefore to cross very extensive spaces
over the sea on an unknown route. Perhaps I should have given more minute
details on many things, but a careful observer can, of himself, supply
much of what may be wanting. Goodbye, dearest."
(*Footnote. Conti here says: Piu oltre de questa provincia di Mangi, se
ne troua un' altra che e la miglior di tutte l' altre del mondo nominata
il Cataio...et la principal citta, et la piu nobil si chiama Cambalu
nella quale e posto il palazzo del Re. Viaggio di Nicolo di Conti,
scritto por Messer Poggio; in Ramusio.)
Mr. Harrisse adds: "That important letter must not be considered simply
as a familiar communication of which Toscanelli had kept a copy for ten
years or more. It was evidently based upon some scientific paper, which
embodied notions shared by a certain class of thinkers in quarters where
the problems of cosmography were frequently mooted, and whose writings
have not all come down to us. We are even justified in supposing that the
idea of the existence of transatlantic lands which could be easily
reached by steering westward, had been the subject of conversations in
the Italian cities. This is shown by the fact that the Duke of Ferrara
viewed the discovery accomplished by Columbus as a confirmation of the
ideas advanced by Toscanelli, and in 1494 requested his ambassador at
Florence to institute researches among the papers of the Florentine
astronomer, then in the possession of his nephew Ludovico, and to secure
any note or writing on the subject."*
(*Footnote. See H. Harrisse, Discovery of North America pages 2 and 3.)
CHAPTER 12. A.D. 1484 TO 1487.
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE REACHED.
(ILLUSTRATION 83. VIEW OF TABLE MOUNTAIN, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.)
View of Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope.
(ILLUSTRATION 89. INITIAL I.)
In 1481 King Affonso V of Portugal died, and his son and successor Joao
II, The Perfect, entered with zeal into the views of his predecessors.
R.H. Major tells us*: "Hitherto the Portuguese in making their
explorations had contented themselves by setting up crosses by way of
taking formal possession of any country; but these crosses soon
disappeared, and the object in setting them up was frustrated. They would
also carve on trees the motto of Prince Henry, Talent de bien faire,
together with the name which they gave to the newly discovered land. In
the reign of King Joao however they began to erect stone pillars
surmounted by a cross. These pillars, which were designed by the king,
were fourteen or fifteen hands high, with the royal arms sculptured in
front, and on the sides were inscribed the names of the king and of the
discoverer, as well as the date of the discovery, in Latin and
Portuguese. These pillars were called Padraos.
(*Footnote. Prince Henry the Navigator page 203.)
"In 1484, Diogo Cam, a knight of the king's household, carried out with
him one of these stone pillars and, passing Cape St. Catherine, the last
point discovered in the reign of King Affonso, reached the mouth of a
mighty river, on the south side of which he set up the pillar, and
accordingly called the river the Rio do Padrao. The natives called it
Zaire. It was afterwards named the Congo, from the country through which
it flowed. Diogo Cam ascended the river to a little distance, and fell in
with a great number of natives, who were very peacefully inclined, but
although he had interpreters of several of the African languages, none of
them could make themselves understood. He accordingly determined to take
some of the natives back with him to Portugal, that they might learn the
Portuguese language and act as interpreters for the future. This was
easily managed, and without any violence, by sending Portuguese hostages
to the King of Congo, with a promise that in fifteen months the negroes
should be restored to their country. He took with him four of the
natives, and on the voyage they learned enough Portuguese to enable them
to give a fair account of their own country and of those which lay to the
south of it. King Joao was greatly gratified, and treated the negroes
with much kindness and even munificence, and when Diogo Cam took them
back the following year, the king charged them with many presents for
their own sovereign, accompanied by the earnest desire that he and his
people would embrace the Christian religion. Up to the year 1485 Joao II
used the title of King of Portugal and the Algarves on this side the sea
and beyond the sea in Africa, but in this year he added thereto that of
Lord of Guinea.
"In this remarkable voyage Diogo Cam was accompanied by the celebrated
Martin Behaim, the inventor of the application of the astrolabe to
navigation."
A curious parallel might be drawn, in many ways, between Martin Behaim
and Alexander Dalrymple on one side and C. Columbus and Captain Cook on
the other, the principal features being that M. Behaim and Alex Dalrymple
were both sailors and savants, and came, both of them, very near being
sent out on the two expeditions which resulted in the rediscovery of New
Worlds. C. Columbus and Cook were better sailors than savants, but were
both pre-eminently practical men, and both of them must be considered as
the principal agents in the practical rediscovery of America and
Australia respectively.
To return to the voyage of the Portuguese that led to the opening of the
sea-way to India and Australasia we must here introduce a personage that
greatly exercised the minds of the period. Prester John was the name
given to him. He was supposed, in his twofold character of priest and
king, to rule over vast tracts of country, and, if we judge from the
tales that were told concerning him, and from the localities marked on
maps, over which he was said to rule, he would have been a mighty prince
indeed; for he is represented as having under his sway all the eastern
parts of Africa and the larger part of Asia.
King Joao II, believing that such a monarch might be of the greatest
service to him, determined to reach his country both by land and sea.
Major tells us*:
(*Footnote. Prince Henry the Navigator page 212 et seq.)
"The first persons whom he sent out with this object were Father Antonio
de Lisboa and one Pedro de Montarryo; but when they reached Jerusalem
they found that without knowing Arabic it would be useless to continue
their voyage, and therefore they returned.
"On the 7th of May 1487 however the king despatched two men who were not
wanting in that respect, namely Pedro de Covilham and Affonso de Payva.
They went by Naples and Rhodes to Alexandria and Cairo, and so to Aden,
where they separated with an agreement to meet at a certain time at
Cairo. They left Lisbon for Naples, where their bills of exchange were
paid by the son of Cosmo de Medicis; and from Naples they sailed to the
island of Rhodes. Then, crossing over to Alexandria, they travelled to
Cairo as merchants, and proceeding with the caravan to Tor on the Red
Sea, at the foot of Mount Sinai, gained some information relative to the
trade with Calicut. Thence they sailed to Aden, where they parted;
Covilham directed his course towards India, and Payva towards Suakem in
Abyssinia, appointing Cairo as the future place of their rendezvous.
"At Aden Covilham embarked in a Moorish ship for Cananor, on the Malabar
coast, and after some stay in that city went to Calicut and Goa, being
the first of his countrymen who had sailed on the Indian Ocean. He then
passed over to Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa, and examined its
gold-mines, where he procured some intelligence of the island of St.
Lawrence, called by the Moors the Island of the Moon, now known as
Madagascar.
"Covilham had now heard of cloves and cinnamon, and seen pepper and
ginger; he therefore resolved to venture no further until the valuable
information he possessed was conveyed to Portugal. With this idea he
returned to Egypt; but found on his arrival at Cairo, where he met with
messengers from King Joao, that Payva had died a short time before. The
names of these messengers were Rabbi Abraham of Beja, and Joseph of
Lamego; the latter immediately returned with letters from Covilham,
containing, among other curious facts, the following remarkable report:
"That the ships which sailed down the coast of Guinea might be sure of
reaching the termination of the continent, by persisting in a course to
the south, and that when they should arrive in the eastern ocean, their
best direction must be to inquire for Sofala, and the Island of the
Moon..."*
(*Footnote. The Arabs called Madagascar AL-CAMAR, the Island of the Moon;
but this name got to be corrupted on charts and maps to such an extent
that the island was believed by some to be a fictitious one. The
following are some of the corrupted forms of Al-Camar: Camar, Comor,
Comr, Comar, Comari, Comair, Camrou, Camroun, Comara, etc. For further
particulars on this subject, we refer our readers to J. Codine's Memoire
Geographique sur le mer des Indes. Paris, 1868. George Collingridge.)
"From his letter to King Joao it will be seen that to Covilham is to be
assigned the honour of the theoretical discovery of the Cape of Good
Hope, as that of the practical discovery will presently be shown to
belong to Bartholomeu Dias...
"By sea Joao sent, in August 1486, two vessels of fifty tons
respectively, under the command of Bartholomeu Dias and Joao Infante. A
smaller craft which carried the provisions was commanded by Pedro Dias,
Bartholomeu's brother...It was fitting that a Dias should be the first to
accomplish the great task which it had been the ruling desire of the life
of Prince Henry to see effected. It was a family of daring navigators.
Joao Dias had been one of the first who had doubled Cape Bajador, and
Lorenzo Dias was the first to reach the Bay of Arguin, while Diniz Dias
was the first to reach the land of the Blacks and even Cape Verde, to
which he gave its name. The expedition of Bartholomeu started about the
end of August, and made directly for the south. Passing the Manga das
Areas where Diogo Cam had placed his furthest pillar, they reached a bay
to which they gave the name of Angra dos Ilheos. Here Dias erected a
pillar, which was broken some eighty years ago. The point is now called
Dias Point or Pedestal Point. From seaward is seen what looks like two
conical shaped islands, on the highest of which stood the cross. These
hillocks stand out dark from the surrounding land, and probably gave rise
from their tint to the name of Serra Parda, or the Dark Hills, in which
Barros places this monument. Proceeding southward, Dias reached another
point, where he was delayed five days in struggling against the weather,
and the frequent tacks that he had to make induced him to call it Angra
das Voltas, or Cape of the Turns and Tacks. It is called Cape Voltas, and
forms the south point of Orange River. From this they were driven before
the wind for thirteen days, due south, with half-reefed sails, and of
course out of sight of land, when suddenly they were surprised to find a
striking change in the temperature, the cold increasing greatly as they
advanced. When the wind abated, Dias, not doubting that the coast still
ran north and south, as it had done hitherto, steered in an easterly
direction with the view of striking it, but, finding that no land made
its appearance, he altered his course for the north, and came upon a bay
where were a number of cowherds tending their kine, who were greatly
alarmed at the sight of the Portuguese and drove their cattle inland.
Dias gave the bay the name of Angra dos Vaqueiros, or the Bay of
Cowherds. It is the present Flesh Bay, near Gauritz River. He had rounded
the Cape without knowing it.
"It is a fact specially worthy of notice that in this voyage an entirely
different system was adopted with respect to the natives than had
prevailed hitherto. Instead of capturing the negroes that they chanced to
find on the coast, they had orders to leave on the shore at intervals
negroes and negresses well dressed and well affected towards Portugal, to
gather information respecting Prester John, to speak in praise of the
Portuguese from experience of kindnesses received, and to infuse a desire
to contract alliances with them. In accordance with those instructions,
two negroes had been restored at Angra do Salto (the Bay of the Capture),
so called from Diogo Cam having captured them at this place. They had
left also a negress at Angra dos Ilheos (Angra Pequena), and another at
Angra das Voltas. An unfortunate event however occurred which neutralized
the effect of this well intended plan. In proceeding eastward from Flesh
Bay, Dias reached another bay, to which he gave the name of San Bras,
where he put in to take water. In doing this he met with determined
opposition from the natives, who threw stones at his men. They were thus
compelled to resort to their own weapons in self-defence, and an
unfortunate shot from an arblast struck one of the Caffres dead, and thus
the favourable impressions which had been looked for from a pacific
system of procedure were nullified by an act of violence which they would
gladly have avoided. Continuing east, Dias reached a small island in
Algoa Bay, on which he set up another pillar with its cross, and the name
of Santa Cruz which he gave to the rock still survives; and as they found
two springs in it, many called it the Penedo das Fontes. This was the
first land beyond the Cape which was trodden by European feet, and here
they set on shore another negress.
"The crews now began to complain, for they were worn out with fatigue,
and alarmed at the heavy seas through which they were passing. With one
voice they protested against proceeding farther. Dias however was most
anxious to prosecute the voyage. By way of compromise he proposed that
they should sail on in the same direction for two or three days, and if
they then found no reason for proceeding farther, he promised they should
return. This was acceded to. At the end of that time they reached a river
some twenty-five leagues beyond the island of Santa Cruz, and as Joao
Infante, the captain of the second ship, the S. Pantaleon, was the first
to land, they called the river the Rio do Infante. It was the river now
known as the Great Fish River.
"Here the remonstrances and complaints of the crews compelled Dias to
turn back. When he reached the little island of Santa Cruz, and bade
farewell to the cross which he had there erected, it was with grief as
intense as if he were leaving his child in the wilderness with no hope of
ever seeing him again. The recollection of all the dangers that he and
his men had gone through in that long voyage, and the reflection that
they were to terminate thus fruitlessly, caused him the keenest sorrow.
He was, in fact, unconscious of what he had accomplished. But his eyes
were soon to be opened. As he sailed onwards to the west of Santa Cruz he
at length came in sight of that remarkable cape which had been hidden
from the eyes of man for so many centuries. In remembrance of the perils
they had encountered in passing that tempestuous point, he gave to it the
name of Cabo Tormentoso, or Stormy Cape, but when he reached Portugal,
and made his report to Joao, the King, foreseeing the realization of the
long coveted passage to India, gave it the enduring name of Cape of Good
Hope.
"The one grand discovery which had been the object of Prince Henry's
unceasing desire was now effected. The joy of the homeward voyage was
however marred by a most painful incident. Dias had, by way of
precaution, left behind him, off the coast of Guinea, the small vessel
containing the supplies of provisions. He now went in search of it, it
being nine months since they had parted company. When they reached it,
they found three men only surviving out of the nine that had been left,
and one of these, named Fernando Colaco, a scrivener from Lumiar, near
Lisbon, was so weakened by illness that he died of joy when he saw his
companions. The cause of the loss had been that, while the Portuguese
were holding friendly communication with the negroes, the latter were
seized with a covetous desire to possess some of the articles which were
being bartered, and, as a short means of obtaining them, killed the
owners. Not to return empty handed, Dias put in at St. George da Mina,
and received from the commander, Joao Fogaza, the gold which he had taken
in barter. He then proceeded to Lisbon, which he reached in December
1487, after an absence of sixteen months and seventeen days.
"In that voyage he had discovered three hundred and fifty leagues of
coast, which was almost as much as Diogo Cam had discovered in his two
voyages. This great and memorable discovery was the last that was made in
the reign of King Joao II."
CHAPTER 13. A.D. 1487 TO 1489.
BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS' LOST MAP OF THE WORLD.
(ILLUSTRATION 14. INITIAL O. CIRCULAR BOAT OF THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES
FROM NINEVEH SCULPTURES.)
Once the Cape of Good Hope and the southern extremity of Africa rounded,
the sea-way to India and Australasia lay open to the adventurous sailor
of the day. But now, Portugal and Spain being at war with one another, no
further expeditions were sent out by the Portuguese until Vasco da
Gama--ten years after the successful voyage of Dias--made his way to
Calicut with the first European fleet that ever entered the waters of the
Indian Ocean. Prior to this, Columbus had made a proposition to the King
of Portugal to reach the Land of Spice by the west. Joao however
preferred to carry out the designs inaugurated by Prince Henry. Columbus
then went to Spain, where after many weary years of solicitation his
projects were at last listened to.
The race to the Spice Islands now fairly began, but, like in the fable of
the hare and the tortoise, he who started first won the race. Columbus'
expedition nevertheless resulted in something better than the discovery
of the Land of Spice. The vast continent extending from the north to the
south pole, and now known to us as America, was revealed to the world.
That continent, which was to assume such an immense importance, was
unknown to Columbus, for he believed to the very last that he had reached
India and the Spice Islands.
Let us now examine the maps and charts of the period we have just briefly
considered. Fra Mauro's Mappamundi served pre-eminently as a model for
all cartographers who were then pointing out the regions to be
discovered. Toscanelli used that prototype freely, although he altered
its features considerably. Behaim and others copied him more or less.
Christopher Columbus made a globe which he sent to Toscanelli together
with a letter asking for information. Bartholomew, Christopher Columbus'
younger brother, one of the most efficient cartographers of the day,
demonstrated to Christopher, according to Antonio Gallo, "that by
starting from the south coast of Ethiopia, and steering westward on the
right in the open sea, a continent would certainly be reached;" which is
as strange as it is true. According to the notions of the time however it
was not South America that would have been reached, but a continental
land which occupied in the maps of the world, as then delineated, the
Australasian regions.
According to Mr. H. Harrisse Bartholomew Columbus made a map of the world
in London for Henry VI. This map, which is now lost, contained some
indifferent verses, which have been preserved in two different Latin
versions: Las Casas' and the Historie.
We give here Mr. Harrisse's translation of the Historie version*:
"Whomsoever you may be, who desires to know the earth and the seas, this
picture will give you the detail thereof in full; which has already been
related by Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny, and Isidor (of Seville). Yet their
information differs. Here is represented the torrid zone recently
navigated by the Spanish (sic)** vessels, until then unknown, and now
well known.
(*Footnote. Mr. Harrisse's note: "This is evidently an allusion to the
discovery of the Cape of Good Hope which Bartholomew Diaz had recently
accomplished (August 1486 to December 1487) after crossing the torrid
zone, then supposed to extend throughout the ocean (Santarem, Hist. de la
Cosmographie au moyen age, volume iii. page 212). But Diaz sailed under
the Portuguese flag, and the Spaniards had nothing whatever to do with
this or any other similar expedition during the fifteenth century.)
(**Footnote. Discovery of North America, page 387.)
"As to the author or painter, Genoa is his native country, his name is
Bartholomew Columbus, of Terra Rubra; he has executed this work at
London, in the year of our Lord 1480, and, besides, the year 8, and the
tenth day, with the 3rd of the month of February."
Mr. Harrisse here remarks: "That is, for those who are compelled to
distort words in order to construct poor verse: "On the 13th day of the
month of February 1488." And again:..."the wording of the Historie
differs somewhat from that of Las Casas, which should not be the case if
both had copied the original document, but Las Casas assigns the date of
February 10th: decimaque die mensis Februarii, instead of February 13th,
decimaque die cum tertia mensis Februarii. Nor are we certain that their
1488 is not 1489, new style.
"Neither Las Casas nor the Historie give any description of the map, and
the above is all that we know concerning it. What is said on the subject,
or relative to the presence of Bartholomew Columbus in London, by
Hakluyt, Bacon, Purchas, and Herrara, was entirely borrowed from the
Historie."
Now, there is a map--and we don't know why Mr. Harrisse does not mention
it--that answers sufficiently to the above description to make it, at
least, interesting. But, for Australians, the map we refer to has an
intrinsic value and interest as being THE EARLIEST SPECIMEN ON WHICH THE
POSSIBLE OUTLINE OF THE WESTERN COASTS OF OUR CONTINENT ARE DELINEATED.
CHAPTER 14. A.D. 1487 TO 1489.
BRITISH MUSEUM MAPPAMUNDI.
A POSSIBLE COPY FROM BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS' MAP OF THE WORLD.
(ILLUSTRATION 8. BRITISH MUSEUM MAPPAMUNDI.)
(ILLUSTRATION 92. INITIAL T.)
The map referred to at the close of the preceding chapter is to be found
in the British Museum. It bears no date that we are aware of. A copy of
this map is given in Santarem's collection, and the date 1489 is assigned
to it. We think that date is about correct, for the map shows information
up to 1487; yet is much more primitive than M. Behaim's globe of 1492.
The name of the cartographer who designed it does not transpire; but
there are in it several features that point to its being a copy of
Bartholomew Columbus' lost map. The date assigned to it being one of
these features, this date is corroborated, to a certain extent, by an
inscription in a scroll near the Cape of Good Hope, which inscription
reads thus: Huc usque ad ilha de fonti pe vnit ultima navigatio
portugalensium anno domini 1489. The date in that inscription is no doubt
a bad reading for 1487; for it was, as we have seen, in the year 1487
that Bartholomew Dias doubled the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Rio
do Infante, whence he turned back and arrived at Lisbon in December 1487.
This mappamundi bears the appearance of being connected with the earliest
class of maps belonging to the new departure in map-making. The departure
was made from Fra Mauro's map of the world, in which, as we have seen,
the ancient ocean surrounded the world at the equator in its southerly
limits; and legends spread here and there on the confines of that world
indicated that in the mind of the cartographer transilience was out of
the question. The Portuguese by their navigations towards the south had
broken that spell. This fact would seem to be graphically represented in
this map, where the southern extremity of the African continent bursts
through the marginal postes--a compromise for the circumfluent ocean of
mediaeval and older maps. The fear of openly discarding the traditions of
the past is also amusingly apparent in this early attempt at geographical
reform.
This will be at once noticeable if one compares this map with Ptolemy's.
Ptolemy connected the southern extremity of Africa with a fictitious
prolongation of the coast of China. In this map the fictitious coastline
is left out. The cartographer was sufficiently well informed to know that
it did not exist, but he appears to have made a kind of concession by
filling the gap with those two scrolls of paper, the upper line of the
larger scroll actually running over and parallel with Ptolemy's
fictitious coastline.
The whole of the coastline of the Indian Ocean above that large scroll on
which OCEANUS INDICUS MERIDIONAL is inscribed belongs to Ptolemy's
geography. Marco Polo is responsible for the extreme eastern sea-board
dotted with islands which in this map bear no names; but the short line
of coast running almost parallel to the right hand side of the large
paper scroll does not belong to his description.
Unfortunately we cannot treat this map with the importance that it might
have acquired had it been a more faithful representation of its
prototype. It has no degrees of longitude or latitude, although we have
seen that in 1474 Toscanelli had made use of these divisions.
Nevertheless, taking into consideration its general features, we notice
that the portion of coastline referred to above is situated to the south
of the Aureus Chersonesus (the Malay Peninsula) and in the latitude of
the southern parts of Africa. This coastline therefore cannot be any
other but the west coast of Australia.
Here we might ask the question: Who informed this Portuguese, Spanish, or
Italian map-maker that this portion of coast did not run out towards the
west as far as the east coast of Africa, as in Ptolemy's map?
The only navigators in these seas who constructed maps and charts and who
could therefore have charted these coasts with anything like their
approximate correctness, were the Chinese and the Arabs. Of these two
nations the Arabs may be considered the more likely draughtsmen, for they
had long before the period we are dealing with set down on their maps
Madagascar and other islands lying eastward of Madagascar in the
latitudes and neighbourhood of the Australian continent.
On the fictitious peninsula, the westernmost extremity of which is
bounded from north to south by the western coast of Australia, are set
down the following place-names: S. Thome, regnum lac and regnum Cayln.
Those names are of importance because they form the clue that will lead
us to understand how the distortion of these parts was set about. We
shall refer to them by and by.
We must first endeavour to follow the evolution that always obtains in
cartographical representations, and with that object in view we must
compare this map with its predesigned prototype, the Fra Mauro
Mappamundi.
When constructing the Fra Mauro Mappamundi, the cartographer, not being
constrained by Ptolemy's equatorial line, brought the Indian Peninsula
down in something more like its actual position with regard to Ceylon;
but nevertheless, instead of correcting or obliterating Ptolemy's
duplicate Indian Peninsula which figures to the east of Ceylon, he made
it more prominent and endorsed the mistake by setting down on its western
and eastern shores respectively the double nomenclature originating from
Nicolo de' Conti's descriptions: Questa region dita Mahabar, and Milapur,
Pudipeten, etc.
The author of the new prototype, the various copies of which we shall now
have to consider, may have been Toscanelli, B. Columbus or M. Behaim; but
whosoever he be, he formed his new prototype with the aid of the map of
Ptolemy, Fra Mauro's, and other data, in this way:
1. He used Ptolemy's configuration of coasts from Catigara, away north to
the Sinus Magnus, thence in a westerly direction to the Sinus Persicus,
then in a southerly direction to the extreme limits of Ptolemy's south,
i.e. 16 degrees south of the equator, where the coastline is cut off by
the smaller paper scroll relating to the Portuguese discoveries in 1487.
(ILLUSTRATION 30. FRA MAURO MAPPAMUNDI.)
The above skeleton-map is a much reduced outline facsimile of Fra Mauro's
celebrated Mappamundi.
2. He borrowed from Fra Mauro's map by using his Siamotra (Sumatra) in
the following extraordinary manner: he connected it with Ptolemy's
fictitious coastline at Catigara.
On the northern coast of Fra Mauro's Sumatra there is a region called
lago regno, where a couple of lakes are set down; this region, in the map
we are now dealing with, is called regnum lac, and a lake separates it
from regnum Cayln.
What does regnum Cayln mean? Two hypotheses present themselves. It may be
meant for Ceylon, or it may be meant for Coilum, the modern Quilon on the
coast of Travancore, Indian Peninsula.
Whatever it was meant for however it became subsequently in most maps of
the Behaimean and Schonerean types, a bogus Sumatra, as the regnum lac
above it became the extremity of a bogus Malay Peninsula, that, from that
time till the present day, puzzled many cartographers.
Even in the present map we may notice the initiation of the evolution,
for it will be noticed that regnum Cayln is actually separated from
regnum lac by the two rivers that flow from the lake situated between
these two regions--regnum Cayln is therefore an island, strictly
speaking. We shall find this particularity emphasized in subsequent maps
in which these rivers become arms of the sea, or straits. Regnum Cayln
also suffers some modification in nomenclature; it becomes Caylur and
Seylan insulae in Martin Behaim's globe 1492--Provincia Seilan in the
Lenox Globe 1506 to 1511--Seilan Insulae pars, in Ruysch's Mappamundi
1508--Coilu regnu and Seyla, in the Schonerean Frankfort gores of 1515,
etc.
The little town of S. Thome* set down on the western shores of the bogus
Malay Peninsula confirmed subsequent geographers and cartographers in the
belief that this was indeed the real Malay Peninsula; and the
representation of its eastern shores bearing Marco Polo's nomenclature
gave strength to their belief.
(*Footnote. In Yule's Cathay, volume ii. page 374 note 4 we find the
following reference to San Thome: "Mirapolis is a Grecized form of
Mailapur, Meliapur, or, as the Catalan map has it, Mirapor, the place
since called San Thome, near the modern Madras. Mailapuram means or may
mean Peacock Town. A suburb still retains the name of Mailapur. It is
near the shore, about three miles and a half south of Fort St. George, at
the mouth of the Sydrapetta River.")
The evolution of Fra Mauro's lago regno with its lakes and surrounding
hills of a more or less lofty and inaccessible character is equally
interesting, and extends subsequently to the continental regions
surrounding the south pole. The representation of this region on various
maps, now lost no doubt, led to a curious description which has not, to
our knowledge, been attributed, as it ought, to these cartographical
representations. This is the description*: "Thirty leagues from Java the
Less is Gatigara, nineteen degrees the other side of the equinoctial
towards the south. Of the lands beyond this point nothing is known, for
navigation has not been extended further, and it is impossible to proceed
by land on account of the NUMEROUS LAKES AND LOFTY MOUNTAINS IN THOSE
PARTS. It is even said that there is the site of the Terrestrial
Paradise."
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, Early Voyages to Australia, pages lxiv and lxv.
Extract from a work entitled El libro de las costumbres de todas las
gentes del mundo y de las Indias, translated and compiled by the Bachelor
Francisco Themara. Antwerp 1556.)
We cannot agree with R.H. Major, who before giving the above quotation
says: "A notion may be found of the knowledge possessed by the Spaniards
in the middle of the sixteenth century, on the part of the world
(Australia) on which we treat, from the following extract"...and
"Although this was not originally written in Spanish, but was translated
from Johannes Bohemus, it would scarce have been given forth to the
Spaniards had better information on such a subject existed among that
people." We cannot agree with R.H. Major, for we might as well quote any
of the hundred and one ignorant remarks made daily at our antipodes
concerning Australia, as a notion to be formed of the knowledge possessed
by Europeans concerning things Australian. The title of the work marks
its level.
Which suggested to the Revd. F.T. Woods the following judicious and witty
remarks*: "I am sure no one even suspected the information which I now
give from Francisco Themara's El Libro de las Costumbres de todas las
Gentes del Mundo y de las Indias--a book on the Customs of all Nations of
the World and of the Indies. It was published at Antwerp in 1556. The
title is quaint, nay, even droll. All the nations of the world, the
Indies besides, reminds one of the book about everything, and a few other
things, with a catalogue of subjects not otherwise mentioned.
(*Footnote. The Australian Monthly Magazine volume 3 1866, Australian
Bibliography page 278 line 2.)
But about Australia. Themara did not profess to speak of Australian
manners and customs, though they might as easily have been described with
the brevity of the Yankee, who said, "manners, none; customs, nasty." He
only spoke of a land of whose inhabitants he knew nothing, for he says:
Thirty leagues from Java the Less is GATIGARA, nineteen degrees on the
other side of the equinoctial, towards the south. Of the lands beyond
this point nothing is known, for navigation has not been extended
further, and it is impossible to proceed by land, in consequence of the
large lakes and lofty mountains in those parts. It is even said that
there is the site of the Terrestrial Paradise.
"I think we are in a position to give a most complete denial to the last
supposition. I dare say even a good many people smile at the first, but
it is worth a moment's thought. A land, nineteen degrees from the
equator, where people could not travel because of the mountains and
lakes. Was this prophecy? Were not the early colonists stopped by the
Blue Mountains, and when they got over them, were not the early explorers
stopped by the lakes. At any rate, here is material for a theory."
When Fra Mauro set down those lakes and mountains on the north coast of
Sumatra he little thought that they would give rise to such
complications.
CHAPTER 15. A.D. 1492.
MARTIN BEHAIM'S GLOBE.
(ILLUSTRATION 91. INITIAL W.)
We have now arrived at the important period of reliable geographical data
as embodied in the oldest known globe extant, that of Martin Behaim of
Nuremberg, the celebrated cosmographer of the close of the fifteenth
century.
We cannot do better than reproduce here what Mr. H. Harrisse says
concerning Behaim's globe in his admirable work on The Discovery of North
America, from which we have freely quoted, because it is the most
reliable work of its kind we have yet come across. After which we shall
examine the Australasian regions on this old globe and show how its
nomenclature in those parts was handed down, modified, yet was still
traceable on the maps of New Holland at a time when Flinders, P.P. King
and others surveyed the western shores of our continent.
Mr. H. Harrisse says*: "Its diameter measures 530mm. The globe is pasted
over with vellum, and the configurations exhibit flags, figures of kings,
and inscriptions in gold and colours. It is mounted on an iron stand,
with brass meridian and horizon, on the edge of which is inscribed the
date Anno Domini 1510 die 5 Novembris, which refers to these two metallic
additions.
(*Footnote. The Discovery of North America page 391.)
"There are numerous legends, in old German language, which have been
reproduced by De Murr, at a time when they were yet perfectly legible;
although the vellum had already turned nearly black. Parts of these are
omitted or imperfectly rendered in Ghillany's facsimile of the western
hemisphere.
"The globe was repaired in 1825, and it is after having been thus put in
order that Jomard obtained in 1847 from Baron Frederic Carl von Behaim
senior familiae, that it should be temporarily removed from that
gentleman's mansion to the School of Arts of Nuremberg, to be facsimiled
entirely at the expense of the French Government, for the Geographical
Department of the Paris National Library. That facsimile is now on
exhibition in the latter place, but very difficult to decipher, on
account of the fading away of the colouring. As to the original globe, it
is still preserved in the archives of the Behaim family, in Nuremberg,
Egydienplatz, Number 15.
"The following legend, which is inscribed in German on the globe, gives
the history of that important geographical monument:
'At the request of the wise and venerable magistrates of the noble
imperial city of Nuremberg, who govern it at present, namely, Gabriel
Nutzel, P. Volkhamer, and Nicholas Groland, this globe was devised and
executed according to the discoveries and indications of the Knight
Martin Behaim, who is well versed in the art of cosmography, and has
navigated around one-third of the earth. The whole was borrowed with
great care from the works of Ptolemy, Pliny, Strabo, and Marco Polo, and
brought together, both lands and seas, according to their configuration
and position, in conformity with the order given by the aforesaid
magistrates to George Holzschuer, who participated in the making of this
globe, in 1492. It was left by the said gentleman, Martin Behaim, to the
city of Nuremberg, as a recollection and homage on his part, before
returning to meet his wife (Johanna de Macedo, daughter of Job de
Huerter, whom he married in 1486) who lives in an island (at Fayal) seven
hundred leagues from this place, and where he has his home, and intends
to end his days.'
"Our interpretation of the above quotation is that Martin Behaim
furnished the geographical data and legends, but that the globe was
constructed, painted, and inscribed by a gentleman* of the name of George
Holzschuer.
(*Footnote. Author's note: The Holzschuers were Nuremberg patricians; one
of that family, Wolf, lived in Portugal and, having rendered services to
King Manoel, received from that monarch, February 2 1503, an additional
escutcheon. The arms of the Holzschuer family are also painted on
Behaim's globe.)
"For a complete geographical description of the globe, we refer the
reader to the following works:
"De Murr, Diplomatische Geschichte des Portug, beruhmten Ritters Martin
Behaims, Nurnberg, 1779, 8vo.; and in French by Jansen, Paris and
Strasburg, 1802, 8vo.
Humboldt, Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Geographie du Nouveau
Continent et des progres de l'astronomie nautique dans les XVe et XVIe
siecles, volume 1 pages 257 to 274.
"Breusing, Zur Geschichte der Geographie, Regiomontanus, Martin Behaim
und der Jacobstab, Zeitsch, der Gesellsch. F. Erdk, zu Berlin 1869 8vo.
"Ghillany, Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim; Nurenberg 1853
4to.
"Lelewel, Epilogue de la Geographie du Moyen Age, Bruxelles 1857 pages
184 a 191; and
"Kohl, Documentary History of the State of Maine, pages 147 to 150.
"There is a good (but not a facsimile) reduced copy of the configurations
and legends in Doppelmayr, Historische Nachricht von den Nurnbergischen
Mathematicis und Kunstlern; Nurnberg 1730 fol.
"Johan Muller, the artist who reproduced the globe for the French
Government in 1847, also made a lithographed facsimile for Ghillany in
1853. In Jomard's Monuments de la Geographie it is incomplete and
otherwise imperfect.
"Our chief reason for inserting Behaim's globe in our list, is that it
exhibits the geographical notions which would have guided him if Joao II
had listened to the Emperor Maximilian's advice to go in search of Cathay
by a maritime route westward, and to Dr. Jerome Munzmeister's suggestion
to secure the services of Martin Behaim for that bold and great
undertaking.
"This fact, which is not generally known, is proved by the following
extremely curious letter, namely:
'A letter which Hieronymus Monetarius (MUNZER or MUNZMEISTER), a German
doctor from the city of Nuremberg in Germany, sent to the Most Serene
King Dom Joao II of Portugal, concerning the discovery in the Oceanic Sea
and province of the Great Khan of Cathay. Translated from Latin in (the
Portuguese) language by Master Alvaro da Torre, a Master of Theology, of
the order of Dominicans, Preacher to our lord the said King.
'To the Most Serene and Invincible King of Portugal, of the Algarves and
of Mauritania, (who is) the first discoverer of the Fortunate Islands,
Canaries, Madeira, and Azores, Hieronymus Monetarius, a learned German,
most humbly recommends himself.
'As you have laudably imitated the Most Serene Infant Dom Henry, your
uncle,* in sparing neither efforts nor expense to demonstrate the
sphericity of the earth, and succeeded in bringing under your sway the
people of the coast of Ethiopia and of the sea of Guinea as far as the
tropic of Capricorn, with the products thereof, namely, gold, grains of
Paradise,** you have won praises, immortality, and glory, together with
very great profits.
(*Footnote. Great uncle. George Collingridge.)
(**Footnote. Amomum Melegueta, also called Guinea Grains and Malaguetta
pepper.)
'It cannot be doubted that within a short time the Ethiopians, who are
animals almost, but with the appearance of men, and entirely ignorant of
Divine worship, will, through your efforts, lose their bestiality, and
embrace the Catholic religion.
'Maximilian, the Most Invincible King of the Romans, noticing all those
things, has requested your Majesty to search for the very rich coast of
Cathay, because Aristotle states at the end of Book ii., De Caelo et
Mundo, and also Seneca, Book v. of Naturalium Quaestionum, and Cardinal
Peter de Alyaco,* a great savant in his day, and many illustrious persons
think that the inhabitable extreme East is very near the West, as is
shown by the numerous elephants found in both, and by the bamboo stalks
which are driven by storms to the shores of the Azore islands.
(*Footnote. Pierre D'Ailly, the "Eagle of the doctors of France," who
died in 1420.)
'Numberless arguments, so to speak, prove that after sailing but a few
days the east coast of Cathay could be reached. No notice must be taken
of Alfragano and other inexperienced individuals who affirm that only
one-fourth of the earth is above the sea, and that the other
three-fourths are under water; as in such matters we should believe
experience and trustworthy accounts rather than fantastical suppositions.
'You know, doubtless, that several astronomers of great repute have
denied the possibility of living under the tropics and in the equinoctial
regions, yet you have effectually proved* that those were erroneous and
groundless affirmations. No attention should be paid to (the statement)
that the greatest part of the earth is submerged, because, on the
contrary, it is the sea which is smaller than the earth. Moreover, there
is the fact that the earth is round.
(*Footnote. By the discoveries accomplished in Africa.)
'You possess ample wealth and very able mariners who are eager to acquire
immortality and fame. How glorious it would be for you to disclose the
East to your West! How trade (with those new regions) would prove
profitable! You should also bear in mind that the eastern islands will
become your tributaries, and that the majority of kings, carried away by
their admiration, will readily place themselves under your protection.
'Already the Germans, Italians, and Rhutenians, and Apollonians of
Scythia, who dwell under the dry star of the Arctic Pole, all sing your
praises, together with those of the Grand Duke of Moscovia,* who, only a
few years since, has found under that star the great island of Greenland,
three hundred leagues long, which, with a numerous population, is (now)
under the sway of the said Duke.
(*Iwan III, who died in 1505, celebrated for his great territorial
accessions as far as Siberia and Laponia, but who never discovered or
conquered Greenland.)
'If you succeed in that undertaking, you will be praised as a god or as
another Hercules. At your bidding you may secure, to accompany the
expedition, the envoy of our King Maximilian (namely:) His Lordship
Martin of Bohemia, who is so well fitted for carrying out the
undertaking, and also several other expert mariners, who will cross the
broad sea, starting from the Azores, and who by their skill and by means
of the quadrant, cylinder, astrolabe, and other instruments, and fearing
neither the cold nor the heat, will sail to the East, with a favourable
wind and smooth sea.
'All those arguments should convince your Majesty. But why spur on the
running courser? And this so much the less as you are yourself able to
fathom all things! To expatiate on the subject is to impede the runner in
his course. Let the Almighty preserve you in this design; and when the
crossing shall have been effected, may your knights (sic) confer on you
immortality. Farewell. From Nuremberg, a city of upper-Germany; July 14
A.D. 1493."
"Maximilian I was the son of Leonora of Portugal, and therefore the
cousin of Joao II. He was Emperor of the Romans from February 16th 1486
until August 17 following, when he became Emperor of Germany. He waged
war in person against France from 1492 until May 23 1493. It is
consequently prior to the spring of 1492, or between the end of May and
the second week in July 1493, that Maximilian wrote on the subject to
Joao II.
"On the other hand, Martin Behaim was at Nuremberg from 1491 until 1493,
and as it was an imperial residence, whilst his birth and position
allowed him to frequent the Court, we may infer that he met Maximilian in
that city; and, after suggesting a transatlantic voyage of discovery,
requested the Emperor to write to his cousin the King of Portugal on the
subject, apparently in 1491 or 1492. This seems to imply unsuccessful
efforts in that respect on the part of Behaim when he was at Lisbon,
previous to 1491.
"Another curious coincidence is the fact that the arguments used by
Munzmeister to convince Joao II are precisely those which were advanced
by Toscanelli, and adduced by Columbus to convince Ferdinand and
Isabella, namely:
"1. 'Aristotle states at the end of Book ii., De Caelo et Mundo...that
the east is very near the west,' alleged Munzmeister.
"Columbus said: 'It is possible to sail from the western coast of Africa
and Spain westward to the easternmost part of India, because there is no
wide sea between the two; as Aristotle states at the end of Book ii. of
The Heaven and Earth.'
"2. 'It is not true that the greatest part of the earth is submerged. On
the contrary it is the sea which is smaller than the earth,' pretended
Munzmeister.
"Columbus said: 'Six parts of the world are dry land; only the seventh is
submerged.'
"3. 'After sailing but a few days the coast of Cathay can be reached,'
affirmed Munzmeister.
"Columbus said: 'If the intervening space is sea, then it will be easy to
cross it in a few days.'
"4. 'There is also the fact that the earth is round,' remarked
Munzmeister.
"Columbus said: 'As all the seas and lands of the world form a sphere,
and the earth consequently is round, it is possible to go from east to
west.'
"5. 'Bamboo stalks are driven by storms to the shores of the Azore
Islands,' wrote Munzmeister.
"Columbus, referring to a statement of his brother-in-law, said: 'Pedro
Correa told him (i.e. Columbus) that in the island of Porto Santo he had
seen another piece of wood driven by the same (west) wind, and in the
same manner thick canes.'
"Finally, both the Nuremberg doctor and Columbus quote in support of
their assertions the same authorities, namely, Aristotle, Seneca, and the
then celebrated Cardinal Pierre D'Ailly.
"As to the writer of that curious letter, his name was Jerome Munzer or
Munzmeister, in Latin Hieronymus Monetarius, a Nuremberg savant, who is
evidently the Doctor Ieronimus mentioned by Martin Behaim* in the
postscript of his letter of March 11 1494, and consequently one of his
personal friends. He is called Philosophus et medecinae doctor, and is
the author of a work on the discoveries of the Portuguese in Africa. He
also wrote an account of his travels during the years 1494 to 1495 in
Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal. The first of those works has been
published by Kunstmann, who gave only an analysis of the second, and an
excellent introduction."
(*Footnote. In Ghillany, Geschichte des seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim,
Urkunde xi. page 107.)
CHAPTER 16. A.D. 1492.
THE AUSTRALASIAN REGIONS ON MARTIN BEHAIM'S GLOBE.
(ILLUSTRATION 93. INITIAL M. MARTIN BEHAIM, CREST AND SEAL.)
Martin Behaim's globe is the first document that introduces to us the
REVIVED use of the early earth divisions of the ancients now so
well-known by their names of longitude and latitude. We have seen that
Toscanelli, the Florentine doctor, made use of these divisions on a map
which he sent to C. Columbus, describing them to him, in a letter, in the
following terms: "The longitudinal lines traced on the map show the
distance from east to west; the horizontal ones show the distance from
south to north." (See Toscanelli's letter above).
When--owing to the construction of terrestrial globes--the relative
proportions of land and water began to be seriously discussed, we can
well imagine the various theories and arguments that arose amongst the
learned men of the day. One line of argument was that ONE-FOURTH ONLY OF
THE EARTH WAS ABOVE THE SEA, whereas Toscanelli, Columbus and others
argued that it was the other way about, and that THE SEA WAS SMALLER THAN
THE EARTH. They contended that from Lisbon to Quinsay in Cathay (China)
ONE-THIRD only of the entire globe remained to be explored. These
opposite views are easily accounted for, if we take into consideration
their various sources.
The Arabs, who had from the beginning of the eighth century traded with
China, knew more about those parts than those who followed a theoretical
line of argument based on Ptolemy's views and configurations. The Arabs
maintained that the earth presented more water than land surface.
Toscanelli, Munzmeister, Columbus and others maintained the reverse, and
in support of their arguments pointed to the distorted maps on which the
bogus and duplicate Malay Peninsula invaded the southern hemisphere in
the latitude and longitude of Australia; whereas the eastern shores of
this duplicate peninsula and the shores of China--the Mangi and Cathay of
Marco Polo fame--swelled out to such a phenomenal size as to reach the
longitude of the Sandwich Islands, to the east of which the islands of
Cipango and Antilia (of marvellous wealth) acted as stepping-stones to
invite the timorous navigator to launch out in search of those wonderful
regions.
There is a particularity about Toscanelli's description which has not
been generally noticed, and which is of some value as showing that
Behaim's globe was no doubt copied from Toscanelli's map. Toscanelli's
map is lost, but we have his letter in which he says: "From the city of
Lisbon, towards the west, in a direct line, there are twenty-six spaces
(of 250 miles each) marked on the map as far as the famous and very large
city of Quinsay...That space is about one-third of the entire
globe...From the Antilia island...to the famous island of Cipango there
are ten spaces." (See remarks on Toscanelli's letter above.)
Now these distances only give us a vague notion of Toscanelli's
measurements. We have the whole distance between Lisbon and China, 26
spaces; and the distance between Antilia and Cipango, 10 spaces; but,
where were those two islands situated with reference to Lisbon, or, with
reference to China? Toscanelli's letter gives no clue. If however we
refer to Behaim's globe we shall find Cipango and Antilia on one side,
and Quinsay and Lisbon on the other, placed respectively at distances
corresponding to Toscanelli's description, showing that Behaim's globe
was either a copy or had been compiled from Toscanelli's data.
By the above we have established the continuity of the geographical
evolution and brought back the origin of those features of this globe to
the year 1474--the date of Toscanelli's map. We may presume furthermore
that the Florentine doctor compiled his map from Fra Mauro's, for there
was no better model to go by that we are aware of. In doing so he
introduced the features that formed the prototype of the class of maps we
shall have now to deal with.
At that time there must have existed a portolano or sea-chart on which
the western coasts of Australia were set down from the vicinity of
Dampier's Archipelago to Cape Leeuwin, for we find in Behaim's globe the
features of this coastline, roughly charted it is true, but nevertheless
unmistakably intended for the said coasts; and the longitudes and
latitudes correspond approximately. When dealing with Ruysch's mappamundi
of Arabian origin (1507/8) we shall find these coasts set down at the
tropic of Capricorn, in the exact longitude of the western coast of
Australia as shown in Illustration 84; and Cape Leeuwin is not far out
from its proper position, being placed in 39 degrees of south latitude
instead of 35 degrees.
(ILLUSTRATION 84. WEST COAST OF BOGUS SUMATRA IN RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI
COMPARED WITH MODERN WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA.)
Portion of the west coast of the bogus Sumatra in Ruysch's Mappamundi
compared with modern west coast of Australia. Australia is lined
perpendicularly--Ruysch's map is lined horizontally.
Before proceeding any further in the description of this map and of
others belonging to the same class, we must here state, with reference to
measurements of longitude, that we have not fixed our point of departure
at our antipodes. Our reason for not doing so will be obvious when the
fact is considered that in the maps we are dealing with all measurements
were made from west to east only. The further the cartographers of the
period proceeded eastward with their measurements the more they
exaggerated the proportions of the less known land configurations, lying
in that direction, in order to fill up the vacant space on the globe. It
was only after the return in 1522 of the Vittoria with the remnant of the
first circumnavigators that the real size of the vast Pacific Ocean was
realised and that the regions of Asia and Australasia shrank back to more
correct dimensions.
The only correct way therefore of considering the relative proportions of
the Australasian regions was to make them the centre, as we have done, of
the eastern and western configurations.
With this object in view we have placed our zero, so to speak, at the
extreme limit of Ptolemy's world, the point of departure for the
representation of Marco Polo's descriptions. This central point between
Ptolemy's and Marco Polo's geography was situated at 180 degrees from the
Insulae Fortunatae (Canary Islands) of the ancients. It corresponds with
our modern 120 degrees east of Greenwich. The modern degrees of longitude
will be found at the bottom of each map, and the original degrees (when
expressed) at the top. Having thus given our reasons for adopting this
point of departure for comparing the relative proportions of these old
maps and globes, we may add that, in order to facilitate their
comprehension, we have drawn them to a uniform scale and translated them
to the same projection. This, it will be understood, was necessary for
comparative purposes.
We may now ask, How did it come to pass that indications of our western
coasts came to be confounded with the western shores of Sumatra?
Our explanation is this: When Toscanelli, or the author of the first map
of the type we are considering, compiled his map of the world from Fra
Mauro's, he was no longer compelled to restrict its limits to the
northern hemisphere.
On the contrary, once the regions south of the equator were revealed by
the Portuguese navigations to the Cape of Good Hope, he must have been
impressed with the belief that Fra Mauro's manner of displaying his
various configurations of land and water was an erroneous one.
Furthermore, he had Fra Mauro's authority--so to speak--to outstep his
boundaries. Had not Fra Mauro placed on record that in that Oriental sea
there were many islands large and famous that he had not set down because
he had no room for them? His very words were: In questo mar Oriental sono
molte isole grande e famose che non ho posto per non aver luogo.
Toscanelli must have been actuated by the inclination to fill those
regions of the southern hemisphere which had been ignored and cramped.
He therefore--we argue--placed Fra Mauro's Sumatra to the south of the
equator, thinking no doubt that the tropic of Capricorn, not the equator,
divided Sumatra in two. In confirmation of this belief he may have
observed on some Arabian portulano the outlines of the western coasts of
Australia thus cut in two by the tropic of Capricorn. Availing himself of
these configurations, he must have united them to the eastern shores of
Fra Mauro's Sumatra, and connected both with the coasts of China as in
Ptolemy's map--the straits of Malacca being obliterated at the point
where we find the name Mallaqua set down on the Schonerean Frankfort
gores of 1515, and where the word Lack may be noticed in the map we are
considering.
If we examine carefully Fra Mauro's Mappamundi we shall find that there
is little doubt but that this was the method employed by Toscanelli of
reconstructing Fra Mauro's data, for we find in most of the maps of this
type Fra Mauro's eastern prolongation of islands, together with his
nomenclature, to which have been added the islands that he did not set
down per non aver luogo.
Toscanelli was a man of superior intellect in his day, and little
influenced by popular prejudice or error. He was evidently an innovator,
and to him we owe doubtless the representation on maps of those more or
less fantastic islands that were set down according to the interpretation
of Marco Polo's writings. There appears however to have been several of
these interpretations.
Let us compare some of them with the interpretation given on Behaim's
globe.
Unfortunately we have not been able to procure as yet any better copy of
this important document than the one given here from Jomard's Monuments
de la Geographie, and we have been to some trouble in procuring this. It
is incomplete, as Mr. H. Harrisse remarks (see above); other charts
however may help to fill the lacunae.
(ILLUSTRATION 4. AUSTRALASIAN REGIONS ON M. BEHAIM'S GLOBE AND HUNT-LENOX
COMPARED.)
Marco Polo says*: "Upon leaving Champa, and steering a course between
south and south-west** seven hundred miles, you fall in with two islands,
the larger of which is named Sondur, and the other Kondur."
(*Footnote. Marsden's Marco Polo.)
(**Footnote. Allowing for the projection this course will be found to be
correct.)
Now, west of 165 degrees of east longitude, 20 degrees north latitude,
the reader will notice Ciampo porto, which is probably a little to the
south and a good deal to the west of the point of departure mentioned by
Polo; and to the south, south-west of this point of departure, two
islands may be noticed in 10 degrees of latitude north, which, we may
presume, are meant for Sondur and Kondur, for in map Number 3 Sodur is
placed on the equator and Candur below it. Map Number 4 places Sandio and
Candur in about 11 degrees south of the equator.
Then Marco Polo's description introduces us to Lochac on the mainland,
the name of which province, we may notice, has been corrupted, and
appears in 135 degrees east, 10 degrees south, as Coachs, Lo and Loach
ac, in map Number 3; Loach provin, in map Number 4.
Marco Polo's description then continues thus: "Departing from Lochac and
keeping a southerly course for five hundred miles, you reach an island
named Pentam, the coast of which is wild and uncultivated, but the woods
abound with sweet scented trees."
This island of Pentam will be noticed in 150 degrees east longitude, cut
in two by the tropic of Capricorn. In map Number 3 it is placed just
above Java Minor. In map Number 4 it has the same position as on Behaim's
globe.
Marco Polo's description then takes us to Malaiur on the mainland and to
Java Minor, where that portion of his description ends.
Malaiur, although spoken of as an island--which is often the case with
eastern descriptions in which the whole extent of a country is not well
known--has been identified by Marsden, Major, and others as the Malay
Peninsula, and we believe this interpretation to be the correct one. But
the identification certainly presented some little difficulty, which may
account for the fact that the name does not appear on Martin Behaim's
globe; or, at least, on Jomard's copy of it, nor in any of the maps we
are now dealing with. Later on, and in a class of maps in which Marco
Polo's descriptions have been less faithfully interpreted, we shall find
it set down as an island, and also as a province pertaining to a
fantastic representation of Australia.
Java Minor is set down to the south-east of Australia and between the
150th and 165th degree of east longitude, thus, strangely enough,
occupying the position of Tasmania. This is all the more strange when
coupled with the fact that, on our modern maps, to the south of Tasmania,
appear the UNACCOUNTED FOR Spanish or Portuguese words Piedra Blanca or
Pedra branca. In map Number 3 Java Minor is placed in the same longitude
as on the Behaim globe, but to the north of the tropic of Capricorn,
whereas in map Number 4 it resumes the same position as on the Behaim
globe.
(ILLUSTRATION 62. PENTAM, ETC., IN BEHAIM'S GLOBE, COMPARED WITH MODERN
EASTERN COASTS OF AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA.)
Pentam, etc. in Behaim's globe, compared with modern eastern coasts of
Australia and Tasmania. The modern charting is shaded
perpendicularly--the old features are shaded horizontally.
The other islands of the Australasian regions on Behaim's globe are: Java
Major, Candyn, Anguana, Neucuram, Seylan, Zanzibar, and Madagascar. There
are other islands besides, but they bear no names. Candyn is altogether
outside the Australasian sphere; it is described under the name Dondin by
Odoric of Pordenone. Java Major is a distorted representation of Fra
Mauro's Siamotra. Anguana occupies the site of New Zealand, and might be
derived from a representation of those islands; it will become the Ysles
de Magna of the Dauphin Chart 1530/36. Its name however is simply a
corruption of the Angaman of Marco Polo, who described the Andaman
Islands under that name. Neucuram and Pentam also belong to his
nomenclature. Under the first name he describes the Nicobar Islands, and
Pentam has been identified as Bintang, near Singapore; but the eastern
coast lines of both these islands--Neucuram and Pentam--have a remarkable
resemblance to the eastern coasts of Australia, both as to shape and
position; Pentam especially, the eastern coast of which actually follows
the greater part of our eastern coastlines, as may be seen in
Illustration 62. The southern coast of Seylan falls in also, to a certain
extent, with our southern shores.
Madagascar and Zanzibar deserve notice. Madagascar, it will be observed,
runs east and west, thus fulfilling the function of a certain portion of
Ptolemy's bogus continent in those parts. Zanzibar is placed away from
its proper position on the coast of Africa owing to a particularity in
Marco Polo's account that might naturally lead the cartographer to place
it where he did.
We shall find the position of Zanzibar maintained in many maps of later
date until the Portuguese reached these parts and made more accurate
surveys.
With reference to the Dauphin and similar charts wherein the Australian
coasts are so remarkably well delineated, we have now to mention in
connection with the present globe some of its most curious and
extraordinary features--features which will show that the Dauphin and
similar charts were not entirely due to Portuguese and Spanish surveys.
On the portion of coast in 105 degrees west longitude and above the
tropic of Capricorn appears the word Calmia. Calmia bears no resemblance
to lago regno, which occupies the same position in Fra Mauro's
Mappamundi, nor to regnum lac of the British Museum map of 1489, nor to
any other more or less similar name on maps of this class. But it
corresponds with quabe se quiesce of the Dauphin chart, which has been
read erroneously quabesegmesce, and which appears as ap quieta on
Descelier's map of 1550. We should not be so sure about it though, if
another word did not occur, which shows that the nomenclature of this
globe, or better, of its prototype, served in the following instance, at
least, in the Dauphin chart nomenclature.
(ILLUSTRATION 26. EGTIS SILLA IN BEHAIM'S GLOBE AND HAME DE SYLLA IN
DAUPHIN CHART COMPARED.)
Egtis Silla in Behaim's globe and Hame de Sylla in Dauphin chart
compared.
To the south of the tropic of Capricorn and in the same regions
Egtis-Silla occurs. Egtis-Silla belongs to the following inscription,
which, on our reduced copy, we have not given in full: das land
margenannt Egtis-Silla. Whatever primitive form it may have been
corrupted from, it certainly IS the origin of Hame de Sylla which on the
Dauphin chart occurs in the same locality, as may be seen in Illustration
26.
CHAPTER 17. A.D. 1499.
TERRA AUSTRALIS.
SAID TO BE DISCOVERED IN 1499.
(ILLUSTRATION 94. INITIAL R.)
Rapid strides were being made now in the work of discovery, westwardly
and eastwardly.
In 1497 Vasco da Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and arrived at
Calicut with Paolo da Gama, Nicolas Coelho, Pedro Nunez, Pero de
Alemquer, Joao de Coimbra, and Pero Escobar.
The same year John and Sebastian Cabot left Bristol on the 2nd of May,
sighted the continent of America June 24th, and returned to Bristol on
August the 9th.
(ILLUSTRATION 61. PARIS WOODEN GLOBE.)
Portion of Paris wooden globe circa 1535, showing inscription on Austral
land and Patalis Regio, indicating a discovery made in 1499.
There occurs about this time, which was a most active period, a claim of
Australasian discovery to which we have alluded in the introductory
chapter of this work. We must now inquire into this claim, for although
as yet the evidence in support of it appears to be scanty there is no
telling what further research may reveal. The claim is in the form of an
inscription on a wooden globe, as represented in Illustration 61.
Concerning this claim Mr. H. Harrisse, from whose work* we have borrowed
our sketch, says: "The Austral lands bear an inscription somewhat
surprising: The simply cordiform map of Finaeus inscribes there: Terra
Australis nuper inventa, sed nondum plene examinata. The Austral land,
recently discovered, but not yet entirely explored. The wooden globe
modifies the legend as follows: Terra Australis recenter inventa anno
1499 (sic), sed nondum plene cognita. That is, it gives the date of 1499
for the discovery of the Austral region. We are inclined to think that it
is a reference to the voyage of Magellan, coupled with an erroneous
rendering of the date in the account of Maximilianus Transylvanus: Soluit
itaque Magellanus die decimo Augusti, Anno, M.D. XIX."
(*Footnote. The Discovery of North America page 613 4th paragraph.)
We cannot say that we are of Mr. Harrisse's opinion, because there is no
possibility of mistaking that date M.D. XIX for 1499, which would have
been rendered thus: MCCCCIC.; and because the data of this wooden globe
does not appear to be based on Maximilianus Transylvanus' account.
(ILLUSTRATION 60. ORONCE FINE'S TERRA AUSTRALIS.)
Map of the World by Orontius Finaeus (1531) Half of Southern Hemisphere.
(Reduced from Nordenskiold's Atlas.)
Mr. Harrisse refers to a cordiform map of Finaeus* later than the one, a
portion of which we reproduce here, and ours bears a somewhat different
legend, as will be observed. Our reason for giving it here however is to
show that, owing to the connection that exists between it and the wooden
globe, the term Terra Australis may have applied originally to Australia
as well as to those regions now known to us as Terra del Fuego.
(*Footnote. Mr. Harrisse, alluding to Finaeus' map of 1531, which is the
one we reproduce here, remarks, same work, page 618: "In regard to the
Austral land, if we sketch its configuration (as given in the mappamundi
of 1531) so as to give it the form which would be imparted by the
projection of the present, it will be found to exhibit precisely the same
elements. The names Regio Patalis and Brasilie regio, together with the
main legend, are to be found in both. The only difference is that in 1531
Finaeus writes: Terra Australis recenter inventa, sed nondum plene
cognita,' while in 1536. he adopts the phrase: "Terra Australis recenter
inventa, sed nondum plene examinata.")
Patalis regio in the wooden globe answers to New Zealand, and the
prolongation of the coastline westwardly indicated no doubt the east
coast of Australia. We have not the eastern hemisphere of this wooden
globe to judge how this coastline runs in its more northerly bearings,
but, judging from globes and maps similar to Finaeus', we may safely
conclude that the above-mentioned coastline was intended for the east
coast of Australia.
Who were the discoverers? It would be difficult to say. Mr. Harrisse,
referring to westerly EXPEDITIONS CARRIED OUT BY VIRTUE OF REGULAR
LICENSES, says: "That, between 1493 and 1500, a number of vessels were,
besides, unlawfully equipped in the ports of Spain, Portugal, and France,
for the purpose of exploiting the New World, and sailed secretly or
without being provided with any license whatever, does not admit of a
doubt. The glowing accounts which Columbus gave of the newly discovered
regions; the hope to find gold in quantity; the Indians kidnapped and
sold as slaves in Andalusia; the cargoes of dyewood, spun cotton, and
novel objects brought from America, were surely of such a character as to
induce the bold mariners of the Peninsula to engage in the venture.
"So far as Portugal is concerned we see, from the start in 1493, a
caravel sail from Madeira to find the countries which Columbus had just
discovered, and King Manoel immediately send three vessels after the
alleged truant ship, apparently to arrest her, but in reality to join in
the expedition: y podria ser que esto se fuiese con otros respetos, o'
que los mismos que fueron en las carabelas, una y otras, querran
descubrir algo en lo que pertenece a' Nos, Navarette, doc. lxxi. Volume
ii. page 109. The fact is that the Azores were the hot-bed, so to speak,
of transatlantic expeditions. And the Portuguese notarial archives, as
well as those of the Torre do Tombo, may yet yield information of that
character, and of a date prior to the letters patent granted in October
1499 to Joam Fernandez of Terceira, authorising a voyage to the New
World, before any such privilege had yet been conceded to Gaspar
Corte-Real, or before anything was known of the latter's maritime
attempts.
"As to such secret and illegal Portuguese expeditions, we can know only
of those which were the object of protests on the part of the Spanish
Government; as for instance the incursion of four Lusitanian ships which
early in the year 1503 went to the country discovered by Rodrigo de
Bastidas, and returned to Lisbon loaded with dyewood and Indian slaves.
Weare loth to believe that this was a solitary case; and if Portuguese
shipowners sent vessels in the track of Bastidas, we may rest assured
that they acted in the same manner, on a venture, when informed of the
quantities of pearls brought by Cristobal Guerra, if not before.
"The French, who in the beginning of the sixteenth century exhibited such
a great maritime activity, at least in their western seaports, showed
just as little scruple. We have authentic documents on that point. In the
affidavit subscribed at Rouen by Binot Paulmier de Gonneville, June 19
1505, mention is made of DIEPPE AND ST. MALO MARINERS, AS WELL AS OTHER
NORMANDS AND BRITONS, WHO FOR YEARS PAST GO TO THE WEST INDIES IN SEARCH
OF DYEWOOD, COTTON, MONKEYS, PARROTS, AND OTHER ARTICLES. As this
information must have been possessed by Gonneville before June 24 1503
(when he sailed from Honfleur) we have in his deposition evidence that
for years prior to 1503: d' empuis aucunes annees en ca les Dieppois et
les Malouins et autres Normands et Bretons vont querir aux Indes
occidentalles du bois a teindre en rouge, cotons, guenons, et perroquets,
et autres denrees. But who can tell how far those seafaring men (who rank
among the boldest that EVER EXISTED, AND WERE SOMETIMES ACCOMPANIED BY
PORTUGUESE MARINERS) went and what countries they may have explored?
"As regards Spain, the Crown rendered lawful enterprises to the newly
discovered regions extremely difficult. Licenses were granted only to the
subjects of Queen Isabella, that is, inhabitants of Castile, Leon,
Asturias, Galicia, Estramadura, Murcia, and Andalusia; while not only
foreigners, but even her husband's own subjects (Aragonese, Catalans, and
Valencians) were strictly excluded. Nay, Isabella attached so much
importance to such an exclusive right that if in her testament she speaks
only once of the Indies it is to affirm her absolute and personal
prerogative on the subject.
"The royalty to be paid to the Crown, exclusively of Columbus' 10 percent
on the tonnage of every vessel, the obligation to have constantly on
board State officials to watch proceedings and record minutely the
receipts, together with a strict requirement to equip all ships in the
only port of Seville, where the law compelled them also to return and
unload, were likewise impediments which could but result in the fitting
out of numerous clandestine expeditions to the New World, both for the
purpose of barter and maritime discovery.
"The damage occasioned to the Crown from that cause compelled their
Catholic Majesties several times to issue stringent orders to repress
such illegal enterprises. The warning issued September 3 1501 recalls
similar defences already published, and enacts very severe penalties
against all those who should dare in the future to undertake unauthorised
voyages in the Atlantic Ocean.
"It must not be supposed, nevertheless, that those prohibitions ever
prevented adventurers from running the gauntlet. As far back as 1497 we
see two of Columbus' own officers, one of whom, Alonso Medel, had been
the master of the Nina during the second voyage of discovery, elope with
two armed vessels equipped by the Crown, and of which they were in
command. Disregarding the orders of Columbus, and surreptitiously, this
Medel, with Bartolome Colin, set sail for unknown regions. When they
returned to Cadiz Columbus asked their Majesties to instigate legal
proceedings, on the plea that the bold adventurers had been guilty, to
use Navarette's expressions, of Viages arbitrarios. We do not know where
those truant mariners went, but they certainly avoided the transatlantic
ports and coasts visited by licensed Spanish ships and officials.
"Later, February 4 1500, we see another instance of the kind, when
Ferdinand and Isabella charter three vessels for the purpose of
overtaking in the open sea two ships which had sailed unlawfully from
Seville to the New World. It is worthy of notice that they belonged to a
Genoese, Francesco de Rivarolla, the friend and banker of Christopher
Columbus.
"It is plain that under the circumstances unlicensed adventurers
eschewed, as much as possible, the localities where they ran the risk of
meeting with caravels sailing under the royal flag, or the points of the
coast already exploited by duly authorised traders and seafaring men.
This would lead them to unknown parts, the secret of which they kept to
themselves, or marked on maps intended exclusively for the information of
their employers." Mr. Harrisse then remarks, with reference to the
north-east coast of America, that "we can well realise how geographical
information gathered during such secret and dangerous voyages may have
remained unknown to the pilots and cosmographers of the Spanish Crown,
and, as a matter of course, failed to figure on the official charts of
the Sevillan Hydrography," and adds, "Those facts will certainly be
viewed by just critics as indicating several of the various sources
whence may have been derived the cartographical data which appear on the
Lusitano-Germanic maps."
Yes, and Mr. Harrisse's remarks are quite true, but they may and ought to
apply likewise to voyages south of the equator--to voyages in search of a
southern passage to the Spice Islands as well as to voyages in search of
a northern passage. A passage leading to the Spice Islands was one of the
foremost desiderata of mariners of the day, for few believed, as Columbus
appears to have believed, that the eastern regions beyond the Golden
Chersonesus were attained.
There are reasons to believe that this glittering Eldorado was sought for
and reached years before the recorded expeditions to it that we know of.
What we know positively is that Antonio de Abreu in 1511 eastwardly, and
Magellan in 1521 westwardly, attained these regions. We have however
representations on maps of the pathways traversed by Abreu and Magellan,
combined with other data, which go far to show that, since these regions
were charted before the arrival of those hitherto accepted pioneers, they
must have been known.
(ILLUSTRATION 56. NICOLAI GORES.)
Nicolai gores.
Since writing the above another mappamundi has come to our notice, in
which the statement with reference to the discovery of the Terra
Australis is repeated.
It is a mappamundi in gores of the date 1603, published at Lyons in
France by Guiliemus Nicolai Belga. We give here a reduced facsimile of
the Australasian regions on this interesting map. The legend--Terra
nondum plene cognita, Inventa Anno 1499--is set down in a more correct
position than on the Paris wooden globe of 1535, and to the west of it,
on the margin of the Australian Continent, may be noticed the inscription
Brasilia regio and Psitacorum terra.
CHAPTER 18. A.D. 1500.
JUAN DE LA COSA'S MAP.
CANTINO'S MAP.
AUSTRALIA THE BAPTISMAL FONT OF BRAZIL.
(ILLUSTRATION 27. INITIAL I. ELEPHANT OF CEYLON.)
It is strange that, precisely the year following the one in which the
Terra Australis was said to have been discovered, we should find, as it
were, a contrary statement made, by the non-appearance of that recorded
discovery on the first important document on which it should have
appeared--the famous planisphere of Juan de la Cosa, constructed towards
the end of the year 1500, and on which Cabral's discovery of Brazil, the
year preceding, is recorded.
Was the omission intentional? We cannot say; but from that date a special
class of maps was issued, on which the example set by the celebrated
Basque cartographer was followed, although not implicitly, for whereas de
la Cosa's map does not extend eastwardly beyond the Sinus Gangeticus, or
Bay of Bengal, omitting therefore the Malay Peninsula and the regions to
the east of it as far as America, the special class of maps we refer to
give the full extent of the earth's circumference, but omit, in the
Australasian regions heretofore crowded with islands, even the merest
suspicion or indication of land, if we except the real Sumatra, Java, and
its eastern prolongation of islands as far as Gilolo.
...
CANTINO'S MAP 1501 TO 1502.
The document next in order is the Cantino map of 1501/2. Cantino was
Hercules d'Este's ambassador at the Court of Portugal, and the map that
bears his name was sent by him to his Lordship Hercules d'Este, Duke of
Ferrara.
This planisphere sets forth, as Juan de la Cosa's did, Cabral's discovery
on the coast of Brazil. It must be remembered here that the name given
originally to that part of the southern continent of America was not
Brazil, but Terra de Santa Cruz; and if we notice a Rio de brasil on this
map it is there merely on account of the frequent use to which the name
was put at the time, without in any way applying to the mainland, and in
this way we see it applied also to a small island off the coast of
Venezuela in de la Cosa's map.
It would be curious however to find that the term was applied to some
large island or continental land in the Australasian regions before it
came to be adopted as the name of the large South American region to
which it now belongs. We suggest that it may have thus been given by some
learned cosmographer, as it was afterwards by Schoner, with the belief
that the Australasian regions were connected with and formed the western
coasts of the South American Continent, for it was only after the return
of the survivors of Magellan's fleet that the vastness of the Pacific
Ocean was realised.
In the map now before us there is a small island with the following
inscription: Ilha timoua en este ilha ha brasil carata seda; it lies in
about 14 degrees south of the equator, and in not quite the same number
of degrees east of Malacca, which in this map extends towards the tropic
of Capricorn. Judging from the position of this island with reference to
the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula on the same map, we might
take it for one of the Anamba islands; otherwise it lies sufficiently
south to be some island off the west coast of Australia. We think it is
intended for Timor, as Timor is so situated in Schoner's globe of 1533.
As far as we have been able to ascertain it is the first cartographical
appearance of the term Brasil in the Australasian regions.
Let us see now what reasons we may find in other documents in support of
our suggestion that the term may have been given to some large island or
continental land, south of Asia, before it came to be applied in South
America.
We have first Marco Polo's account of LOCACH: "IN THIS COUNTRY (Locach,
corrupted afterwards to Beach) THE BRAZIL WHICH WE MAKE USE OF GROWS IN
GREAT PLENTY."*
(*Footnote. Marco Polo, 3rd book 7th chapter.)
In Martin Behaim's globe, 1492, Locach, corrupted to Coachs, is situated
in the southern hemisphere, occupying a position midway between New
Guinea and Australia. The prototype from which Behaim, Toscanelli, and
others constructed those early globes and maps of the Behaimean and
Schonerean type was no doubt of Arabian origin, and may have been similar
to the lost map referred to by Albuquerque. This lost map was used by
Francisco Rodriguez, the Portuguese pilot, in making that extract or copy
that was sent to the King of Portugal, before Rodriguez set out with
Abreu in 1511 on his expedition to the Moluccas. Albuquerque's allusion
to the lost map is made in a letter dated April 1st 1512, and which has
been recently published.*
(*Footnote. Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque seguitas de Documentos que
as elucidam, etc. t. 1 page 64 to 65. Lisboa, Typ. da Acad. Real das
sciencias, 1884, in 4to. The following is Albuquerque's text: Tambem vos
vay hum pedaco de padram que se tirou dua gramde carta dum piloto de
jaoa, aquall tinha ho cabo de booa esperamca, portugall e a terra de
brasyll, ho mar rroxo e ho mar da persia, as ilhas de crauo, a navegacam
dos chins e gores, com suas lynhas e caminhos dercytos por omde as naos
hiam, e ho sertam. quaees reynos comfynauam huns cos outros; parece me,
senhor, que foy a milhor cousa que eu nunca vy, e voss alteza ounera de
folgar muyto de ha ver; tinha os nomes por letra jaoa, e eu trazio jao
que sabia ler e espreuer; mamdou esse pedaco a voss alteza, QUE FRANCISCO
RRODRIQUEZ EM PRAMTOU SOBRE A OUTRA, domde vos alteza podera ver
verdadeiramente os chins domde ven e os gores, e as vossas naos ho
caminho que am de fazer pera as ilhas de crauo e as minas do ouro omde
sam, e a ilha de jaoa e de bamdam, de nos nozcada e macas e a terra del
rrey de Syam e asy o cabo da terra de nauegacam dos chins, e asy para
omde volve e como daly a diamte nam nauegam: A CARTA PRIMCIPALL SE PERDEO
EM FROLL DE LA MAR; co piloto e com pero dalpoem pratiquey ho symtir
desta carta, pera la saberem, dar rezam a voss alteza; temde este pedaco
de padram por cousa muyto certa e muyto sabida, porque he a mesma
nauegcam por omde eles vam o vem mingua lhe o arcepedego das ilhas que se
chamam CELATE, que jazem amtre jaoa e malaca.)
Commenting on this letter in his L'Oeuvre geographique des Reinel et la
decouverte des Moluques, Dr. E.T. Hamy says:
Il parait resulter de cette lettre d'Albuquerque que Rodriguez avait fait
une sorte d'adaptation d'une grande carte javanaise, on plutot arabe,
detruite depuis lors, et sur laquelle on ne s'explique pas aisement, il
faut bien le reconnaitre, les indications relatives au Portugal et
surtout au Bresil. Il est assez probable que, suivant les habitudes des
cartographes de son temps, Rodriguez avait introduit dans un cadre de sa
fabrication les dessins fournis par la composition indigene et que c'est
a l'ensemble ainsi obtenu que s'adressent les eloges d'Albuquerque.
The Javanese map (or Arabian, as Dr. E.T. Hamy suggests) referred to by
Albuquerque represented then the land of Brazil. Now, what land could
this be? The Arabs, at the time, could hardly have any knowledge of the
continent of America, and it is still less probable that they knew
anything about Cabral's discovery. Their navigations were confined to the
Indian Ocean, and we must look within their sphere for an explanation.
Albuquerque's letter, which has puzzled learned critics, if viewed in the
light of the term Brazil being applied to Australia, is easily
understood. Then again another perplexing subject of controversy will be
solved if we consider Brazil to apply to Australia. It relates to the
Straits of Magellan, Brazil, and the alleged proximity of Brazil to
Malacca.
On Schoner's globe of 1515, that is five years before Magellan passed
through the straits that bear his name, a passage from the South Atlantic
ocean to the South Pacific Ocean is marked. The charting of this strait
is certainly mysterious, and led to the following remarks in F.H.H.
Guillemard's Life of Ferdinand Magellan*:
(*Footnote. Ferdinand Magellan, F.H.H. Guillemard, page 192 third
paragraph.)
"What had Schoner in his mind when he gave this strait a place upon his
globes? What were his sources of information? Was it fact or conjecture
that guided his pencil? These are the questions we have to answer. Some
light is thrown upon them by a work of the cosmographer which was
published at the same time as his early globe, and intended to be in
great measure illustrative of it.*
(*Footnote. Luculentissima quaeda terrae totius descriptio, Schoner,
Nuremberg 1515 4to.)
"In it he speaks of his Brasilae regio--that the country was not far from
the Cape of Good Hope; that the Portuguese had explored it, and had
discovered a strait going from east to west; that this strait resembled
the Strait of Gibraltar; and that Mallaqua was not far distant
therefrom.* All this information was, nevertheless, not gathered at first
hand by Schoner. Shortly before he wrote--but how long we do not know,
for the title-page bears no date--was published a certain pamphlet in bad
German, anonymous and apparently a confused translation of a Portuguese
original--the Copia der Newen, Zeytung aus Presillg Landt. From this he
apparently took his description almost word for word, and the question
thus shifts itself a point further back into the examination of the
provenance and authorities of the Copia."
(*Footnote. Schoner op. cit. Tract ii. cap. ii. fol. 60v. A capite bonae
spei (quod Itali Capo de bona speranza vocitant) parum distat.
Circumnavigaverunt itaque Portugalienses eam regionem, et comperierunt
illum transitum fere conformem nostrae Europae (quam nos incolimus) et
lateraliter infra orientum et occidentum situm. Ex altero insuper latera
etiam terra visa est, et penes caput hujus regionis circa miliaria 60, eo
videlicet modo; ac si quis navigaret orientum versus et transitum sive
strictum Gibel terrae aut Sibiliae navigaret, et Barbarium, hoc est
Mauretaniam in Aphrica intueretur; ut ostendet Globus noster versus Polum
antarcticum. Insuper modica est distantia ab hoc Brasiliae regione ad
Mallaquam.)
Now the Copia speaks of the strait as being in 40 degrees south, but
Schoner's globe shows two straits, one to the south of America in 45
degrees and one between the Australian regions and an antarctic continent
which bears the name of Brasilie Regio. This strait runs from east to
west and is in 40 degrees south as the Copia states; moreover, as it is
nearer Malacca than the former strait, it is only fair to presume that
the Land of Brazil alluded to in the Copia was not the land in South
America, especially when we take into consideration the fact that the
South American region which now bears the name of Brazil had not, in
Schoner's map, been christened otherwise than with its first name Sacte
Crucis, which is the name given to the cape forming the Brazilian elbow.
Andrea Corsali,* speaking of a continental land to the south-east of the
Spice Islands, that is, in the vicinity of New Guinea, says:
Et nauigado verso le parti d' Oriente, dicono esserui terra de
piccinacoli, & e di molti openione che questa terra vada a tenere, &
congiungersi per la Banda di Leuante & mezogiorno, con la costa del
Brezil o' Verzino perche per la grandezza di detta terra del Verzino, non
si e per anchora da tutta le parti discoperta. And navigating towards the
east, they say there lies the land of Piccinacoli,** and many believe
that this land is connected towards the east in the south with the coast
of Bresil or Verzino,*** because, on account of the size of this land of
Verzino, it is not as yet on all sides discovered.
(*Footnote. Ramusio, Lettera di Andrea Corsali Fiorentino allo
illustrissimo Signor Duca Giuliano de Medici, Lettera scritta in
Cochinterra del' India nell l' anno MDXV alli VI di Gennaio, Fol. 280
(sic for 180) C.)
(**Footnote. Piccinacoli is the name given to New Guinea in G. Mercator's
map of 1569.)
(***Footnote. Verzino is the Italian for Brazil-wood.)
As New Guinea was supposed to be connected with Australia, it follows
that we have in the above statement of Andrea Corsali the reason, at
least, for the presence on subsequent maps of the Shonerean term
Brasielie Regio, as applied to the Austral Continent.
CHAPTER 19. A.D. 1503 TO 1508.
DE GONNEVILLE'S ALLEGED VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA.
LUDOVICO BARTHEMA.
(ILLUSTRATION 90. INITIAL T. ASTRONOMER FROM PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY.)
The claim set forth on behalf of the French sailor De Gonneville, who is
stated to have landed on the western coast of Australia in 1503, is
somewhat similar to the claim of discovery made in the same locality by
the Portuguese Manoel Godinho de Eredia in 1601. As these claims cannot
be considered as having been substantiated, we have not allowed them to
interfere with the chronological sequence of historical facts and
documents. But, as both these claims of discovery present sufficient
interest to the Australasian student, and are indirectly connected with
our subject, we have not dismissed them entirely. They will be found
discussed in the appendix at the end of this volume.
LUDOVICO BARTHEMA.
We must now give an account of a traveller whose descriptions have had
some influence on Australian geography.
About this time also, 1502/1503, the influence of Marco Polo and Nicolo
de' Conti on the cartography of the Eastern regions was at its apogy, for
their voyages had just been published in the Portuguese language at
Lisbon.*
(*Footnote. See above.)
Ludovico Barthema's account of his travels ranges over a period of five
years, from 1503 to 1508.
He visited those regions that were soon to fall under the sway of the
Portuguese, and on his way back to Europe met the latter at Calicut, and
stayed for some time there imparting to them knowledge of the countries
he had visited.
Barthema visited Java, and from this furthest point south he retraced his
steps back to India and Europe.
We give here verbatim the portions of his voyages that describe the
regions visited by him south of the equator and in proximity to
Australia.
Dr. E.T. Hamy and other critics believe that Barthema never visited the
Spice Islands, but described them in the same manner that Java was
described by Marco Polo, from the accounts of his fellow travellers.
Ludovico Barthema's account of his travels appears to have been very
little known, even by his own countrymen. George Percy Badger, in the
introduction to The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema, etc.,* says: "One
would have thought that Ramusio might have picked up some information
respecting the early life and subsequent career of our author; but his
Discorso Breve to Varthema's book is briefer than many of the notices
prefixed to other far less important voyages and travels contained in his
valuable collection.
(*Footnote. Hakluyt Society Edition.)
"Moreover, it is clear that the first authorised edition of the
Itinerary, printed at Rome in 1510, was either unknown to him or beyond
his reach; since he tells us that his revised exemplar was prepared from
a Spanish version made from the Latin translation--a third-hand process,
which accounts for the many variations existing between his copy and the
original Italian edition. The following is all that he says: 'This
ITINERARY of Lodovico Barthema, a Bolognese, wherein the things
concerning India and the Spice Islands are so fully and so correctly
narrated as to transcend all that has been written either by ancient or
modern authors, has hitherto been read replete with errors and
inaccuracies, and might have been so read in future, had not God caused
to be put into our hands the book of Christofero di Arco, a clerk of
Seville, who, being in possession of the Latin exemplar of that voyage,
made from the original itself, and dedicated to the Most Reverend
Monsignor Bernardino, Cardinal Carvaial of the Santa Croce, translated it
with great care into the Spanish language, by the aid of which we have
been enabled to correct in many places the present book, which was
originally written by the author himself in our own vulgar tongue and
dedicated to the Most Illustrious Madonna Agnesina, one of the
pre-eminent and excellent women of Italy at that period. She was the
daughter of the Most Illustrious Signor Federico, Duke of Urbino, and
sister of the Most Excellent Guidobaldo, wife of the Most Illustrious
Signor Fabricio Colonna, and mother of the Most Excellent Signor Ascanio
Colonna and of the Lady Vittoria Marchioness Dal Guasto, the ornament and
light of the present age. And the aforesaid Lodovico divided this volume
into seven Books, in the First of which he narrates his journey to Egypt,
Syria, and Arabia Deserta. In the Second, he treats of Arabia Felix. In
the Third, of Persia. In the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth, he comprises all
India and the Molucca Islands, where the spices grow. In the Seventh and
last, he recounts his return to Portugal, passing along the coast of
Ethiopia, the Cape of Good Hope and several islands of the western
ocean."
In the course of his travels, having arrived at Shiraz, "accident threw
him in the way of a Persian merchant called Cazazionor, by whom he was
recognised as a fellow pilgrim at Meccah, and whose friendly overtures on
the occasion were destined to exert a powerful influence in shaping his
subsequent course."*
(*Footnote. The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema, etc. page iii.
Translated by J. Winter Jones, Esquire, F.S.A., and edited, with Notes
and an Introduction, by the Rev. George Percy Badger 1863.)
He then, in company with the Persian merchant, started for Samarcand;
owing however to some warfaring then going on in the locality, they were
unable to reach their destination and returned to Shiraz. "The Persian
merchant became so much attached to our traveller during the abortive
attempt to reach Samarcand that, on their return to Shiraz, he intimated
to the latter his intention of giving him the hand of his niece, who was
called Samis, that is, the Sun, and so far transgressed Musulman
etiquette in his favour as to present him personally to the damsel, with
whom Varthema 'pretended to be much pleased, although his mind was intent
on other things.' He tells us however that his destined bride was
'extremely beautiful, and had a name which suited her;' and lest the
designation should be considered a misnomer, it must be remembered that
the sun takes the feminine gender in most of the Oriental languages."*
(*Footnote. Ludovico di Varthema, Hakluyt Edition page lvii.)
Starting afresh from Shiraz, the two travellers reached Hormuz, where
they embarked for India. Having reached India, at Cannanore, Barthema or
Varthema avoided coming into contact with the Portuguese, fearing that
his assumed profession of Islam might be detected by his companion
traveller, for he could not have been friendly with the Portuguese
without revealing to them his true character, and, had he done so, his
future travelling prospects with his friend, the Persian merchant, would
have been frustrated. Pursuing therefore their peregrinations they
reached Benghalla, where they met two Nestorian Christians who had come
there from a place called Sarnau in China. These two Christians from
Sarnau, noticing some branches of coral which Cazazionor or Cogiazanor,
the Persian merchant, had for sale, advised him and his friend to
accompany them to Pegu, where they were going, and where he would find,
they said, a ready market for such kind of wares. They travelled together
and reached Pegu, where, after a short stay, they set off again for Pider
in Sumatra. "A desire on the part of Cogiazanor to see the place where
the nutmegs and cloves were produced induced him and Varthema to put
themselves under the guidance of these two Christian companions, who were
now anxious to return to their own country, but who eventually consented
to accompany them, on hearing that Varthema had been a Christian and had
seen Jerusalem, where he had been purchased as a slave, and brought up as
a Musulman. This fabricated story so delighted the simple Sarnau couple
that they endeavoured to persuade Varthema to go with them to China,
promising that he should be made very rich there, and be allowed the free
exercise of his adopted faith. Cogiazanor objected to the latter
arrangement, informing them that his companion was the destined husband
of his bright-eyed niece Samis, which finally settled the matter. Smaller
boats being required for the projected trip, wherein there were no
dangers to be apprehended from pirates, though the Christians would not
promise them immunity from the chances of the sea, two Sampans, ready
manned, were bought by the Persian for 400 pardai (about 280 pounds) and,
after taking on board a stock of provisions, including the best fruits
which Varthema had ever tasted, the party sailed from the island of
Sumatra."*
(*Footnote. Ludovico di Varthema, Hakluyt Edition page xc.)
As we arrive now at the part of Ludovico Barthema's travels which affects
more particularly our subject, and as certain learned critics* are of
opinion, after a careful study of the question, that Barthema never
visited the Spice Islands, we shall give verbatim the account of the part
of his travels which refers to Australasia as found in Ramusio, with the
English of the Hakluyt Society's edition, in order that our readers may
judge for themselves. We know of many Australians whose practical
knowledge of the Spice Islands will lead them to believe, like Tiele,
Schefer, and Hamy, that Barthema never did visit the islands in question.
(*Footnote. In his L'oeuvre geographique des Reinel et la decouverte des
MOLUQUES Dr. E.T. Hamy says: L'etude du recit de Varthema m'a conduit a
admettre avec Tiele (De Europeers in der Maleischen Archipel Bijdragen
tot de Taal--Land--en Volken-Kunde van Nederlandsch Indie, IV v. 1 D page
322 1878) et avec M. Schefer, que jamais le Voyageur n'avait reellement
fait le voyage aux iles des Epices, qu'il a raconte a la suite de celui
de Sumatra et de la cite de Pedir," page 20 N 1.)
Be this however as it may, the fact remains, and it is an interesting one
for us, that at the early period of Barthema's travels, Chinese merchants
were accustomed to visit and trade with the Spice islanders.
DELL' ISOLA DI BANDAN DOUE NASCONO LE NOCI MOSCATE & MACIS--CAP. XXIIII.*
(*Footnote. Primo Volume, et Terza editione Delle Navigationi et Viaggi
raccolta gia da M. Gio. Battista Ramusio, etc., In Venetia nella
stamperia de Giunti, 1563 folio 168 E.)
Infra il detto cammino trouammo cerca venti isole parte habitate & parte
no, & in spatio di quindici giorni arriuammo alla detta isola, laqual e
molta bruta & trista, e di circuito cerca cento miglia, & e terra molto
bassa & piana, qui non v'e, ne Re, ne gouernatore, ma vi sono alcuni
villani quasi come bestie senza alcuno ingegno, le case di questa isola
sono di legname molto triste & basse, l' habito di costoro e che vanno in
camicia, scalzi, senza alcuna cosa in testa, portano li capelli lunghi,
il viso loro e largo & tondo, il suo colore e bianco, & sono picoli di
statura, la sua fede e getile, ma sono di questa sorte che sono li piu
triste di Calicut, chiamati Poliar & Hirava, sono molto debili d' ingegno
& di forza, non hanno alcuna virtu, ma viuono come bestie, qui non nasce
altre cose che noci moscate, il piede della noce moscata, e fatto a modo
di vno arboro persico & fa la foglia in quel modo, ma sono piu strette, &
avanti che la noce e matura, il macis l' abbracia, & cosi la colgono del
mese di settembre, perche in questa isola va la stagione come a noi, &
ciascun huomo raccoglie piu che puo, pche tutte sono comuni et a detti
arbori: non si dura fatica alcuna, ma lasciano fare alla natura, queste
noci si vendono a misura, laqual pesa ventisei libbre, per prezzo di
mezzo carlino, la moneta corre qui ad vsanza di Calicut, qui no bisogna
far ragione, per che la gente e tanto grossa, che volendo, non saperiano
far male, & in termine di duoi giorni disse il mio compagno alli
christiani, li garofani doue nascono? risposero che nasceuano lontano da
qui sei giornate in vna isola chiamata Maluch, & che le genti di quella
sono piu bestiali, et piu vili & dappoche, che no sono queste de Bandan,
alla fine deliberammo di andar a quell' isola fussero le genti come si
volessero, & cosi facemo vela, & in dodici giorni arriuammo alla detta
isola.
THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF BANDAN, WHERE NUTMEGS AND MACE
GROW.*
(*Footnote. Ludovico di Varthema, Hakluyt Society's Edition page 243.)
In the course of the said journey we found about twenty islands, part
inhabited and part not, and in the space of fifteen days we arrived at
the said island, which is very ugly and gloomy, and is about one hundred
miles in circumference, and is a very low and flat country. There is no
king here, nor even a governor, but there are some peasants, like beasts,
without understanding. The houses of this island are of timber, very
gloomy, and low. Their dress consists of a shirt; they go barefooted,
with nothing on their heads; their hair long, the face broad and round,
their colour is white, and they are small of stature. Their faith is
Pagan, but they are of that most gloomy class of Calicut called Poliar
and Hirava; they are very weak of understanding, and in strength they
have no vigour, but live like beasts. Nothing grows here but nutmegs and
some fruits. The trunk of the nutmeg is formed like a peach-tree, and
produces its leaves in like manner; but the branches are more close, and
before the nut arrives at perfection the mace stands round it like an
open rose, and when the nut is ripe the mace clasps it, and so they
gather it in the month of September; for in this island the seasons go as
with us, and every man gathers as much as he can, for all are common, and
no labour is bestowed upon the said trees, but nature is left to do her
own work. These knots are sold by a measure, which weighs twenty-six
pounds, for the price of half a carlino. Money circulates here as in
Calicut. It is not necessary to administer justice here, for the people
are so stupid that if they wished to do evil they would not know how to
accomplish it. At the end of two days my companion said to the
Christians: "Where do the cloves grow?" They answered: "That they grew
six days' journey hence, in an island called Monoch, and that the people
of that island are beastly, and more vile and worthless than those of
Bandan." At last we determined to go to that island be the people what
they might, and so we set sail, and in twelve days arrived at the said
island.
DELL' ISOLA DI MALUCH DOUE NASCONO LI GAROFANI--CAP. XXV.
Smontammo in questa isola di Maluch, laqual e molto piu piccola di
Bandan, ma la gente e peggiore, & viuono pur a quel modo, & sono piu
bianchi, & l' aere e vn poco piu freddo, qui nascono li garofani & in
molte altre isole circouicine, ma sono piccole & dishabitate, l' arboro
delli garofani e proprio come l' arboro del busso, cioe cosi folto, & la
sua foglia e quasi come quella della canella, ma vn poco piu tonda, & e
di quel colore come gia vi dissi in Zeilan laqual e quasi come la foglia
del lauro. Quado sono maturi, li detti huomini sbattono li garofani con
le canne, & mettono sotto al detto arbore alcune stuore p raccoglierli,
la terra doue sono questi arbori e come arena, cioe di quel medesimo
colore, no pero che sia arena, il paese e volto verso mezzodi, & di qui
non si vede la stella tramontana. Veduto che hauemmo questa isola, &
questa gente, dimandammo alli christiani, se altro v' era da vedere, ci
risposero, vediamo vn poco in che modo vendono questi garofani, trouammo
che si vendeuano il doppio piu che le noci moscate, pure a misura, perche
quelle persone non intendono pesi.
THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MONOCH, WHERE THE CLOVES GROW.
We disembarked in this island of Monoch, which is much smaller than
Bandan; but the people are worse than those of Bandan, but live in the
same manner, and are a little more white, and the air is a little more
cold. Here the cloves grow, and in many other neighbouring islands, but
they are small and uninhabited. The tree of the clove is exactly like the
box tree--that is, thick, and the leaf is like that of the cinnamon, but
it is a little more round, and is of that colour which I have already
mentioned to you in Zeilan (Ceylon), which is almost like the leaf of the
laurel. When these cloves are ripe, the said men beat them down with
canes, and place some mats under the said tree to catch them. The place
where these trees are is like sand--that is, it is of the same colour,
not that it is sand. The country is very low* (meaning perhaps as to
latitude), and the north star is not seen from it. When we had seen this
island and these people, we asked the Christians if there was anything
else to see. They replied: "Let us see a little how they sell these
cloves." We found that they were sold for twice as much as the nutmegs,
but by measure, because these people do not understand weights.
(*Footnote. Those critics who think that Barthema never visited the Spice
Islands have no doubt given good reasons for believing so. We do not know
their reasons; but, if the passage which has been translated--The country
is very low--has in any way given strength to their arguments, it ought
not to have done so, for it is not to be found with that meaning in the
Italian text. It is in fact, we believe, a wrong translation, Volto verso
having been read Molto basso.)
Our travellers then agree to visit Java, "the largest island in the
world." They proceed by way of Borneo, in order to "take a large ship,
for the sea is more rough."
IN CHE MODO LI MARINARI SI GOUERNANO NAUIGANDO VERSO L' ISOLA GIAUA--CAP.
XXVII.
Fornita che fu la noleggiata naue di vettouaglia, pigliammo il nostro
cammino verso la bella isola chiamata Giaua, allaquale arriuammo in
cinque giorni, nauigando pure verso mezzo giorno, il padrone di detta
naue portaua la bussola con la calamita ad vsanza nostra, & haueua vna
charta, laquel era tutta rigata per lungo & per trauerso: dimando il mio
compagno alli christiani, poi che noi abbiamo perso la tramontana, come
si gouerna costui, euui altra stella tramotana che questa, con laqual noi
nauighiamo? li christiani ricercorono il padron della naue questa
medesima cosa, & egli ci mostro quattro o cinque stelle bellissime, infra
lequalli ve n' era vna, qual disse ch' era all' incontro della nostra
tramontana, &; ch' egli nauigando seguiva quella, pche la calamita era
acconcia & tiraua alla tramontana nostra, ci disse anchora che dell'
altra banda di detta isola verso mezzo giorno vi sono alcune genti,
lequali nauigano con le dette quattro o cinque stelle che sono per mezza
la nostra tramontana, & piu ci disse, che di la dalla detta isola si
nauiga tanto che trouano che il giorno non dura piu che quattro hore, &
che iui era maggior freddo, che in luogo del mondo. Vdendo questo noi
restammo molto contenti & satisfatti.
THE CHAPTER SHOWING HOW THE MARINERS MANAGE THE NAVIGATION TOWARDS THE
ISLAND OF GIAVA.
When the chartered vessel was supplied with provisions we took our way
towards the beautiful island called Giava, at which we arrived in five
days, sailing towards the south. The captain of the said ship carried the
compass with the magnet after our manner, and had a chart which was all
marked with lines, perpendicular and across. My companion asked the
Christians: "Now that we have lost the north star, how does he steer us?
Is there any other north star than this by which we steer?" The
Christians asked the captain of the ship the same thing, and he showed us
four or five stars, among which there was one which he said was contrario
della (opposite to) our north star, and that he sailed by the north
because the magnet was adjusted and subjected to our north. He also told
us that on the other side of the said island, towards the south, there
are some other races, who navigate by the said four or five stars
opposite to ours; and moreover they gave us to understand that beyond the
said island the day does not last more than four hours, and that there it
was colder than in any other part of the world. Hearing this we were much
pleased and satisfied.
The information furnished above is valuable and interesting; it requires
however careful examination and a more accurate translation if we are to
judge of its true meaning.
The last short chapter suggests four leading questions, as follows:
1. Was the padron of the ship they had chartered a Moorish or a Malay
captain?
2. What sort of compass did he use?
3. What kind of chart did he use?
4. What country to the south of Java did he refer to?
In answer to the first question, we may notice that the Persian merchant
seeking information from the captain asks the Christians to address him.
Now the Christians had been acting as guides to the Persian and his
friend Barthema, they had been in these regions before, and could no
doubt speak the Malay language. We may conclude therefore that the padron
was a Malay, for had he been an Arab or Moor the Persian merchant could
have asked the captain himself.
In answer to the second question, we should say that the compass with the
magnet after OUR manner was one of European workmanship, a compass in
which the magnet or needle pointed to the north. We have seen* that in
Asiatic compasses generally, the needle pointed to the south; the mention
therefore of the fact that the captain's compass was ad usanza
nostra--i.e. with the needle pointing to the north, as in European
compasses--shows plainly that the case was an extraordinary one. Moreover
this is corroborated by the captain's answer, in which he refers to the
star which is (all' incontro della nostra tramontana) opposite to OUR
north star. This south star was the one he navigated by, because the
magnet of his compass pointed to OUR north: perche la calamita era
acconcia & tirava alla tramontana nostra.
(*Footnote. Chapter 3.)
This sentence has been translated wrong in the Hakluyt Society's edition.
The Italian text does not say that he sailed by the north; on the
contrary it clearly says, & ch' egli navigando seguiva quella: and that
he navigating followed it, i.e. that particular star of the Southern
Cross.
The third question suggested refers to the charts used. It was no doubt
an Arabian chart, unless the Javanese and Malays had charts of their own,
which is a difficult point to settle, and which involves also the
possibility of Chinese charts having been used.
One thing however is almost certain, and that is that the chart used had
the south at the top. It may have resembled therefore the 1542 chart of
the Sea of Orient. It was also like this chart and other charts of the
period in being all marked with lines perpendicular and across.*
(*Footnote. Shakespeare in Twelfth Night alludes to a chart of this
description when he makes Maria say to Malvolio--"He does smile his face
into more lines than are in the new map with the augmentation of the
Indies.")
The fourth question: "What country to the south of Java did the Javanese
captain allude to?" is easily answered, since no country except Australia
could be meant. The notes given in the Hakluyt Society's edition of
Barthema's travels concerning this particular question are of great
interest; we shall therefore give them here in full. These notes were the
result of a communication of G.P. Badger to Markham and Major for
information.
Says C.R. Markham, the Honorary Secretary of the Hakluyt Society:
"This sentence is very important if it should point to latitudes on a
line with or south of Australia. The point where the shortest day would
only last four hours would be 15 degrees south of the southern point of
Van Diemen's Land. It is most improbable that the Malay skipper should
have been so far south; yet his statements indicate a knowledge of
countries as far south at least as Australia."
R.H. Major's answer to the editor's query is as follows:
"Vague as this sentence is, it either means nothing, or it contains
information of very great importance. It is difficult to suppose that the
Malay skipper should have been so far south as the Great Southern
Continent; yet it is more difficult to believe him capable of describing
a phenomenon natural to these high latitudes, except from his own
observation, or that of other navigators of that early period. But even
should we feel disposed to withhold our belief in the probability of an
event so astonishing as this would be, there yet remains the almost
unavoidable conclusion that Australians are alluded to in the description
of people to the south of Java who navigate by the four or five stars,
doubtless the constellation of the Southern Cross. This reference to
Australia is the more remarkable that it precedes in time even those
early indications of the discovery of that country which I have shown to
exist on manuscript maps of the first half of the sixteenth century,
although the discoverers' names, most probably Portuguese, and the date
of the discovery as yet remain a mystery." 1863.
DELLA ISOLA GIAUA, DELLA FEDE, ETC.
Seguendo adunque il camin nostro, in cinque giorni arriuammo a questa
isola Giaua, nella quale sono molti reami, li Re delli quali sono
gentili, la fede loro e questa, alcuni adorano gl' idoli come fanno in
Calicut, & alcuni sono che adorano il Sole, altri la Luna, molti adorano
il Bue, gran parte la prima cosa che scontrano la mattina, & altri
adorano il Diauolo al modo che gia vi dissi, questa isola produce
grandissima quantita di seta, parte al modo nostro, & parte ne i boschi
sopra gli arbori saluatichi, qui si truouano li migliori & piu fini
smeraldi del mondo, et oro & rame in gran quantita grano assaissimo al
modo nostro, & frutti bonissimi, ad vsanza di Calicut, si truouano in
questa paese carni di tutte le sorti ad vsanza nostra, credo che questi
habitanti siano i piu fedeli huomini del mondo, sono bianchi, & di
altezza come noi, ma hanno il viso assai piu largo di noi, gli occhi
grandi & verdi, il naso molto ammaccato, & li capelli lunghi, qui sono
vccelli in grandissima moltitudine, & tutti differenti dalli nostri, &
eccetto li pauoni, tortore & cornacchie negre, le quali tre sorti sono
come le nostre. Fra queste genti si fa grandissima giustitia, & vanno
vestiti all' apostolica, di panni di seta, ciambellotto, & di bombagio, &
non vsano troppe armatura, perche non combattono, saluo quelli che vanno
por mare, iquali portano alcuni archi, & la maggior pte freccie di canna,
accostumano anchora alcune cerbottane, cole quali tirano freccie
attossiccate, & le tirano con la bocca, & ogni poco che faccino di
sangue, muore la persona, qui non vi usa artiglieria di sorte alcuna, &
manco le sanno fare, questi mangiano pane di grano, alcuni altri anchora
mangiano came di castrati, o di ceruo, o vera di porco salnaticho, &
altri mangiana pesci & frutti.
THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF GIAVA OF ITS FAITH, ETC.
Following then our route, in five days we arrived at this island of
Giava, in which there are many kingdoms, the kings of which are Pagans,
Their faith is this: some adore idols as they do in Calicut, and there
are some who worship the sun, others the moon; many worship the ox; a
great many the first thing they meet in the morning; and others worship
the devil in the manner I have already told you. The island produces an
immense quantity of silk, part in our manner and part wild, and the best
emeralds in the world are found here, and gold and copper in great
quantity; very much grain like ours, and excellent fruits like those of
Calicut. Animal food of all kinds like ours is found in this country. I
believe that these inhabitants are the most trustworthy men in the world;
they are white and of about our stature, but they have the face much
broader than ours, their eyes large and green, the nose much depressed,
and the hair long. The birds here are in great multitudes, and all
different from ours, excepting the peacocks, turtle-doves, and black
crows, which three kinds are like ours. The strictest justice is
administered among these people, and they go clothed all' apostolica in
stuffs of silk, camelot, and cotton, and they do not use many arms,
because those only fight who go to sea. These carry bows, and the greater
part darts of cane. Some also use zarabottane (blow pipes), with which
they throw poisoned darts; and they throw them with the mouth, and
however little they draw blood the (wounded) person dies. No artillery of
any kind is used here, nor do they know at all how to make it. These
people eat bread made of corn, some also eat the flesh of sheep, or of
stags, or indeed of wild hogs, and some others eat fish and fruits.
COME IN QUESTA ISOLA LI UECCHI SI UENDONO DA FIGLIUOLI OUERO DA PARENTI,
ET POI SE LI MANGIANO--CAP. XXIX.
Vi sono huomini in questa isola che mangiano carne humana, hanno questa
costume, che essendo il padre vecchio, di modo che non possi far piu
essercitio alcuno, li figliuoli, ouer li parenti, lo mettono in piazza a
vendere, & quelli che lo comprano, l' ammazzano, & poi se lo mangia no
cotto, et se alcun giouane venisse in gran de infirmita, che paresse alli
suoi che 'l fusse per morire di quella, il padre ouero fratello del
infermo, l' amazzano, & no aspettano che 'l muora, & poi che l' hanno
morto, lo vendono ad altre persone per mangiare, stupefatti noi di simil
cose, ci fu detto da alcuni mercatanti del paese. O poueri Persiani,
perche tanto bella carne lasciate mangiar alli vermi? inteso questo
subito il mio compagno disse, presto presto andiamo alla nostra naue, che
costoro piu non mi giungeranno in terra.
THE CHAPTER SHOWING HOW IN THIS ISLAND THE OLD PEOPLE ARE SOLD BY THEIR
CHILDREN OR THEIR RELATIONS, AND AFTERWARDS ARE EATEN.
The people in this island who eat flesh, when their fathers become so old
that they can no longer do any work, their children or relations set them
up in the marketplace for sale, and those who purchase them kill them and
eat them, cooked. And if any young man should be attacked by any great
sickness, and that it should appear to the skilful that he might die of
it, the father or the brother of the sick man kills him, and they do not
wait for him to die. And when they have killed him they sell him to
others to be eaten. We being astonished at such a thing some merchants of
the country said to us: "O you poor Persians, why do you leave such
charming flesh to be eaten by the worms?" My companion hearing this
immediately exclaimed: "Quick, quick, let us go to our ship, for these
people shall never more come near me on land!"
Before leaving Java, where our travellers evidently landed at some
out-of-the-way and comparatively uncivilized place, the Christians, who
accompanied them, said to Barthema: "O, my friend, take this news (the
news of the cruelty of the people) to your country, and take this other
also which we will show you. Look there, now that it is midday, turn your
eyes towards where the sun sets." To which Barthema remarks for himself
and his companion (the Persian merchant): "And raising our eyes we saw
that the sun cast a shadow to the left more than a palmo. And by this we
understood that we were far distant from our country, at which we
remained exceedingly astonished. And, according to what my companion
said, I think that this was the month of June; for I had lost our months,
and sometimes the name of the day...Having remained in this Island of
Giava altogether fourteen days, we determined to return back, because,
partly through the fear of their cruelty in eating men, partly also
through the extreme cold, we did not dare to proceed further, and also
because there was hardly any other place known to them (the Christians).
"Wherefore we chartered a large vessel, that is, a giunco, and took our
way outside the islands towards the east, because on this side there is
no archipelago, and the navigation is more safe..."
They arrived at Malacha, and Barthema proceeding homeward after leaving
Calicut, met at Cannanore Don Lorenzo, the son of Don Francisco de
Almeyda, the Portuguese Viceroy, who questioned him on the state of
affairs at Calicut. Barthema was then escorted to the Viceroy, then in
Cochin...On the 12th of March 1506 the Indian fleet, of 209 sails, set
out from Pannani, Calicut, Capogat, Pandarani and Tormapatan to meet the
Portuguese. Barthema says: "When we saw this fleet, which was on the 16th
of the month above mentioned (March), truly, seeing so many ships
together, it appeared as though one saw a very large wood. We Christians
always hoped that God would aid us to confound the Pagan faith. And the
most valiant knight, the captain of the (Portuguese) fleet, son of Don
Francisco dal Meda, Viceroy of India, was here with eleven ships, amongst
which there were two galleys and one brigantine."...They fought, and the
Moors were defeated with great slaughter. Barthema afterwards, for a
period of eighteen months, acted as factor to the Portuguese at Cochin,
and then returned to Europe by the Cape of Good Hope and Portugal,
arriving in Rome after an absence from his country of about five years.
CHAPTER 20. A.D. 1506 TO 1511.
HUNT-LENOX GLOBE.
RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI OF 1507 TO 1508.
(ILLUSTRATION 40. HUNT-LENOX GLOBE AND RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI COMPARED.)
(ILLUSTRATION 91. INITIAL W.)
We shall now describe, as being the next in chronological order, the
Lenox globe, recently found. Mr. C.H. Coote, of the British Museum, in
his historical introduction to Henry Stevens' Johann Schoner,* (page xii.
line 8) remarks: "As there are several misleading narratives of this
globe, we will here insert Mr. Stevens' own account of it. He writes as
follows:
(*Footnote. Johann Schoner, Professor of Mathematics at Nuremberg etc.
London 1888.)
"In 1870, while residing at the Clarendon in New York, I dined one
evening with Mr. R.M. Hunt, the architect of the Lenox Library, a son of
my father's old friend, Jonathan Hunt, who represented the State of
Vermont in Congress from 1827 to 1832. While talking on library
conveniences and plans I chanced to notice a small copper globe, a
child's plaything, rolling about the floor. On inquiry I was told that he
picked it up in some town in France for a song, and now, as it opened at
the equator and was hollow, the children had appropriated it for their
amusement. I saw at once by its outlines that it was probably older than
any other globe known, except Martin Behaim's at Nuremberg, and perhaps
the Laon globe, and told Mr. Hunt my opinion of its geography, requesting
him to take great care of it, for it would some day make a noise in the
geographical world. Subsequently I borrowed it for two or three months,
studied it, took it to Washington, exhibited it to Dr. Hilgard and others
at the Coast Survey Office, and employed one of the draughtsmen there to
project it in a two-hemisphere map, with a diameter of the original,
about four and a half inches, at a cost to me of 20 dollars. On returning
to New York I delivered it into the hands of Mr. Hunt, telling him that
it was unquestionably as early as 1510, and perhaps 1505; and was, in
historical and geographical interest, second to hardly any other globe,
small as it was, and concluded by recommending him, when he and his
children had done playing with it, to present it to the Lenox Library,
the plans of which he was then engaged upon. I also told Mr. Lenox of it
and its value, and recommended him to keep his eye upon it, and secure it
if possible for preservation in his library. My pains and powder were not
thrown away. Not long after Mr. Hunt presented it to the library, and
from that time, it has been known and styled as the Hunt-Lenox Globe. On
my return to London I showed my drawing of it to my friend Mr. C.H. Coote
of the map department of the British Museum, and lent it to him for the
reduced facsimile in his article on GLOBES in the new edition of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Thus the Hunt-Lenox Globe won its (first)
geographical niche in literature."*
(*Footnote. Recollections of Mr. James Lenox of New York, 1886 pages 140
to 143.)
Mr. Henry Stevens assigns the date 1506/1507 to this globe,* whereas Mr.
Harrisse brings it under the date of ABOUT 1511.
(*Footnote. See Johann Schoner etc. by Henry Stevens; edited with an
introduction and bibliography by C.H. Coote, page xii.)
It certainly bears signs of an early date in that portion of it that
claims more especially our attention. The protuberant part of the
south-east coast of Africa which in the earlier Behaim globe extends in
such an extraordinary way eastward is, in this globe, cut off, and forms
an island which may have been intended for Madagascar. In the engraving
of this part of the east coast of Africa due notice had evidently been
taken of the Portuguese navigations through the Mozambique channel, and
along the eastern coasts of Africa to Calicut.*
(*Footnote. This coast was already set down correctly in Juan de la
Cosa's map of 1500.)
Madagascar, discovered in 1506, if known to have been discovered at the
time the globe was engraved, and intended to be represented by this
severed portion of Behaim's Africa, bears no name. This nameless island
nevertheless, lying as it does in a more northerly situation than
Behaim's protuberant part of Africa, would lead one to believe that it
was meant for Madagascar. To the east, in the same longitude as in
Behaim's globe, we find Marco Polo's Madagascar; but its length, contrary
to the direction that it assumes in Behaim's representation, runs north
and south, as it should. Between Madagascar and the western coast of
Australia, which bears the name of Loac Provincia, there is a curious
continental land that has been taken by some critics as a representation
of Australia. It lies too far to the west to warrant this conclusion,
unless we consider the dotted line as an erroneous addition; but even
then, if we suppose the eastern coastline of the nameless continental
land to have been intended for the western coastline of Australia, the
position of this coastline would be too far to the south. The western
coasts of Australia bear an inscription which appears for the first time
in the southern hemisphere. Loac Provincia is the inscription we refer
to. What is the origin of this name as applied to these regions? Is it a
corruption of Fra Mauro's Lago Regnum, or is it derived from Marco Polo's
Loach? It is evidently intended for one of the two; but it is difficult
to say which the cartographer intended it for. It gave rise, we believe,
to the use of the term Lucach and Beach (a corruption of Lucach) as
applied by G. Mercator and his school to the Australian continent, for we
shall find it set down on G. Mercator's epochal mappamundi of 1569, and
copied by many subsequent cartographers until the Dutch altered the name
of the Australian continent to New Holland. Seilan is represented to the
east of Loac Provincia, corresponding with Behaim's Seylan Insula. In the
three nameless islands, above the 20th degree of latitude and between
Madagascar and Loac Provincia, we may see an embodiment of those three
islands which have been called the three Arabian Islands,* and which, on
maps that allow a more detailed nomenclature, bear the names of Dina
Morare, or Moraze; Dimo baz, or Margabim; and Dina Aroby, or Arobi-
corruptions of the Arabian names Diva Moraze, Diva Margabim, and Diva
Arobi; and which, in our opinion, correspond with Bourbon, Mauritius and
Rodriguez.
(*Footnote. Memoire Geographique sur la Mer des Indes, par J. Codine;
Paris 1868 chap. v. In a lengthy and remarkably clever dissertation on
the origin of the charting and naming of these islands Mr. J. Codine
comes to the conclusion (see page 155) that Dina Morare corresponds with
the Banc de Nazareth, Dimo baz with Bourbon, and Dina Aroby with
Mauritius.)
The small size of this copper globe, only 127 mm. diameter, is the reason
for the scarcity of names on it. It will be observed, nevertheless, by
comparing it with Behaim's configurations, that many of the names may be
restored. The two nameless large islands, par exemple, in 165 and 180
longitude, correspond with Behaim's Java Major. In about twenty or thirty
degrees east of these two islands, and therefore at a distance answering
approximately to New Guinea, and on the parallel of New Guinea, appears
the legend Terra de Brazil. This Terra de Brazil is however set down on a
fictitious westerly prolongation of the South American continent, whereas
the real Brazil occurs more than eighty degrees away to the east, bearing
its early name of Terra Sanctae Crucis.* The probabilities are in favour
of this Land of Brazil being intended for New Guinea.
(*Footnote. See chap. 18. Andrea Corsali's Description of Terra de
Piccinacoli.)
...
RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI, A.D. 1507/1508.
There has been various opinions expressed as to the origin of Ruysch's
Mappamundi. C.H. Coote of the British Museum says: "The Ruysch map of
Rome, 1507/1508, is of the Spanish school."*
("Footnote. Johann Schoner, by H. Stevens, page xxi. l. 11.)
Harrisse on the contrary says*: "The basis of THE ENTIRE MAP was a purely
Lusitanian planisphere," and further adds however, "Now, was the model
followed by Ruysch a purely Lusitanian chart, or one made in Germany with
Portuguese elements? Our opinion is that Ruysch has copied merely a
Lusitano-Germanic map. Our reasons are based upon the fact that Ruysch
inscribed an erroneous name, which was certainly taken from the Latin
account of the cosmographiae introductio, first printed at St. Diey, in
Lorraine, in May 1507, namely: Omnium Sanctorum abbatiam. As we have
frequently proved, none of the Lusitanian charts known commit that
extraordinary mistake, which may be considered as the touchstone of
Lusitano-Germanic maps. The Portuguese charts all inscribe A BAIA de
todos sanctos, and even A BAIA de tutti santi, or BAIE de tutti li santi,
when copied by an Italian cartographer. That is, the Bay and not the
Abbey of All Saints."
(*Footnote. The Discovery of North America by Henry Harrisse, page 449
paragraph 6 and page 452 line 2.)
Ruysch's Mappamundi is unique in many respects. It presents many
improvements on the maps of an earlier date, although certain distortions
are very remarkable for their magnitude. In the regions which are
connected with our inquiries, for instance, the Sinus Magnus is brought
down below the equator. This extraordinary misplacement of the China Sea
can be accounted for in the following way. The cartographer, recognising
no doubt the error of previous charts on which TWO MALAY PENINSULAS were
represented (see preceding maps), rejected one of these representations;
but in doing so he preserved the wrong one, extending to the tropic of
Capricorn, the logical sequence being to represent the Sinus Magnus to
the east of it.
Sumatra, which had been grafted on the West Australian coasts and
connected with the duplicate Malay Peninsula on earlier charts, is now
separated from the continental bogus prolongation and assumes a greater
likeness to the real Sumatra, although retaining its erroneous position,
its southern parts being traversed by the tropic of Capricorn.*
(*Footnote. Galvano informs us (Discoveries of the World, page 106 line
3) that in the year 1506, "Tristan de Acuna and Alfonso de Albuquerque
went vnto Mossambique, and Aluaro Telez ran so far that he came to the
Island of Sumatra, and so back againe vnto the Cape of Guardafu; hauing
discouered many islands, sea, and land neuer seene before that time of
any Portugall." This discovery of Sumatra is recorded in a legend set
down to the west of Sumatra, and the date of 1507 is given as the date of
the discovery. Was it the western coast of Australia on which Alvaro
Telez was driven?)
It bears the name of Taprobana alias Zoilon, thus suggesting Ceylon as
another name for Taprobana, whereas the true Ceylon under the name of
Ceilam is set down in its correct position and size to the south-east of
the Indian Peninsula.
The Seylan Insula of Behaim and Seilan of the Hunt-Lenox globe still
retains its position corresponding to the western parts of Australia; it
is called Seylan insule pars twice, and that part of the Indian Ocean
that laves its western shores is set down as the Seylan Oceanus.
The South Pacific Ocean of modern charts is studded with Marco Polo's
islands, Iava maior, Iava minor, Sodur, Candur, pevtan, Nevca, agama, and
Candyn.
On the continent of Asia eastwardly we notice LO* and LOACH AC, already
placed in the southern hemisphere in the Hunt-Lenox globe, and which, in
later maps, will appear on a southern continent altered to Lucach and
Beach.
(*Footnote. With reference to LO and LOACH AC, R.H. Major in his Prince
Henry the Navigator, page 307 line 26, makes the following remark:
"Colonel Yule has shown that the country meant by Locach was Lo-kok, or
the kingdom of Lo, which, previous to the middle of the fourteenth
century, formed the lower part of what is now Siam.")
An important feature of this map--which we believe to be of Portuguese,
not Spanish origin--is that it shows signs of having been compiled, in
parts, of Moorish or Arabian charts or descriptions.
This is observable in the names given to various islands to the west of
Australia; Madagascar, for instance, is called Camaeocada, an evident
corruption from Camar diva, Island of the Moon; Dinanorca, Dinarobin and
Maroabyn are corruptions of Diva Moraze, Diva Arobi, and Diva Margabym.
On the subject of these and other islands of the Indian Ocean visited by
the Malays and charted by the Arabs, Mr. J. Codine, in his valuable
Memoire Geographique sur la Mer des Indes, page 153, 2nd paragraph, says:
L'existence, au milieu de la Mer des Indes, d'iles connues des Maures,
est tout a coup revelee par leur figuration sur des mappemondes du
commencement du seizieme siecle, les indications ont ete recueillies des
recits oraux de quelques marins marchands de la Mer des Indes, et surtout
des cartes de ces marins, trouvees dans les navires Maures dont
s'emparerent les Portugais qui furent maitres de cette mer aussitot
qu'ils y parurent. The existence, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, of
islands known to the Moors, is suddenly revealed by their appearance on
maps of the world of the beginning of the sixteenth century. Those
indications have been gathered from the verbal recitals of some trading
seamen of the Indian Ocean, and especially from the charts of those
seamen, found in Moorish vessels seized by the Portuguese, who were
masters of these seas as soon as they appeared upon them.
CHAPTER 21. A.D. 1511.
CONQUEST OF MALACCA.
D'ABREU'S EXPEDITION TO THE SPICE ISLANDS.
(ILLUSTRATION 95. INITIAL F.)
From 1505 to 1507 the Court of Spain was earnestly engaged in the project
of finding a direct route to the Spice Islands by the west, and according
to Navarrette, on the 29th of June 1508, Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Juan
Diaz de Solis sailed from San Lucar and explored the coasts of South
America from C. St. Augustine to the 40th degree of south latitude.
The Portuguese, on their side, were making rapid progress eastwardly, and
Diogo Lopez de Sequeira was commissioned in 1508 to discover Malacca.
R.H. Major says*: "On the 11th of September 1509 Sequeira anchored at
Malacca, the great emporium of the east, to which were brought cloves
from the Moluccas, nutmegs from Banda, sandalwood from Timor, camphor
from Borneo, gold from Sumatra and Loo Choo, and gums, spices and other
precious commodities from China, Japan, Siam, Pegu, etc. There he
established a factory. Fernam de Magalhaens was in this expedition."
(*Footnote. Prince Henry the Navigator page 267.)
After this expedition, which opened the gates to the extreme east, and
before the conquest of Malacca in 1511, the Portuguese appear to have
penetrated as far as the Spice Islands, but to have kept the matter
secret.*
(*Footnote. Pinkerton page 292.)
In 1511 Albuquerque lost no time in sending out an expedition to Sumatra,
Java and the Spice Islands. The journals of this important voyage have
not been preserved, but Antonio Galvano, the conqueror and apostle of the
Moluccas, has left us a detailed description, which we give here:
ANTONIO GALVANO'S DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST PORTUGUESE EXPEDITION TO THE
SPICE ISLANDS.*
(*Footnote. The Discoveries of the World by Antonio Galvano, Hakluyt
Society's Edition page 115.)
In the end of this yeere 1511, Alfonso de Albuquerque sent three ships to
the Islands of Banda and Maluco. And there went as generall of them one
Antonio de Breu, and with him also went one Francis Serrano; and in these
ships there were 120 persons.* [Not more vessels nor men went to discouer
New Spain with C. Columbus, nor with Vasco de Gama to India; nor in
comparison with these is Maluco less wealthy, nor ought it to be held in
less esteem.]
(*Footnote. Dr. E.T. Hamy in his L'Oeuvre Geographique des Reinel et la
Decouverte des Molugues says (page 21 note 1): Il y avait, en outre, huit
esclaves sur chaque bord pour le service des pompes. For further
particulars concerning this important expedition we refer the critic to
Dr. Hamy's interesting paper.)
They passed through the Streight of Saban, and along the Island of
Samatra, and [in sight of] many others, leauing them on the left hand,
towards the east; and they called them the Salites. They went also to the
Islands of Palimbam* and Lusuparam, from whence they sailed by the noble
Island of Iaua, and they ran their course east, sailing betweene it and
the Island of Madura. The people of this island are very warlike and
strong, and doe little regard their liues [as any known in the world].
The women also are there hired for the warres; and they fall out often
together, and kill one another, as the Mocos doe (and they contrive that
cocks should fight with spurs, as their principal diversion is
blood-shedding), delighting onely in shedding of blood.
(*Footnote. The district of Palembang and other southern parts of Sumatra
were long believed to be separate islands. We find the southern parts of
Sumatra split up into islands in Fra Mauro's Mappamundi 1547 (see Chapter
9), and as late as 1784, in Marsden's Sumatra, "the district of Palembang
is still believed to form an island. In Pedro Reinel's chart of 1517, a
southern section of Sumatra bears the name Ilha de Jaavaa, and Dr. E.T.
Hamy, describing Reinel's chart, and recognising that cartographer's
error, says: C'est pour nous, sans le moindre doute, le pays de Palembang
avec le district des Lampongs, considere par le geographe Portugais,
comme une terre distincte du reste de Sumatra, erreur qui s'explique
aisement par la nature meme des atterrages formes de vastes plaines,
basses et marecageuses, s'etendant au de la du large estuaire de Banjou
Assin.)
Beyond the Island of Iaua they sailed along by another called Bali; and
then came also vnto others called Aujaue,* Cambaba, Solor, Galav or
Guliam, Mallua, Vitara, Rosalanquin, and Arus, from whence are brought
delicate birds, which are of great estimation because of their feathers.
(*Footnote. The island called here Aujaue is named Anjano in the
Portuguese text of Galvano. It corresponds with Lomboc. Dr. E.T. Hamy
suggests Rindjani (L'Oeuvre Geographique des Reinel et la Decouverte des
Moluques, page 23 note 2), the name of the volcanic peak in Lomboc, as
the origin of Aujaue or Anjano. We fear the similarity of names in this
instance is only coincidental. It is probable that Galvano in his
invaluable work--Tratado que compos o nobre & notauel capitao Antonio
Galuao, dos diuersos & desuayrados caminhos, por onde nos tempos passados
a pimenta & especearia veyo da India as nossas partes, & assi de todos os
descobrimentos antigos & modernos, que sao feitos ate a era de mil &
quinhentos & cincoenta, com os nomes particulares das pessoas que os
fizeram: & em que tempos & as suas alturas, obra certo muy notauel &
copiosa--which was finished towards 1553, consulted contemporaneous
charts for his nomenclature. On some of the earliest charts the original
nomenclature of the islands visited by D'Abreu and Serrano had already
suffered mutilation and corruption, due no doubt to bad reading. On a
chart of the early assigned date of 1517, only six years therefore after
the event we write of, the district of Palembang, mistaken for an island,
as in Galvano's description, bears the name of Ilha de Jaavaa, whereas
Java proper receives the name of Simbabau. On later maps bearing dates
that would still show that they may have been consulted by Galvano, we
find the Island of Lomboc bearing the name of Autane (Pierres Desceliers'
map of 1550); Aintama (Henry II's map of 1546); an tane (Jean Roze's map
of 1542). On these maps the Island of Bali, situated to the west of
Lomboc, bears a name that is difficult to reconcile with Bali; in the
1550 and 1546 maps it is bamcha; in the 1542 map it is bacha. This word
in the three instances is written with a small b. Now, there is an
earlier map called the Dauphin Chart drawn by Pierres Desceliers, and of
the assigned date of 1530/1536, which has been copied from a prototype
now lost, and on which the apparent names of the two islands in question
is Anda ne Barcha. That nautical phrase--no boats go here--has no other
reference to the Islands of Bali and Lomboc than that which its meaning
implies, i.e., that the navigation in those parts was either dangerous or
impossible. The difficult nature of the navigation between Bali and
Lomboc is a known fact. A few days ago Captain Carpenter, of the Costa
Rica Packet, who is now in Sydney, referring to the navigation in those
parts, in the presence of Mr. J. Mann, honorary secretary to our Royal
Geographical Society, said that many a time he had been compelled to take
another and roundabout route owing to the extraordinary rapidity of the
tide that flows between Bali and Lomboc. We might give many other proofs
on this point were it necessary. At the present stage however, although
it is in our opinion almost certain that Galvano's Anjano is a bad
reading for Anda ne, we are not so certain about the original location of
this phrase Anda ne barcha. Owing to the peculiar distortion of all the
maps we have mentioned it may apply to the Gulf of Carpentaria, which
offers a different impediment to navigation, that of shallowness. This
peculiarity of distortion we allude to may be observed in all the maps in
which the Cape York of Australia is connected with the southern shores of
Sumbawa, the next island in an easterly direction after leaving Bali and
Lomboc. For further information on this subject see our concluding
chapter.)
They came also to other islands lying in the same parallel on the south
side in 7 or 8 degrees of latitude.*
(*Footnote. Probably the Timor Laut group of Islands.)
And they be so nere the one to the other that they seeme at the first to
be one entire and maine land. The course by these islands is above fiue
hundred leagues. The ancient cosmographers call all these islands by the
name Iauos; but late experience hath found their names to be very diuers,
as you see. Beyonde these (it is said) there are other islands, which are
inhabited with whiter people going arraied in shirts, doublets and slops,
like vnto the Portugals, hauing also money of silver. The gouernours
among them doe carrie in their hands red staues, whereby they seeme to
have some affinitie with the people of China; and not only these, but
there are other islands and people about this place which are redde*; and
it is reported that they are of the people of China.**
(*Footnote. Gentes pintadas, says the Portuguese text--i.e. painted
people--tattooed.)
(**Footnote. This part of Galvano's description referring to a whiter and
more civilized race of people, and also to a tattooed race, is evidently
a digression borrowed from the accounts of travellers that visited the
Spice Islands shortly after his arrival there as governor. Saavedra in
1528, on his way back to America from the Spice Islands, sailed along the
north-east coasts of Papuasia or New Guinea, and again in 1529 he
followed the same route. Herrera, in his Decada iv. lib. 111 cap. vi.,
thus describes the portion of their two voyages that refer to our
subject: Anduvieron 250 leguas hasta la isla del Oro, grande y de gente
negra, con los cabellos crespos...Corrieron 250 leguas hasta dar en otras
islas, en altura de 7 [degrees] pobladas de gente blanca, barbuda, que
salieron a la nao, amenazando de tirar piedras con las hondas; y fue cosa
maravillosa ver en tan poca distancia hombres tan diferentes de color.
Hallaron, otras islas pequenes...pobladas de gente morena, con barbas,
desnudos...estan en 7 [degrees], mil leguas de Tidore y otras tantas de
Nueva Espana. Corrieron al NE, anduvieron 80 leguas, hallaron otras islas
bajas y en una de ellas surgieron...Esta gente es blanca, pintados los
brazos y cuerpos; las mujeros parecian hermosas, con cabellos negros y
largos...Estan estas islas en 8 [degrees] de la banda del N de la linea."
Antonio de Breu and those that went with him tooke their course toward
the north, where is a small island called Gumnape* (or Ternate), from the
highest place whereof there fall continually into the sea flakes or
streams like vnto fire, which is a wonderfull thing to behold.
(*Footnote. Gumnape is meant for Gunong Api, the native name for volcano
or mountain of fire. There are several in these seas. The one referred to
is not the one near Ternate, but in the Banda Sea.)
From thence they went to the Islands of Burro and Amboino (and coasted
along what is called Muar d' Amboina), and came to an anker in an hauen
of it called Guliguli, where they went on land and tooke a village
standing by the river, where they found dead men hanging in the houses;
for the people there are eaters of man's flesh. Here the Portugals burnt
the ship wherein Francis Serrano was, for she was old and rotten. They
went to a place on the other side standing in 8 degrees* towards the
south, where they laded cloues, nutmegs, and mace, in a junco or barke,
which Francis Serrano bought here.
(*Footnote. The Banda Islands are situated in 4 and 5 degrees latitude
south. The Portuguese text reads: banda q'estaa em oito graos da parte do
Sul. Dr. Hamy supposes that in composing Galvano's text, 5 may have been
taken for 8, and that the composer substituted the word oito for the
mistaken cipher.)
They say that not far from the Islands of Banda there is an island where
there breedeth nothing else but snakes, and the most are in one caue in
the middest of the land (some great and others small go always rolled
together). This is a thing not much to be wondered at; for as much as in
the Levant Sea, hard by the Isles of Maiorca and Minorca, there is
another island of old named Ophinsa, and now Formentera, wherein there is
great abundance of these vermine; and in the rest of the islands lying by
it there are none.
In the yeere 1512 they departed from Banda toward Malacca, and on the
baxos or flats of Lucapinho Francis Serrano perished (was wrecked with
his junk) in his junke or barke, from whence escaped (had returned) vnto
the Isle of Mindanao (with) nine or ten Portugals which were (went) with
him, and the Kings of Maluco sent for them.*
(*Footnote. This sentence has not been understood by Galvano's
translator, owing no doubt to the wrong construction given to se perdeo
Francisco Serram co o seu junco. The Portuguese text runs thus: No ano de
1512 partiram de Banda pera Malaca, & nos baixos de Lusupino, se perdeo
Francisco Serram co o seu junco, donde se tornou ailha de Midanao co 9 ou
10 portugueses q' co ele hia, & os reis d' Maluco madara por eles. We
correct the phrase, which should read thus: In the year 1512 they
departed from Banda toward Malacca, and on the baxos or flats of
Lucapinho Francis Serrano was wrecked with his junk, from whence he
escaped unto the Isle of Amboina with nine or ten Portugals which were
with him, and the Kings of Maluco sent for them.)
These were the first Portugals that came to the Islands of Cloues, which
stand from the equinoctiall line towards the north in one degree, where
they lived seuen or eight yeeres. (A. Dabreu made his way to Malacca
having discovered all the sea and land above named.)
CHAPTER 22. A.D. 1512 TO 1521.
MAGALHAENS AND SERRANO.
FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ PORTOLANOS.
(ILLUSTRATION 92. INITIAL T.)
There is much mystery concerning Magalhaens' and Serrano's doings in the
Molucca regions.
With regard to Magalhaens, it has often been asked: Did he or did he not
command one of the ships in D' Abreu's expedition to the Moluccas in
1511?
It is said there were three ships in that expedition--D' Abreu's,
Serrano's, and, according to De Goes and Correa, the third ship was
commanded by Simao Afonso Bisagudo. (Chronica de D. Manoel, 3 3a parte,
cap. xxv. fol. 51.)
Neither De Barros, Castanheda, Correa, De Goes nor Galvano mention
Magalhaens as having sailed with D' Abreu; but Argensola says that
Magalhaens went as captain of the third ship.
D' Abreu, capitao mor, commanded the Santa Caterina; Francisco Serrao,
his second captain, commanded a ship, the name of which is not mentioned;
Simao Afonso Bisagudo commanded a lateen caravel, constructed specially
for the voyage. The pilots were: Goncalo d'Oliveira, piloto mor, Luys
Botim, Francisco Rodriguez. A rich merchant of Malacca was allowed to
send a junk loaded with merchandise, and an agent to teach the Portuguese
the spice trade accompanied the expedition.
The confusion that arose as to the third ship, commanded by Magalhaens,
was no doubt due to the fact that the lateen caravel was, by some
authors, counted as the third ship, while others either reckoned it as a
fourth, or failed to count it at all, setting it down merely as a convoy.
Whatever may have been the origin of the confusion, Magalhaens evidently
commanded a ship, and sailed either with the expedition or shortly after,
entrusted with some special and secret mission for Albuquerque.
As to his starting Argensola is very explicit, and his evidence is
corroborated by other writers. Argensola says:
En este mismo tepo (at this same time), aviendo Magalhaens passado seys
cientas leguas adelante hazia Malaca, se hallaua en vnas Islas, desde
donde se correspondia co Serrano. El qual, como le auia sucedido ta bien
en Ternate co Boleyse, escriuio a su amigo los fauores y riquezas, que
del anio recibido, y que per se boluiesse a su compania. Magallanes
dexando persuadir, propuso la yda al Maluco: pero en caso que en Portugal
no premiassen sus servidos como pretedia, desde donde luego tomaria la
derrota de Ternate, co cuyo Reye en nueue anos enriquecio Serrano tanto.*
(*Footnote. Argensola, conquista de las islas Malucas, page 15.
According to the above, Magalhaens may have sailed about the same time
(en este mismo tepo) as D' Abreu, and indeed he could not have retarded
much, nor spent much time in the vicinity of the Spice Islands, since he
was back in Lisbon in 1512, where we find him signing a receipt for a
monthly pension on the 12th of June of that year.*
(*Footnote. Book vi. of Moradias da Casa Real, fol. 47 v.)
What were the islands 600 leagues to the east of Malacca, and from which
he held communication with Serrano? Six hundred leagues from Malacca
would bring him in close proximity to the Spice Islands, and, if
allowance is made for strong currents and other matters rendering the
computation of distances difficult, Magalhaens may have reached even more
distant lands.
There are reasons to believe that, about this time, the Portuguese were
in hopes of falling in with the western shores of the Terra Sanctae
Crucis (South America), for as we have seen it was represented on the
charts of the period as lying at no great distance from the Spice
Islands, and known since 1503 from Giovanni da Empoli's account as the
Terra Della Vera Croce, ouer del Bresil cosi nominata...nellaqual si fa
buona soma di Cassia, & di Verzino.*
(*Footnote. Ramusio, fol. 145 C. Compare with Andrea Corsali's letter
concerning the location of the Costa del Brezil, o Verzino. See above.)
Dr. Hamy thinks that the islands mentioned as having been reached by
Magalhaens may correspond with some point of the north coast of New
Guinea, the discovery of which island was attributed, many years later,
to Magalhaens by Texeira.*
(*Footnote. On ignore quelles sont ces iles; il pourrait bien se faire
qu'elles correspondent a quelque point de la cote nord de la Nouvelle
Guinee, dont Texeira, beaucoup plus tard, attribuait a Magellan la
decouverte. L'Oeuvre des Reinel et la decouverte des Moluques, page 27.)
Serrano's long sojourn of nine years in the Moluccas enabled him to make
many voyages and discoveries. At the present time it would be difficult
to ascertain what he may or may not have accomplished in this way, for
the data to hand are meagre, and the secrecy observed at the time by the
Lusitano-Indian Government renders the chances of information turning up
very small.*
(*Footnote. With reference to the secrecy observed and enforced Ramusio
says in his prefatory Discorso sopra il libro di Odoardo Barbosa,
etc.:...fu sforzato di leuarne via tutta quella parte che nel fine dell'
opera trattana delle isole Molucche. Ramusio, folio 287 F.)
We have copies of passages from letters written by Magalhaens to Serrano,
and by the latter to Magalhaens, that throw a little light on the
question.
Referring to Serrano's letters, F.H.H. Guillemard, in his Life of
Magellan (page 71), says:
"From Ternate he (Serrano) wrote many letters to his friends, and
especially to Magellan, 'giving him to understand that he had discovered
yet another new world, larger and richer than that found by Vasco da
Gama.' These letters," says Guillemard, "joined possibly with a personal
knowledge of those regions, formed, it may safely be conjectured, no
slight inducement to the undertaking of the voyage which ended our hero's
life and made his name immortal...The letters written by Magellan to
Serrao were found among the papers left at the latter's death. In them he
promises 'that he will be with him soon, if not by way of Portugal, by
way of Spain,' for to that issue his affairs seemed to be leading."
(Navarette, volume iv. note v. page lxxiv.; Barros, Dec. iii. lib. v.
cap. viii.)
Alas! a few years later, Magalhaens, the first of mortals who made the
circuit of the world, reaching by the west the regions wherein he had
left his friend Serrano, died without meeting him; and Serrano, it is
said, perished in the same manner, at the hands of Indians, the very same
day as Magalhaens--21st April 1521.*
(*Footnote. Argensola, page 17.)
...
FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ' PORTOLANOS.
(ILLUSTRATION 31. FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ'S PORTOLANOS.)
F. Rodriguez' portolanos of East Indian Archipelago.
We have seen that Francisco Rodriguez was one of the pilots of D' Abreu's
expedition. He is the author of a set of sailing charts, drafted no doubt
during that memorable voyage. These portolanos or sailing charts are of
great interest to the Australasian student, not only because they depict
for the first time the Molucca Islands, but also because Java, Bali,
Lomboc and Sumbawa are set down on them as distinct and separate islands,
whereas on a class of maps a little later in date, on which the
Australian Continent is represented, some of those islands are indicated
as forming part of the northern shores of Australia.
This at first may seem of little importance; it is of great importance
however for it shows that, as an accurate knowledge had been obtained of
the south coasts of the above-named islands, it was owing to deliberate
distortion that they were made to form part and parcel of the southern
continent; nor can it be argued that the later charts were not purposely
distorted, or that Rodriguez' charting was not known at the time, since,
as we can prove, the portolanos in question served as models in the
compilation of a prototype from which all the distorted charts of
Australia, to which we refer, were copied.
When dealing with the distorted charts, we hope to be able to show
satisfactorily, with all the data we have collected on the subject, how
and why those old maps were altered.
But let us first examine some of F. Rodriguez' portolanos. There are six
in the atlas preserved at Lisbon; they have been reproduced in OUTLINE in
Santarem's collection, and our facsimiles of four of them are taken from
that valuable work, a copy of which may be seen in the Sydney Free Public
Library. The collection of six sailing charts bears the title Portulan
dresse entre les annees 1524 a 1530 par Francisco Rodriguez, pilote
portugais qui a fait le voyage aux Moluques. The dates assigned to this
atlas, remarks our friend Dr. E.T. Hamy,* were given by Santarem, who
ignored that Rodriguez was already at Malacca in 1511.
(*Footnote. L'Oeuvre Geographique des Reinel et la Decouverte des
Moluques page 32 note 3.)
Our belief is that Rodriguez' charts of the Moluccas, the earliest ever
made by Europeans, are the result of D' Abreu's surveys during his
expedition in 1511, or of Joam Lopez Alvrin's voyage in 1513, and that
they are, on this account, quite independent from Pedro Reinel's charts,
to which the date of 1517 has been assigned.*
(*Footnote. We appear to agree in this respect with Dr. E.T. Hamy, who
says in his memoire already quoted: RODRIGUEZ CONNAIT AUSSI, BIEN MIEUX
QUE SES DEVANCIERS, LES COTES DE LA CHINE ET L'UNE DE SES CARTES REMONTE
JUSQU'A PEKIN, DONT ELLE DRESSE LE PLAN ET ENSEIGNE LA ROUTE. Ou peut se
demander dans quelle mesure les contours relativement precis des cartes
de Rodriguez n'ont pas ete empruntes par ce pilote a une piece indigene
dont Albuquerque lui avait fait faire un extrait pour le roi de Portugal
avant son depart avec Abreu.--L'Oeuvre Geographique des Reinel et la
Decouverte des Moluques, page 33 note 4. It will be noticed that in the
first sentence, which we have [caps], Dr. Barny seems to admit that
Rodriguez' charts were not the earliest, since he speaks of his
DEVANCIERS. In the next sentence however he expresses a somewhat
different opinion, which we endorse. G.C.)
There are three maps, in the set of six, which are of special interest as
connected with our subject. A map of Java, with part of Sumatra; a map of
part of Java, with Bali, Lomboc, Sumbawa, etc.; a map of the Spice
Islands and Papoia.
The map of Java, with part of Sumatra, bears an inscription* in 7 degrees
of latitude south, and in the longitude approximately of Cheribon in
modern maps, thus:
Agoada Joham Lopez D'ollunn
elle descobrio d'aqui afi Japara.
Which we have rendered:
Watering-place of John Lopez Alvrin, from which place you can discover
(see) as far as Japara.
(*Footnote. We had not sufficient space to set down this inscription in
our much reduced copy.)
On a clear day the magnificent coast scenery from Cheribon to Japara is
one of the well-known sights of Java, so that it is not astonishing to
find this hydrographical note on the portolano that we are considering.
Who was this Joham Lopez or Lopiz? We do not know; there is no mention of
any such name among the officers of D' Abreu's expedition. Was he a
pioneer sent out to these regions to prepare the way for D' Abreu? Was he
a pilot on Magalhaens' ship? Who shall say?
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, F.R.S., formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Java
and its dependencies, and President of the Society of Arts and Sciences
at Batavia, in the introduction of his valuable History of Java (page
xiv.), gives us, from Barros' Decadas, I expect, the following
information, in which Joam Lopez Alvrin's name occurs: "Nakoda Ismael
returning from the Moluccas with a cargo of nutmegs, his vessel was
wrecked on the coast of Java, near Tuban. The cargo of the Nakoda's
vessel having been saved, JOAM LOPEZ ALVRIN was sent (A.D. 1513) by the
Governor of Malacca with four vessels to receive it. Alvrin was well
received in all the ports of Java where he touched, but particularly at
Sidayu belonging to PATEH UNRUG, a Prince, who had been defeated by
Fernan Peres at Malacca."
We have noticed particularly the above inscription--in itself not very
clear, it must be allowed--because we shall find it repeated on later
charts of a distorted type, on which the Australian continent is set
down, whereby their connection with Francisco Rodriguez' chart is proved.
The map with part of Java, Bali, Lomboc, Sumbawa, etc. bears the
following nomenclature: Ilha de Madura (Madura Island); Agaci (Gresic);
Ssurabaia (Surabaia); and the inscription, A fin da Ilha de Jaoa (end of
the Island of Java). In later maps this inscription is altered thus:
Dauphin Chart, Fin de Iaoa; Jean Roze's Chart, Fin de Iana. Curiously
enough, in later maps, this hydrographical notice is corrupted to
Fideoia; and on G. Mercator's celebrated large map of the world of 1569 a
castellated township is depicted on this eastern extremity of Java, with
the name Fideida. Bali is called Ballaram, Lomboc Lomboquo, and Sumbawa
is represented as two islands--Ssimbana and Aramaram. The deep gulf which
almost cuts Sumbawa in two, is accountable for this segregation.
The map of the Spice Islands offers this striking feature--that a
north-western portion of New Guinea, or perhaps Gilolo, is marked on it
under the name of Papoia, which might lead one to conclude that this map
is of a much later date, or that--which is much more probable--New Guinea
was discovered by D' Abreu and his party.
The hitherto accepted version is that New Guinea was first discovered by
Don Jorge de Menezes, who gave it the name of Papua. The account of his
voyage, which is to be found in Couto,* is not very precise, the date is
given as being either 1528 or 1533; Major fixes the date as 1526.**
(*Footnote. Asia of de Barros, continued by do Couto, 3rd book 3rd
chapter 4th decada.)
(**Footnote. Early Voyages to Australia page lxiv.)
CHAPTER 23. A.D. 1515 TO 1517.
THE FRANKFORT-SCHONEREAN GLOBE OF 1515.
THE SUNDA AND MOLUCCA ISLANDS AS TRACED IN PEDRO REINEL'S CHART.
(ILLUSTRATION 70. RUYSCH'S MAPPAMUNDI AND SCHONEREAN GORES COMPARED.)
(ILLUSTRATION 96. INITIAL T.)
The Spanish still continued their attempts to reach the Spice Islands by
the west; and on the 8th of October 1515* Juan Diaz de Solis sailed with
that intention. He reached the Rio de la Plata, where "he was killed and
eaten up by the natives of the Charruas tribe, before September 1516,
when the expedition returned to Spain under the command of Francisco de
Torres, his brother-in-law."**
(*Footnote. Herrera, Decada II. ii.)
(**Footnote. Harrisse, The Discovery of North America page 738.)
...
THE FRANKFORT GLOBE OF 1515.
We arrive now at one of the important geographical monuments of the
beginning of the 16th century--The Frankfort-on-the-Main Schonerean globe
of 1515. This globe is believed by Dr. Wieser* to be the work of Schoner,
hence its name. Our sketch is taken from the reproduction in form of
gores in Jomard's collection.** Schoner is the first cartographer to give
a more decided form and a different name to the Austral continent already
represented in 1506/1511 on the Hunt-Lenox globe, but without a name.
(*Footnote. Wieser, Magalhaes-Strasse page 22.)
(**Footnote. E.F. Jomard, Les Monuments de la Geographie; Paris 1854 fol.
plates xv. and xvi., entitled: Globe terrestre de la premiere moitie du
seizieme siecle.)
The Austral continent, supposed by Andrea Corsali and others to extend
from the region of New Guinea (Terra de Piccinnacoli) to the land of
Sanctae Crucis, then known as the coast of Bresil or Verzino,* was also
known as the Papagalli terra--i.e., land of parrots. The origin of this
denomination has been supposed to have been given first to Brazil,
because either Gaspar de Lemos in 1500, or Pedralvarez Cabral in 1501,**
it is not known which, or when, brought some parrots to Europe from
Brazil.
(*Footnote. Ramusio, fol. 280 (sic. for 180) c. ANDREA CORSALI HAVING
DESCRIBED THE SPICE ISLANDS SAYS: Et nauigado verso le parti d' Oriente,
dicono esserui terra de Piccinnacoli, & e di molti openione che questa
terra vada a tenere, & congiungersi per la banda di leuante & mezo
giorno, con la costa del Bresil, o verzino, perche per la grandezza di
detta terra del verzino, non si e per anchora da tutte la parti
discoperta.)
(**Footnote. See Harrisse, The Discovery of North America, page 491.)
On the other hand, Nicolo de' Conti may also have brought back to Europe
in 1444 parrots from Australasia, for he describes them in his
narrative*; and in those regions, on the famous Fra Mauro Mappamundi of
1457, we find the following legend**: Item li se trova papaga tutti rossi
salvo i piedi et el becco che son zali: also, you find there parrots all
red except their feet and beak, which are yellow.
(*Footnote. See above.)
(**Footnote. See chap. ix. page 44, and chap. 18, Australia the Baptismal
Font of Brazil.)
The denomination Papagalli terra may have been applied therefore to
Australia, and the term Patalis Regio, which is found on later maps in
connection with Brasilie Regio, and, later still, Psittacorum regio, may
be a corruption of (Pa)Pagalli Regio, the first syllable being dropped,
or as we have suggested elsewhere, its origin may be traced to the
nomenclature that obtained after Magalhaens' voyage, when Patalis Regio,
the Latin for Tierra Patagonia, may have been given, not only to
Patagonia, but also to Tierra del Fuego and its supposed circumpolar
prolongation; unless indeed Schoner borrowed the term from Behaim's
globe, on which we find, to the north of the equator it is true, Patalis
regio or Potutis regio.
On the Frankfort map, which we shall now describe, the western coasts of
Australia are set down in much the same way as in the preceding maps of
this type, the nomenclature being Lac regnum and Coilu regnu.
The island to the east of Coilu regnu bears the following Latin legend:
Seyla idolatre sut ambulant nude nullum habent bladum Rixo excepto.
Eastward may be noticed Marco Polo's islands. Java minor in ea sunt octo
regna et sunt idolatre, Pentan idolatre sut, Necuram idolatre bestialiter
vivunt, Iavva maior variaz Spetierum dives sunt idolatre, with the
addition of nutmegs and pepper nuces muscata pipe. The other islands are
Candin, and the two Pulo Condor Islands, Sandio & Candur.
On the Asiatic continent may be observed Loach provin, just below the
equator and between the 135 and 150 degrees of longitude. Mallaqua is set
down where it is suggested by its termination Lack on Behaim's globe.
Above Mallaqua may be seen Egrisillani, which is a curious corruption of
Christiani, and refers to Nicolo de' Conti's description of the Nestorian
Christians, as does the inscription below the Island of Socotra, Scoyra
Christiana babet! (habet) Archiepiscopu. We find also another curious bad
reading referring to San Thome, ibionidisu S. Thomas. To the east of this
legend will be noticed Varre regio, undoubtedly corrupted from barr in M'
barr, the b and v being interchangeable. In Behaim's globe may be seen
War ein Konigreich in the same locality, and Varr Varr regnum in the
British Museum map of 1489.
To the west of the Australasian regions there are fourteen islands, five
of which bear no names. The first of those that are named is Callezuan,
which will be found nameless in earlier maps, and which in later maps is
altered to Callenzuaz, etc. We have not yet found a meaning for this
name, although we suspect it is a variation of Ptolemy's Caladadrua. The
next island bears the legend: Tona ibi bombex & porcellana, and is
apparently nameless, unless Tona be the remnant of some prototypic name.
The insufficiency of data renders the task of hunting down the origin of
names like these not only difficult but risky, as owing to an apparent
parity one is liable sometimes to make mistakes. Noticing however the
number of words which have suffered mutilation on this otherwise
exceedingly instructive globe, we have been led to suspect that this word
Tona is nothing else but the corruption of the first word that occurs in
a legend in this locality on M. Behaim's globe, the word being Thomas. To
the west of the large island just described we notice the three Arabian
islands, which in Ruysch's map, 1507/1508, occur in closer proximity to
Madagascar; they are called here: Dinamora, Dino baz and Dina Aroby.
Marco Polo's Madagascar bears the legend: Madagascar insula no hz rege
sunt Sarraceni & Mahumenste. An eastern prolongation bears the
inscription Sandalos silve. To the south-west of Madagascar there is an
island named Circobena; it is nameless on Behaim's globe, and corresponds
with Cirtena on the Hunt-Lenox globe. It is probably a corruption of
Comor diva, an alternative Arabian name for Madagascar.
The real Madagascar, discovered by the Portuguese the 10th of August 1506
is set down to the west of Marco Polo's Madagascar, and bears the name of
Dauxety.
In connection with this globe and the name Dauxety a strange mistake was
made some years ago by a very clever French geographer, who, commenting
on its origin and on the various names of Madagascar, said* that the
general information that this globe presented was derived from two
sources, neither of them Portuguese, since no Portuguese name was to be
found on this globe. In the next sentence he said: At some distance from
Africa is situated a Dauxety Island, etc. Now, had he known the origin of
Dauxety, he would not have said that there was no Portuguese name on this
globe, for Dauxety is a corruption of Laurentij, the Latin for San
Lourenco, the name given by the Portuguese to Madagascar, discovered by
them in the year 1506 on the 10th of August, the feast of St. Laurence.
(*Footnote. Ce globe n'est pas, dans l'ordre chronologique, le premier
document utile a consulter, mais il presente un ensemble de
renseignements tires de deux sources, toutes deux etrangeres aux
Portugais, car aucun nom Portugais n'y figure. A quelque distance de
l'Afrique est placee une ile Dauxety dont la forme allongee, les
dimensions propres et relatives, et la distance du continent Africain,
conviennent parfaitement a Madagascar; c'est bien reellement Madagascar,
puisque au nord-ouest de cette ile Dauxety, et dans, la position qui leur
convient, sont representees les iles que nous nommons aujourd'hui Comores
et qui ont nom: Comoro.)
To the south of the regions we have described lies the Polar Continent,
which in outline corresponds in a most striking manner with what we know
of those regions. It extends north however in several places, to the 40th
degree of latitude.
On the portion of this continent that lies to the south of America occurs
the legend Brasiliae Regio, and on the same continent, to the south of
Australia, a vast lake is depicted surrounded by mountains, with the
inscription Laco int Montaras, which seems to be a repetition of the Lac
regnum, situated under the tropic of Capricorn in the Australian regions.
...
THE SUNDA AND MOLUCCA ISLANDS AS TRACED IN PEDRO REINEL'S CHART.
(ILLUSTRATION 77. SUNDA AND MOLUCCA ISLANDS AS TRACED IN PEDRO REINEL'S
CHART.)
The Sunda and Molucca Islands as traced in Pedro Reinel's chart of the
assigned date 1517.
Dr. E.T. Hamy, in his interesting memoire L'Oeuvre Geographique des
Reinel, read at the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres on the
26th of June 1891, describes exhaustively the geographical work of the
two Reinels, father and son, with reference especially to the discovery
of the Moluccas or Spice Islands. We have borrowed freely in the
preceding chapter from that careful and clever memoire, and now we give
here a sketch of the map which accompanies it, together with a few
remarks on that precious document.
Reinel's map shows to perfection how that constant feature of cartography
which we have called the geographical evolution obtained.
Referring to the special deformation of certain islands on this map, Dr.
Hamy says* that it is remarkable that Java, Sumbawa, Flores and another
island of the eastern prolongation extend considerably, all four, in a
southerly direction, THUS SUPPLYING THE FIRST MODEL OF THOSE PECULIAR
DISTORTIONS THAT WILL BE FOUND REPRODUCED AND MAGNIFIED in so many
Portuguese and French maps.
(*Footnote. Il est remarquable que Java (Simbabau), Sumbawa (Frroresta),
Flores et une autre ile encore de la chaine se prolongent
considerablement, toutes quatres, dans la direction du sud, fournissant,
ainsi le premier modele de ces deformations speciales que reproduirent en
les amplifiant taut de cartes Portugaises et Francaises.)
Strictly speaking, Dr. Hamy is quite right; but we think he will agree
with us when we say that it is not exactly the first model supplied. In
our opinion the FIRST MODEL of those peculiar distortions is to be found
on Martin Behaim's globe of 1492.
When Behaim, or Toscanelli, corrected the direction of Fra Mauro's
pseudo-equatorial line, or regions, which ran parallel with the Archaic
Ocean, and neglecting to perform the same office for Java and its
neighbouring isles--left them as they were on the Venetian Mappamundi,
instead of giving them the new position that the alteration of the
equatorial line required--then was the first model supplied. Thus,
subsequently, Java and the other islands assume in most maps a
longitudinal, instead of a latitudinal, position. This was a natural
consequence of the slow evolutional process. Another reason for the
maintenance and amplification of the deformation was the account of the
large size of Java given by Marco Polo.
Fra Mauro's Giava mazor however seems to have been set down from actual
knowledge of its coastlines, so superior are its proportions and the
delineation of its shores to the general design of the Javas of later
maps, which were merely rough representations jotted down, errant a
l'aventure, in an ocean unknown to Europeans, and placed according to
Marco Polo's descriptions.
Albeit certain outlines of shores, roughly drafted by Arabian, or even
perhaps Phoenician, pilots, may have served as a maquette for the
construction of some of those islands.
Dr. Hamy assigns the date of 1517 to Reinel's map--puisqu'elle renferme
dans ses portions orientales des traces inconnus des cartographes avant
le retour d' Abreu de son voyage des Moluques (1512), et la vulgarisation
tres imparfaite de ses decouvertes dans les Indes, puis en Europe (1516)
[page 14]--but if D' Abreu was back in 1512, he brought back his maps
with him, and may they not have been copied there and then by Reinel?
That this one was copied is evident; no sea captain, pilot, or
cartographer who had seen the localities charted on this map would make
the mistake that Reinel makes in misnaming nearly all the islands
represented.
In naming that peculiarly deformed quartette of islands situated midway
between Papua and Sumatra, how did he proceed? Was it from east to west,
or vice-versa? The largest is Java. Then, to the east, we notice two
small islands--they are Bali and Lomboc, and have escaped the distortion
that their neighbours have suffered. The next island is Sumbawa, then
comes Flores. The last of the group of four is made up no doubt of Solor,
Adenara and Lomblen.
Now, evidently--and here we agree with Dr. Hamy--our cartographer began
too far to the west and set down the name of Jaavaa (Java) on that
detached section of Sumatra, the Palembang and Lampong territory, and
continued his error in an easterly direction by giving to Java the name
belonging to Sumbawa, and to Sumbawa that which belonged to Flores,
leaving the two last islands nameless. Timor is not represented. The
whole representation seems to correspond so exclusively with Galvano's
description of D' Abreu's expedition that we are inclined to believe that
it is a copy either of D' Abreu's or some of his officers' portolanos.
CHAPTER 24. A.D. 1516 TO 1519.
LINE OF DEMARCATION OF MAGALHAENS AND POPE ALEXANDER VI.
(ILLUSTRATION 50. MAGALHAENS.)
MAGALHAENS.
(ILLUSTRATION 97. INITIAL A.)
After seven* years' service in India, Magalhaens returned to Europe,
where, having distinguished himself on the battlefield, he applied to the
King for promotion. His application however was not favourably
considered. Events of little importance have sometimes great
consequences.
(*Footnote. Gomara gives the length of his Indian service as seven years:
Gomara, Histoire General de las Indias cap. xci.)
Faria y Souza remarks* that the refusal of one King to raise the pay of
an old and faithful servant thirteen shillings per annum led to endless
disagreements with another, to a great loss of profit to the first power
of Europe, and to a still greater loss of glory.
(*Footnote. Asia Portugueza, volume I. part iii. chap. v.)
This referred to a refusal on the part of Dom Manoel of Portugal to
recognise Magalhaens' long services in the east. In his Life of Magellan
F.H.H. Guillemard says*: "It was the custom in those days that all who
belonged to the King's household--the criacao de El Rey--should receive a
stipend which, though merely nominal in value, corresponded to their
rank.**
("Footnote. Life of Magellan, page 72 line 9; and page 77 bottom of
page.)
(**Footnote. Osorio, De Rebus Emmanuelis, lib. xi. page 327 (Ed. Col.
Agrip MDLXXVI.), tells us the origin of this stipend: Olim erat apud
Lusitanos in more positum, ut in Regia, qui Regi serviebant ipsius Regis
sumptibus alerentur. Cum vero multitudo domesticorum tanta fuisset,
difficillimum videbatur cibos tantae multitudini praeparare. Quocirca
fuit a Portugallix Regibus statutum, ut sumptum, quem quilibet erat in
Regia facturus, ipse sibi ex regia pecunia faceret. Sic autem factum est,
ut cuilibet certa pecuniae summa, singulis mensibus assignaretur.)
"This stipend was known as the moradia. Magellan, borne on the books as
moco hidalgo, received a monthly pension of a milreis, and an alqueire of
barley daily. The milreis or dollar, although at that period of
considerably greater value, is now worth about 4 shillings 5 pence of our
English money. The alqueire is as nearly as possible 28 pounds..." And
further on: "Doubtless he looked forward with certainty to the coveted
rise in the moradia--that minute increase which, paltry though it was in
actual value, meant so much to those who were of the King's household.
Foremost in his mind however must have been the hope of a command--of a
return to India. He was doomed to disappointment: Sempre lhe El Rey teve
hum entejo--the King always loathed him, Barros tells us (Decadas, Dec.
iii. liv. v. cap. viii.) His reception was not more gracious than it had
been on the occasion of their last meeting. Dom Manoel turned a deaf ear
to his entreaties, and Magellan, cruelly hurt at the ingratitude shown
him after his years of honourable service, was left to realise that, so
far as his King and country were concerned, his career was over." It is
not astonishing therefore to find him a few years later denaturalising
himself and making his way to the Court of Spain, for shortly after his
interview with the King of Portugal he wrote to Serrano in the Moluccas
to tell him that he would be with him soon--"if not by Portugal, then by
way of Spain"; which meant if not by the east then by the west. As we
have said, events of little importance have sometimes great consequences.
After Magalhaens' arrival in Spain in 1517 we find that country disputing
with Portugal the possession of the Moluccas. R.H. Major on this subject
says*:
(*Footnote. Early Voyages to Australia, page xxxvii.)
"Now, after 1516 or 1517, Spain began to dispute with Portugal the
possession of the Moluccas, as being situated within the hemisphere which
had been allotted to them by the bull of Pope Alexander VI, dated the 4th
of July 1493. This Pope, in consequence of the disputes which had arisen
between the Courts of Lisbon and Toledo, had arranged that all the
discoveries which might be made on the globe to the east of a meridian
one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands (which he
seemed to think lay under the same meridian), for the space of a hundred
and eighty degrees of longitude, should belong to the Portuguese; and
that those to the westward of the same meridian, for the same space,
should belong to the Spaniards. This division has been since called the
line of demarcation of Pope Alexander VI. Don John II however, who was
then King of Portugal, being dissatisfied with this bull, which seemed to
deprive him of considerable possessions in the west, made another
arrangement in the following year with Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain,
by which this line was pushed further west, and definitely fixed at three
hundred and seventy leagues to the westward of the Cape Verde Islands.
This agreement was signed the 4th of June 1494; and it was arranged that
in the space of ten months persons should be sent out who were well
informed in geography to fix exactly the places through which this line
should pass. This engagement once entered upon, no more consideration was
given to the sending out competent persons to the places indicated, and
the two governments continued their discoveries, each on its own behalf.
Under the guidance of Cabral the Portuguese, on the 9th of March 1500,
discovered Brazil, which lay in their own hemisphere. Under the guidance
of Vincent Yanez Pinzon the Spaniards had in this same or preceding year
sailed along the whole of this coast as far as the embouchure of the
Oronoco. After this time the line, without further examination, was
reckoned to pass by the mouth of the Maranon, or river of the Amazons,
which had been already explored, and it is in this part that it is found
traced on the Spanish maps of Herrera. The Portuguese, while they took
possession of Brazil, continued their discoveries towards the east, and
reached the Moluccas, where they established themselves, as we have said,
in 1512. The proprietorship of the Spices, which the possession of these
islands gave them, produced such considerable profits that it soon
excited the jealousy of the Spaniards. The latter pretended that the
Moluccas were in the hemisphere which had been allotted to them. This
idea was particularly suggested to them by Magellan, who, being
discontented with the treatment of King Emanuel, in having refused him an
increase of allowance, took refuge about the year 1516 in Spain, and
offered his services to the Government of Charles V. Not only did he
assert that the hemisphere belonging to the Spaniards comprised the
Moluccas, but also the Islands of Java and Sumatra, and a part of the
Malay Peninsula. In fact, from the difficulty which then existed in
determining longitudes, the discoveries of the Portuguese appeared to
appropriate more than one hundred and eighty degrees in this direction,
so great was the amount of space given to them in their maps;
nevertheless, if we examine modern maps we shall see that, measuring from
the mouth of the Maranon, the Moluccas still came within the hemisphere
of the Portuguese.
"Cardinal Ximenes, who at that time governed Spain in the absence of
Charles V, at the outset received Magellan very well, and Charles V
himself afterwards entrusted him with the command of a squadron of five
vessels, which, as we know, sailed from San Lucar on the 20th of
September 1519, on a western passage in search of the Spice Islands or
Moluccas."
CHAPTER 25. A.D. 1520 TO 1522.
VASTNESS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN GRADUALLY REALISED.
PETRUS APIANUS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1520.
MAPPEMONDE LA SALLE, CIRCA 1522.
JUAN VESPUCCIUS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1522/1523.
THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATORS.
(ILLUSTRATION 95. INITIAL F.)
For all those who cared to investigate the subject, the extent of the
South Sea, afterwards to be called the Pacific Ocean, dawned gradually.
Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who had been placed in command of a small colony
on the Gulf of Darien, had sighted this Mar del Sur in 1513 from the
heights of the Sierra de Quarequa, and, having reached its shores, not
without difficulty, had taken formal possession "for Castille and for
Leon" by entering knee-deep into the water, with his uplifted sword in
one hand and the standard of Castille in the other.
Meanwhile, Rafael Perestello and Andrade, after their return from China,*
had shown that an extensive sea, probably not the Atlantic Ocean,** laved
the shores visited by them.
(*Footnote. According to Dr. Hamy, Perestello was in China in 1514, and
was followed a few years after by Andrade and Pires; L'Oeuvre Geog. des
Reinel, etc. pages 29 and 32. According to R.H. Major, Fernam Peres de
Andrade sailed to China in 1517 and returned to India in 1519. Thome
Pires was cast into prison in China, and died there after a captivity of
many years---Prince Henry the Navigator, page 268.)
(**Footnote. Certain maps of the period represent North America split up
into comparatively small islands, and with therefore an uninterrupted
Atlantic Ocean extending to the shores of China. See the Boulengier Gores
of 1514/1517.)
The vastness however of that sea was not yet fully realised; it required
the practical experience of the first circumnavigators to bring forth
such exclamations as uttered by Maximilian in his letter*--the first
document which made known Magalhaens' great achievement. Maximilian
writes**: "A sea so vast that the human mind can scarcely grasp it."
(*Footnote. Printed at Cologne in January 1523. See below.)
(**Footnote. Our quotation is from F.H.H. Guillemard's Life of Magellan
page 223.)
...
PETRUS APIANUS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1520.
(ILLUSTRATION 63. PETRUS APIANUS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1520.)
Our sketch of Apianus' map is taken from the one given in Nordenskiold's
collection. The original is a cordiform mappamundi engraved on wood, and
first published in 1520 at Vienna by Camers to accompany his Solinus'
Polyhistor. It was also inserted in the Pomponius Mela, printed at Basles
in 1522. It is rather rough in execution, but nevertheless, its
geographical configurations are carefully depicted, and closely resemble
the 1515 Frankfort gores of Schonerean origin. The artist who designed it
on the woodblock was evidently a novice in his profession, as may be
observed by the N's in Bone fortune, Iona, Callensuaz, and India, which
he failed to reverse as is the custom when drawing on the block for the
wood engraver.
The western coast of Australia is represented as in the previous maps,
the bogus Sumatra or continental promontory on which this coast is
grafted bearing the usual legend Lac regnum; a large island to the
south-east bears the inscription in large letters--SEYLA. To the east we
notice Marco Polo's Islands Java maior, Java minor, Angiana, Penta.
Penta, half demolished by the slips of the engraver's burin, reads PLVIA;
the E, the N, and the T have been half cut away. The other islands
bearing names are Sondur and Canduz. On the Asiatic continent, Ioach*
answers to Loach, and Ciambo to Ciamba. Ma'Bar is indicated by Regnum
Var. Eastward we notice Callensuaz, Iona, which we have suggested may be
altered from Tona in the 1515 map. Zanzibar, Madagastar and Circobena
resemble those islands on the 1515 Frankfort map. The three Arabian
Islands (Maurice, Bourbon and Rodriguez) are also represented, but
without any nomenclature.
(*Footnote. Rendered Ioca by mistake on our map.)
In the latitudes in which the Antarctic continent is represented on the
Schonerean globe of 1515 there is no such representation here.
With reference to Zanzibar, it will be well to note here that about this
time--i.e. in 1521--Zanzibar (Marco Polo's Zanzibar) was said to be
inhabited by giants, hence no doubt the appellation on the Dauphin and
other charts: Zanzibar iles des Geants.*
(*Footnote. See Memoire Geographique sur la mer des Indes by J. Codine,
Paris 1868 page 154: Cette double representation de Madagascar peut etre
remarquee aussi dans la mappemonde de Bernardi Sylvani de 1511, sous les
noms Comortina et Madax. Elle existe aussi sur la mappemonde de Benedetto
Bordone de 1521; dans l'Isolario de ce geographe, Madagascar est
reconnaissable a sa forme allongee placee parallelement a la cote
d'Afrique; elle n'y a pas de nom; elle s'etend jusqu'a une latitude plus
meridionale que le cap de Bonne-Esperance; a l'est sont trois iles dont
la latitude correspond a celle du cap de Bonne-Esperance; elles ne
portent pas de noms; en pleine mer des Indes (voir au verso de la page
lxx.) sont deux grandes iles; l'une nommee Maidegascar; au nord ouest de
Maidegascar est l'ile Zanzibar dont les habitants, dit l'auteur tant
hommes que femmes, sont des geants; opinion qui se transforme dans la
Cosmographie de Sebastien Munster disant seulement que si les naturels
etaient grands en proportion de leur grosseur ce seraient des geants;
opinion egalement reprouvee par Thevet, qui certifie que les naturels
sont de petite taille.)
...
MAPPEMONDE LA SALLE, CIRCA 1522.
(ILLUSTRATION 48. MAPPEMONDE LA SALLE, CIRCA 1522.)
The reproduction we give here of the La Salle map, which was published
with a work on geography by La Salle, is taken from the copy given in
Santarem's Atlas. Mr. Delmar Morgan says: "There are two versions of the
La Salle map, the one reproduced in the Vicomte de Santarem's Atlas, and
that in the Royal Library, Stockholm, facsimiled in the English edition
of Baron Nordenskiold's Atlas." Mr. D. Morgan further remarks* that this
map "as originally drawn, probably dated from the 15th century, the
Australian part being added subsequently. The name given to this roughly
delineated Terra Australis is Patalie Regio, meaning, according to the
Vicomte de Santarem, who derives it from the Sanskrit, the nether region,
i.e. hell. Wieser derives Patalis from the Latin Pateo, meaning that it
was the open region masking the hidden interior of the continent. Mr.
Petherick, a well-known writer on Australian discovery, has suggested
that Patalis should be Pratalis, a name given by the Spaniards to a part
of South America--the Rio de la Plata; the letters l and r being
interchangeable. His argument is based on the occurrence of another
American name, Brazil, on the Austral continent."
(*Footnote. Remarks on the Early Discovery of Australia by E. Delmar
Morgan, F.R.G.S., London 1891 page 7.)
We have suggested elsewhere that Patalie Regio or Patalis Regio may be a
corruption of (Pa)pagali regio, The Land of Parrots, or Psittacorum Regio
of later charts. (See above.)
...
JUAN VESPUCCIUS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1522/1523.
(ILLUSTRATION 47. JUAN VESPUCCIUS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1522/1523.)
We must now say a few words about Juan Vespuccius' Mappamundi, an
important geographical document which closes the data of the
pre-Magellanic period. It shows for the Australasian regions totally
different configurations. Juan Vespuccius' Mappamundi is on an
equidistant polar projection, which renders the original design rather
difficult to understand. A glance at the translation we give here will
show that the cartographer himself must have been somewhat puzzled by his
own scheme, for, as may be observed, the continental land to the south of
the equator bearing the name Gataio fails, when translated to our more
reasonable projection, to join the continent of Asia at Catigara as it
ought to do. The same disconnection may be noticed with regard to
Sumatra; but, notwithstanding the disjunction at the equator to which
this mappamundi is subjected in the original, the southern extremity of
the Malay Peninsula, Puta di Metala, falls in its position with
remarkable accuracy as shown in our sketch. To the south of Puta di
Melata Point of Malacca, a large island bearing the name Sava answers to
Java, and a smaller one to the east of it is intended no doubt for
Sumbawa, although that island is duplicated to the south-east under the
name of Sindoba. To the south-west of Sumatra an island called Calensuan,
bisected by the tropic of Capricorn, is the last remnant of the Behaimean
and Schonerean bogus Sumatra which had been grafted on the western coast
of Australia, and it may prove of some interest to note that this
original survey is maintained on this map in conjunction with and
notwithstanding the presence of the real Sumatra above it.
By far the most interesting feature however on this extremely curious
mappamundi is the representation of the huge continental land in the
southern hemisphere. It bears a name which at first sight appears
ridiculous, for Gataio is meant for Cataio, China. China is certainly a
strange name for Australia, but in a cartographical sense not altogether
impossible at the period we are dealing with, for we must remember that
this mappamundi was constructed before the return of the first
circumnavigators, when the Pacific Ocean to the east of the Spice Islands
was not yet known.
If we imagine a flying survey with the Solomon Islands for point of
departure, and Tasmania for the goal, we might expect to find that survey
charted somewhat after the style of Juan Vespuccius' southern continent,
and that continent might reasonably be supposed to form part of China. We
have said with Tasmania for the goal because, strangely enough, the
southern extremity of this continental Cathay reaches in longitude and
latitude the exact position of an old Spanish survey to the south of
Tasmania that bears to the present day a name which proves its Spanish
Origin; we refer to Piedra blanca.'*
(*Footnote. Piedra blanca, or Pedra Branca, are words of Portuguese or
Spanish origin, but it is only probable that they refer to an old Spanish
or Portuguese survey made in the southern parts of Tasmania. George
Collingridge.)
...
THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATORS.
Reverting to the first circumnavigators, Magalhaens' squadron of five
vessels was now sorely reduced. Major thus describes the return of this
glorious but disastrous expedition and its results*:
(*Footnote. R.H. Major, Early Voyages to Terra Australis page xxxix. et
sequit.)
"Two of the vessels of this fleet arrived on the 8th of November 1521, at
the Island of Tidore, after having passed through the straits, since
called the Straits of Magellan. That navigator was now no more; he had
been killed in one of the islands of the Archipelago of St. Lazaro, since
called the Philippines, and, nearly all his squadron having been
destroyed, one vessel only, named the Victoria, returned to Europe with
eighteen persons, all very sick, under the guidance of Sebastian del
Cano, who landed on the 6th of September 1522, at the same port of San
Lucar de Barrameda from which the fleet had set sail three years before.
"Whether it was from policy, or because the currents which exist in the
Great Pacific Ocean had carried Magellan's fleet rapidly down to the
Philippines and Moluccas, those who returned from this expedition always
maintained that these latter islands were in the hemisphere of the
Spaniards, who consequently laid claim to traffic there. They were even
on the point of sending out a new expedition thither, when King John III
begged Charles V to have the question examined by competent persons, and
promised to acquiesce in their decision. The two governments appointed
twenty-four, or even a greater number, both Spaniards and Portuguese,
well skilled in geography and navigation, who from the commencement of
March 1524 met alternately in the two cities of Badajos and Elvas, on the
frontiers of the two States. Three months were allowed them to decide
definitely to whom these islands belonged.
"These commissioners, among whom was Sebastian del Cano, who had brought
back the Victoria, consumed at the outset a considerable time in
consulting globes and charts, and in comparing the journals of pilots.
They examined the distance between the Moluccas and the line of
demarcation. They disputed much, and came to no conclusion. More than two
months passed away in this manner; and they reached the latter part of
May, which had been fixed as the term of the conferences.
"The Spanish commissioners then settled the line of demarcation at three
hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, as it had
been fixed in 1494; and, as on the basis of the charts which they had
then before them, they made the opposite line, which was to be at the
distance of a hundred and eighty degrees, pass through the Malay
Peninsula, they included in their own hemisphere not only the Moluccas,
but also the Islands of Java and Borneo, part of Sumatra, the coast of
China, and part of the Malay Peninsula itself. The Portuguese did not
agree to this limitation, which was too disadvantageous for themselves;
on the contrary they went away very discontented, storming, and
threatening war, which gave occasion to the jocose observation of Peter
Martyr of Anghiera, a talented man, at that time the historiographer of
the Court of Spain, that the commissioners, after having well syllogized,
concluded by being unable to decide the question except by cannonballs.
"In spite of the unsuccessful issue of this negotiation, the two Courts
did not come to a quarrel; they were on the point of forming alliances.
The question of the marriage of the Infanta Catherine, the Emperor's
sister, with King John, which was celebrated in 1525, was being then
entertained. In the following year, 1526, the Emperor espoused, with
great pomp, Isabella, King John's sister. Charles V however, believing
himself in the right, continued to permit his subjects to carry on
commerce with the Spice Islands; and he himself fitted out fleets to
dispute the possession of them with the Portuguese. Some of these vessels
landed at the Moluccas in 1527 and 1528; but, as these expeditions were
generally unsuccessful, and as moreover he was in need of money for his
coronation in Italy, he listened to the proposals of King John to
purchase his right to these islands. He parted with them by a secret
treaty, which was signed at Saragossa the 22nd of April 1529 for the sum,
it is said, of 350,000 golden ducats, against the express wish of his
subjects, who often but in vain besought him to retract it. By his
refusal it was thought that he had received much more. Thenceforth the
Spaniards were not permitted to traffic with the Moluccas.
"This termination of the quarrel on the part of Portugal was a
justification of the claims of the Spaniards, and an acknowledgment in
some sort that the Moluccas were in their hemisphere. After such an
arrangement the Portuguese could not show any discoveries made to the
eastward, or even under the meridian of these islands. The greatest part
of New Holland is more to the east than the Moluccas; hence it is to be
believed that for this reason the Portuguese have kept silence respecting
their discovery of it."
There is in Galvano's account of the return of the Victoria a curious
reference to the discovery of "certain islands" which could not have been
far distant from the west coast of Australia. As the mention of this
discovery is not found elsewhere, we give here Galvano's description of
it, as follows:
"In the yeere 1521 there went from Maluco one of Magellan's ships with
cloues (Captain and pilot--John Sebastian del Cano); they victualled
themselves in the Island of Burro (which is in 24 degrees* south
latitude, and passed between Vitara and Malua,** which are in 8 degrees),
and from thence went to Timor, which standeth in 11 degrees of southerly
latitude. Beyond this island one hundred leagues they discouered certain
islands under the tropic of Capricorn [and further on others. All are
peopled thenceforward; nor did they see land (without inhabitants) except
it might be some islet, up to the Cape of Good Hope, where it is said
they took in wood and water] (one named Ende finding the places from
thenceforward peopled. Afterward passing without Samatra they met with no
land till they fell with the Cape of Bona Speranca, where they tooke in
fresh water and wood). So they came by the Islands of Cape Verde, and
from thence to Siuill, where they were notably receiued as well for the
cloues that they brought as that they had compassed about the world: No
anno de 1521 partio de Maluco hua das naos pera Castella, em q' o
Magalhaes fora carregada de crauo, capita & piloto della Joam Sebastiam
del cano. Foram tomar mantimento aa ilha de Burro q' estaa em vinte
quatro graos daltura da parte do Sul, passaram por antre Vitara & Malua,
que estam em oyto graos: & dahi foram a Thimor q' estaa em onze, ate
delle cem legoas, descobriram huas ylhas diante outras debaxo do tropico
de Capricornio. Todas sam pouoadas daqui por diate; nam sey terra que
vissem ate o Cabo de boa esperanca senam algua ylheta sem gente: onde diz
que tomaram agoa & lenha, E ao logo daquella costa vieram aas ylhas do
Cabo verde, & dahi aa cidade de Seuilha, onde foram com grande aluoroco
recebidos, assi pello crauo que traziam, como por darem hua volta ao
mundo."
(*Footnote. Burro or Booro is in 4 degrees. 24 is no doubt a misprint, as
the context shows.)
(**Footnote. Wetter and Ombai, modern.)
CHAPTER 26. A.D. 1523.
MAXIMILIANUS TRANSYLVANUS' LETTER.
(ILLUSTRATION 51. MAGELLAN'S SHIP, THE VICTORIA.)
Magellan's Ship, The Victoria.
(ILLUSTRATION 97. INITIAL A.)
After the return of the survivors of Magalhaens' expedition the whole
crew and officers went up to Valladolid to report to the Emperor and show
themselves. C.H. Coote in his Introduction to Stevens' Johann Schoner,
page xxi., says: "A young man (Maximilianus Transylvanus), the natural
son of Matthaes Lang, Archbishop of Saltzburg, was at Court, under the
care of Peter Martyr, as one of his pupils, and sometimes acting with the
young superior of his own age, as private secretary. Peter sent him these
returned men, and gave him the task of writing out an account of the
expedition to his father, then in Germany, as good practice in writing
Latin. Maximilian having (with Ferdinand Columbus) accompanied the
Emperor in his recent swing round Germany and Flanders, and having only
recently returned to Spain with the travelling Court, very naturally sent
his Latin Exercise to Cologne to be printed, where the first Edition
appeared in a very neat sm. 8vo. in January 1523 (at Cologne the new year
began 1st January, so that this was not really January 1524, as has been
claimed, and therefore a reprint of the Rome edition of November 1523)."
The translation of Maximilianus Transylvanus' letter given here is from
H. Stevens' Johann Schoner.*
(*Footnote. Johann Schoner by Henry Stevens of Vermont; London, H.
Stevens & Son 1888.)
...
TRANSLATION OF THE LETTER OF MAXIMILIANUS TRANSYLVANUS TO THE CARDINAL OF
SALTZBURG.
Prima ego velivolis ambivi cursibus orbem
Magellane novo te duce ducta freto
Ambivi, meritoq vocor Victoria: sunt mi
Vela alae, precium gloria; pugna, mare.
I was the first with flying sails
To course the world around;
Under thy guidance, Magellan,
Have we the new strait found:
Victoria is my rightful name,
Sails are my wings, my guerdon fame,
The sea my battlefield I claim.
...
A letter from Maximilianus Transylvanus to the Most Reverend Cardinal of
Saltzburg, very delightful to read, concerning the Molucca Islands, and
also many other wonders which the latest voyage of the Spaniards has just
discovered, made under the auspices of the Most Serene Emperor Charles V:
MOST REVEREND AND ILLUSTRIOUS LORD: My only Lord, to you I most humbly
commend myself. Not long ago one of those five ships returned which the
Emperor, while he was at Saragossa some years ago, had sent into a
strange and hitherto unknown part of the world, to search for the islands
in which Spices grow. For although the Portuguese bring us a great
quantity of them from the Golden Chersonesus, which we now call Malacca,
nevertheless their own Indian possessions produce none but pepper. For it
is well-known that the other spices, as cinnamon, cloves, and the nutmeg,
which we call muscat, and its covering (mace), which we call
muscat-flower, are brought to their Indian possessions from distant
islands, hitherto only known by name, in ships held together not by iron
fastenings, but merely by palm-leaves, and having round sails also woven
out of palm-fibres. Ships of this sort they call junks, and they are
impelled by the wind only when it blows directly fore or aft.
Nor is it wonderful that these islands have not been known to any mortal
almost up to our time. For whatever statements of ancient authors we have
hitherto read with respect to the native soil of these spices, are partly
entirely fabulous, and partly so far from truth that the very regions in
which they asserted that these spices were produced are scarcely less
distant from the countries in which it is now ascertained that they grow
than we are ourselves.
For, not to mention others, Herodotus, in other respects a very good
authority, states that cinnamon was found in bird's nests, into which the
birds had brought it from very distant regions, among which birds he
mentions especially the Phoenix--and I know not who has ever seen the
nest of a Phoenix. But Pliny, who might have been thought to have had
better means of knowing the facts, since long before his time many
discoveries had been made by the fleets of Alexander the Great, and by
other expeditions, states the cinnamon was produced in Ethiopia, on the
borders of the land of the Troglodytes. Whereas we know now that cinnamon
is produced at a very great distance from any part of Ethiopia, and
especially from the country of the Troglodytes--i.e. dwellers in
subterraneous caves.
Now it was necessary for our sailors, who have recently returned, who
knew more about Ethiopia than about other countries, to sail round the
whole world, and that in a very wide circuit, before they discovered
these islands and returned to Europe; and, since this voyage was a very
remarkable one, and neither in our own time nor in any former age has
such a voyage been accomplished, or even attempted, I have determined to
send your Lordship a full and accurate account of the expedition.
I have taken much care in obtaining an account of the facts from the
commanding officer of the squadron,* and from the individual sailors who
have returned with him. They also made a statement to the Emperor, and to
several other persons, with such good faith and sincerity that they
appeared in their narrative not merely to have abstained from fabulous
statements, but also to contradict and refute the fabulous statements
made by ancient authors.
(*Footnote. Juan Sebastian del Cano.)
For who ever believed that the Monosceli, or Sciapodes (one-legged men),
the Scirites, the Spithamaei (persons a span--7 1/2 inches--high), the
Pigmies (height 13 1/2 inches), and such like were rather monsters than
men? Yet, although the Castilians in their voyages westwards, and the
Portuguese sailing eastwards, have sought out, discovered and surveyed so
many places even beyond the tropic of Capricorn, and now these countrymen
of ours have sailed completely round the world, none of them have found
any trustworthy evidence in favour of the existence of such monsters, and
therefore all such accounts ought to be regarded as fabulous and as old
wives' tales, handed down from one writer to another without any basis of
truth; but, as I have to make a voyage round the world, I will not extend
my prefatory remarks but will come at once to the point.
Some thirty years ago, when the Castilians in the West, and the
Portuguese in the East, had begun to search after new and unknown lands,
in order to avoid any interference of one with the other the kings of
these countries divided the whole world between them, by the authority
probably of Pope Alexander VI, on this plan, that a line should be drawn
from the North to the South Pole through a point three hundred and sixty
leagues west of the Hesperides, which they now call Cape Verde Islands,
which would divide the earth's surface into two equal portions. All
unknown lands hereafter discovered to the east of this line were assigned
to the Portuguese, all on the west to the Castilians. Hence it came to
pass that the Castilians always sailed south-west, and there discovered a
very extensive continent, besides numerous large islands, abounding in
gold, pearls and other valuable commodities; and have quite recently
discovered a large inland city named Tenoxtica (Mexico), situated in a
lake like Venice. Peter Martyr, an author who is more careful as to the
accuracy of his statements than of the elegance of his style, has given a
full but truthful description of this city. But the Portuguese, sailing
southward past the Hesperides (Cape Verde Islands), and the Fish-eating
Ethiopians (West Coast of Africa), crossed the Equator and the tropic of
Capricorn, and sailing eastward discovered several very large islands
heretofore unknown, and also the sources of the Nile and the Troglodytes.
Thence, by way of the Arabian and Persian Gulfs, they arrived at the
shores of India, within the Ganges, where now there is the very great
trading station and the Kingdom of Calicut. Hence they sailed to
Taprobane, which is now called Zamatara (Sumatra). For where Ptolemy,
Pliny, and other geographers placed Taprobane, there is now no island
which can possibly be identified with it. Thence they came to the Golden
Chersonesus, where now stands the well-peopled city of Malacca, the
principal place of business of the East. After this they penetrated into
a great gulf, as far as the nation of the Sinae, who are now called
Schinae (Chinese), where they found a fair-complexioned and
tolerably-civilised people, like our folks in Germany. They believe that
the Seres and Asiatic Scythians extend as far as these parts.
And although there was a somewhat doubtful rumour afloat that the
Portuguese had advanced so far to the east that they had come to the end
of their own limits, and had passed over into the territory appointed for
the Castilians, and that Malacca and the Great Gulf were within our
limits, all this was more said than believed, until four years ago
Ferdinand Magellan, a distinguished Portuguese, who had for many years
sailed about the Eastern Seas as admiral of the Portuguese fleet, having
quarrelled with his king, who, he considered, had acted ungratefully
towards him, and Christopher Haro, brother of my father-in-law, of
Lisbon, who had, through his agents, for many years carried on trade with
those Eastern countries, and more recently with the Chinese, so that he
was well acquainted with these matters (he also having been ill-used by
the King of Portugal, had returned to his native country, Castille),
pointed out to the Emperor that it was not yet clearly ascertained
whether Malacca was within the boundaries of the Portuguese or of the
Castilians, because hitherto its longitude had not been definitely known;
but that it was an undoubted fact that the Great Gulf and the Chinese
nations were within the Castilian limits. They asserted also that it was
absolutely certain that the islands called the Moluccas, in which all
sorts of spices grow, and from which they were brought to Malacca, were
contained in the Western or Castilian division, and that it would be
possible to sail to them, and to bring the spices at less trouble and
expense from their native soil to Castille.
The plan of the voyage was to sail to the west, and then coasting the
Southern hemisphere round the south of America to the east. Yet it
appeared to be a difficult undertaking, and one of which the
practicability was doubtful. Not that it was impossible, prima facie, to
sail from the west round the Southern hemisphere to the east; but that it
was uncertain, whether ingenious Nature, all whose works are wisely
conceived, had so arranged the sea and the land that it might be possible
to arrive by this course at the Eastern Seas. For it had not been
ascertained whether that extensive region, which is called Terra Firma,
separated the Western Ocean (the Atlantic) from the eastern (the
Pacific); but it was plain that that continent extended in a southerly
direction, and afterwards inclined to the west. Moreover two regions had
been discovered in the north, one called Baccalearum, from a new kind of
fish, the other called Florida; and if these were connected with Terra
Firma it would not be possible to pass from the Western Ocean to the
Eastern; since although much trouble had been taken to discover any
strait which might exist connecting the two oceans, none had yet been
found. At the same time it was considered that to attempt to sail through
the Portuguese concessions and the Eastern seas would be a hazardous
enterprise, and dangerous in the highest degree.
The Emperor and his council considered that the plan proposed by Magellan
and Haro, though holding out considerable advantages, was one of very
considerable difficulty as to execution. After some delay Magellan
offered to go out himself, but Haro undertook to fit out a squadron at
the expense of himself and his friends, provided that they were allowed
to sail under the authority and patronage of his Majesty. As each
resolutely upheld his own scheme, the Emperor himself fitted out a
squadron of five ships, and appointed Magellan to the command. It was
ordered that they should sail southwards by the coast of Terra Firma
until they found either the end of that country or some strait by which
they might arrive at the spice-bearing Moluccas.
Accordingly on the 10th of August 1519 Ferdinand Magellan, with his five
ships, sailed from Seville. In a few days they arrived at the Fortunate
Islands, now called the Canaries. Thence they sailed to the islands of
the Hesperides (Cape Verde); and thence sailed in a south-westerly
direction towards that continent which I have already mentioned (Terra
Firma or South America), and after a favourable voyage of a few days
discovered a promontory, which they called St. Mary's. Here Admiral John
Ruy Dias Solis, while exploring the shores of this continent by command
of King Ferdinand the Catholic, was, with some of his companions, eaten
by the Anthropophagi, whom the Indians call cannibals. Hence they coasted
along this continent, which extends far on southwards, and which I now
think should be called the Southern Polar Land, then gradually slopes off
in a westerly direction, and so sailed several degrees south of the
tropic of Capricorn. But it was not so easy for them to do it as for me
to relate it. For not till the end of March in the following year (1520)
did they arrive at a bay, which they called St. Julian's Bay. Here the
Antarctic Pole Star was 49 1/3 degrees above the horizon, this result
being deduced from the sun's declination and altitude, and this star is
principally used by our navigators for observations. They stated that the
longitude was 56 degrees west of the Canaries. For since the ancient
geographers, and especially Ptolemy, reckoned the distance easterly from
the Fortunate Islands (Canaries) as far as Cattigara to be 180 degrees,
and our sailors have sailed as far as possible in a westerly direction,
they reckoned the distance from the Canaries westward to Cattigara to be
also 180 degrees. Yet even though our sailors in so long a voyage, and in
one so distant from the land, lay down and mark out certain signs and
limits of their longitude, they appear to me rather to have made some
error in their method of reckoning of the longitude than to have attained
any trustworthy result.
Meanwhile, however this may be, until more certain results are arrived at
I do not think that their statements should be absolutely rejected, but
merely accepted provisionally. This bay appeared to be of great extent,
and had rather the appearance of a strait. Therefore Admiral Magellan
directed two ships to survey the bay; and remained with the rest at
anchor. After two days they returned, and reported that the bay was
shallow, and did not extend far inland. Our men on their return saw some
Indians gathering shell-fish on the sea-shore, for the natives of all
unknown countries are commonly called Indians. These Indians were very
tall, ten spans high (7 feet 6 inches), clad in skins of wild beasts,
darker-complexioned than would have been expected in that part of the
world; and when some of our men went on shore and showed them bells and
pictures, they began to dance round our men with a hoarse noise and
unintelligible chant, and to excite our admiration they took arrows, a
cubit and a half long, and put them down their own throats to the bottom
of their stomachs without seeming any the worse for it. Then they drew
them up again, and seemed much pleased at having shown their bravery. At
length three men came up as a deputation, and by means of signs requested
our men to come with them further inland, as though they would receive
them hospitably. Magellan sent with them seven men well equipped, to find
out as much as possible about the country and its inhabitants. These
seven went with the Indians some seven miles up the country, and came to
a desolate and pathless wood. Here was a very low-built cottage, roofed
with skins of beasts. In it were two rooms, in one of which dwelt the
women and children, and in the other the men. The women and children were
thirteen in number, and the men five. These received their guests with a
barbarous entertainment, but which they considered to be quite a royal
one. For they slaughtered an animal much resembling a wild ass, and set
before our men half-roasted steaks of it, but no other food or drink. Our
men had to cover themselves at night with skins, on account of the
severity of the wind and snow.
Before they went to sleep they arranged for a watch to be kept; the
Indians did the same, and lay near our men by the fire, snoring horribly.
When day dawned our men requested them to return with them, accompanied
by their families, to our ships. When the Indians persisted in refusing
to do so, and our men had also persisted somewhat imperiously in their
demands, the men went into the women's room. The Spaniards supposed that
they had gone to consult their wives about this expedition. But they came
out again as if to battle, wrapt up from head to foot in hideous skins,
with their faces painted in various colours, and with bows and arrows,
all ready for fighting, and appearing taller than ever. The Spaniards,
thinking a skirmish was likely to take place, fired a gun. Although
nobody was hit yet these enormous giants, who just before seemed as
though they were ready to fight and conquer Jove himself, were so alarmed
at the sound that they began to sue for peace. It was arranged that three
men, leaving the rest behind, should return with our men to the ships;
and so they started. But as our men not only could not run as fast as the
giants, but could not even run as fast as the giants could walk, two of
the three, seeing a wild ass grazing on a mountain at some distance, as
they were going along, ran off after it, and so escaped. The third was
brought to the ships, but in a few days he died, having starved himself
after the Indian fashion through homesickness. And although the Admiral
returned to that cottage, in order to make another of the giants prisoner
and bring him to the Emperor as a novelty, no one was found there, as all
of them had removed elsewhere and the cottage had disappeared. Hence it
is plain that this nation is a nomad race, and although our men remained
some time in that bay, as we shall presently mention, they never again
saw an Indian on that coast; nor did they think that there was anything
in that country that would make it worth while to explore the inland
districts any further. And though Magellen was convinced that a longer
stay there would be of no use, yet, since for some days the sea was very
rough and the weather tempestuous, and the land extended still further
southward, so that the further they advanced the colder they would find
the country, their departure was unavoidably put off from day to day till
the month of May arrived, at which time the winter sets in with great
severity in those parts, so much so that, though it was our summertime,
they had to make preparations for wintering there. Magellan, perceiving
that the voyage would be a long one, in order that the provisions might
last longer ordered the rations to be diminished. The Spaniards endured
this with patience for some days, but, alarmed at the length of the
winter and the barrenness of the land, at last petitioned their Admiral,
Magellan, saying that it was evident that this continent extended an
indefinite distance southwards, and that there was no hope of discovering
the end of it, or of discovering a strait; that a hard winter was setting
in, and that several men had already died through scanty food and the
hardships of the voyage; that they would not long be able to endure that
restriction of provisions which he had enacted; that the emperor never
intended that they should obstinately persevere in attempting to do what
the natural circumstances of the case rendered it impossible to
accomplish; that the toils they had already endured would be acknowledged
and approved, since they had already advanced further than the boldest
and most adventurous navigators had dared to do; that, if a south wind
should spring up in a few days, they might easily sail to the north, and
arrive at a milder climate. In reply Magellan, who had already made up
his mind either to carry out his design or to die in the attempt, said
that the Emperor had ordered him to sail according to a certain plan,
from which he could not and would not depart on any consideration
whatever; and that therefore he should continue this voyage till he found
either the end of this continent or a strait; that, though he could not
do this at present, as the winter prevented him, yet it would be easy
enough in the summer of this region; that if they would only sail along
the coast to the south the summer would be all one perpetual day; that
they had means of providing against want of food and the inclemency of
the weather, inasmuch as there was a great quantity of wood, that the sea
produced shell-fish and numerous sorts of excellent fish; that there were
springs of good water, and they could also help their stores by hunting
and by shooting wild fowl; that bread and wine had not yet run short, and
would not run short in future, provided that they used them for necessity
and for the preservation of health, and not for pleasure and luxury; that
nothing had yet been done worthy of much admiration, nor such as could
give them reasonable grounds for returning; that the Portuguese, not only
yearly, but almost daily, in their voyages to the east, made no
difficulty about sailing twelve degrees south of the tropic of Capricorn.
What had they then to boast of when they had only advanced some four
degrees south of it? that he for his part had made up his mind to suffer
anything that might happen rather than return to Spain with disgrace;
that he believed that his companions, or at any rate those in whom the
generous spirit of Spaniards was not totally extinct, were of the same
way of thinking; that he had only to exhort them fearlessly to face the
remainder of winter; that the greater their dangers and hardships were
the richer their reward would be for having opened up for the Emperor a
new world rich in spices and gold.
Magellan thought that by this address he had soothed and encouraged the
minds of his men, but within a few days he was troubled by a wicked and
disgraceful mutiny. For the sailors began to talk to one another of the
long-standing ill-feeling existing between the Portuguese and the
Castillians, and of Magellan being a Portuguese; that there was nothing
that he could do more to the credit of his own country than to lose this
fleet with so many men on board; that it was not to be believed that he
wished to find the Moluccas, even if he could, but that he would think it
enough if he could delude the Emperor for some years by holding out vain
hopes, and that in the meanwhile something new would turn up whereby the
Castillians might be completely put out of the way of looking for spices;
nor indeed was the direction of the voyage really towards the fertile
Molucca Islands, but towards snow and ice and everlasting bad weather.
Magellan was exceedingly irritated by these conversations, and punished
some of the men, but with somewhat more severity than was becoming to a
foreigner, especially to one holding command in a distant part of the
world. So they mutinied, and took possession of one of the ships, and
began to make preparations to return to Spain; but Magellan, with the
rest of his men who had remained faithful to him, boarded that ship and
executed the ringleader* and other leading mutineers, even some who could
not legally be so treated, for they were royal officials, who were only
liable to capital punishment by the Emperor and his council. However
under the circumstances no one ventured to resist. Yet there were some
who whispered to one another that Magellan would go on exercising the
same severity amongst the Castillians as long as one was left, until
having got rid of every one of them he could sail home to his own country
again with the few Portuguese he had with him. The Castillians therefore
remained still more hostile to the Admiral. As soon as Magellan observed
that the weather was less stormy and that winter began to break up he
sailed out of St Julian's Bay on 24th August 1520, as before.
(*Footnote. Gaspar de Quesada.)
For some days he coasted along to the southward and at last sighted a
cape, which they called Cape Santa Cruz. Here a storm from the east
caught them and one of the five ships was driven on shore and wrecked,
but the crew and all goods on board were saved, except an African slave,
who was drowned. After this the coast seemed to stretch a little
south-eastwards, and as they continued to explore it, on the 26th
November (1520), an opening was observed having the appearance of a
strait; Magellan at once sailed in with his whole fleet, and, seeing
several bays in various directions, directed three of the ships to cruise
about to ascertain whether there was any way through, undertaking to wait
for them five days at the entrance of the strait, so that they might
report what success they had. One of these ships* was commanded by Alvaro
de Mezquita, son of Magellan's brother, and this by the windings of the
channel came out again into the ocean whence it had set out. When the
Spaniards** saw that they were at a considerable distance from the other
ships they plotted among themselves to return home, and, having put
Alvaro, their captain, in irons, they sailed northwards, and at last
reached the coast of Africa, and there took in provisions, and eight
months after leaving the other ships they arrived in Spain, where they
brought Alvaro to trial on the charge that it had chiefly been through
his advice and persuasion that his uncle Magellan had adopted such severe
measures against the Castillians.
(*Footnote. The San Antonio.)
(**Footnote. Among them was Esteven Gomez.)
Magellan waited some days over the appointed time for this ship, and
meanwhile one ship had returned and reported that they had found nothing
but a shallow bay, and the shores stoney, and with high cliffs; but the
other reported that the greatest bay had the appearance of a strait, as
they had sailed on for three days and had found no way out, but that the
further they went the narrower the passage became, and it was so deep
that in many places they sounded without finding the bottom; they also
noticed from the tide of the sea that the flow was somewhat stronger than
the ebb, and thence they concluded that there was a passage that way into
some other sea. On hearing this Magellan determined to sail along this
channel. This strait, though not then known to be such, was of the
breadth in some places of three, in others of two, in others of five or
ten Italian miles, and inclined slightly to the west. The latitude south
was found to be 52 degrees, the longitude they estimated as the same as
that of St. Julian's Bay. It being now hard upon the month of November,
the length of the night was not much more than five hours; they saw no
one on the shore. One night however a great number of fires were seen,
especially on the left side, whence they conjectured that they had been
seen by the inhabitants of those regions. But Magellan, seeing that the
land was craggy, and bleak with perpetual winter, did not think it worth
while to spend his time in exploring it, and so with his three ships
continued his voyage along the channel, until on the twenty-second day
after he had set sail, he came out into another vast and open sea; the
length of the strait they reckoned at about one hundred Spanish miles.
The land which they had to the right was no doubt the continent we have
before mentioned (South America). On the left hand they thought that
there was no continent, but only islands, as they occasionally heard on
that side the reverberation and roar of the sea at a more distant part of
the coast. Magellan saw that the mainland extended due north, and
therefore gave orders to turn away from that great continent, leaving it
on the right hand, and to sail over that vast and extensive ocean, which
had probably never been traversed by our ships or by those of any other
nation, in a north-westerly direction, so that they might arrive at last
at the Eastern Ocean, coming at it from the west, and again enter the
torrid zone, for he was satisfied that the Moluccas were in the extreme
east, and could not be far off the equator. They continued in this
course, never deviating from it, except when compelled to do so now and
then by the force of the wind; and when they had sailed on this course
for forty days across the ocean with a strong wind, mostly favourable,
and had seen nothing all around them but sea, and had now almost reached
again the tropic of Capricorn, they came in sight of two islands, small
and barren, and on directing their course to them found that they were
uninhabited; but they stayed there two days for repose and refreshment,
as plenty of fish was to be caught there. However they unanimously agreed
to call these islands the Unfortunate Islands. Then they set sail again,
and continued on the same course as before. After sailing for three
months and twenty days with good fortune over this ocean, and having
traversed a distance almost too long to estimate, having had a strong
wind aft almost the whole of the time, and having again crossed the
equator, they saw an island, which they afterwards learnt from the
neighbouring people was called Inuagana. When they came nearer to it they
found the latitude to be 11 degrees north; the longitude they reckoned to
be 158 degrees west of Cadiz. From this point they saw more and more
islands, so that they found themselves in an extensive archipelago, but
on arriving at Inuagana they found that it was uninhabited. Then they
sailed towards another small island, where they saw two Indian canoes,
for such is the Indian name of these strange boats; these canoes are
scooped out of the single trunk of a tree, and hold one or at most two
persons; and they are used to talk with each other by signs, like dumb
people. They asked the Indians what the names of the islands were, and
whence provisions could be procured, of which they were very deficient;
they were given to understand that the first island they had seen was
called Inuagana; that near which they then were Acacan, but that both
were uninhabited; but that there was another island almost in sight, in
the direction of which they pointed, called Selani, and that abundance of
provisions of all sorts was to be had there. Our men took in water at
Acacan, and then sailed towards Selani. But a storm caught them so that
they could not land there, but they were driven to another island called
Massana, where the king of three islands resides. From this island they
sailed to Subuth, a very large island and well supplied, where, having
come to a friendly arrangement with the chief, they immediately landed to
celebrate divine worship according to Christian usage--for the festival
for the Resurrection of Him who has saved us was at hand. Accordingly,
with some of the sails of the ships and branches of trees they erected a
chapel, and in it constructed an altar in the Christian fashion, and
divine service was duly performed. The chief and a large crowd of Indians
came up, and seemed much pleased with these religious rites. They brought
the Admiral and some of the officers into the chief's cabin, and set
before them what food they had. The bread was made of sago, which is
obtained from the trunk of a tree not much unlike the palm. This is
chopped up small, and fried in oil, and used as bread, a specimen of
which I send to your lordship. Their drink was a liquor which flows from
the branches of palm-trees when cut. Some birds also were served up at
this meal, and also some of the fruit of the country. Magellan, having
noticed in the chief's house a sick person in a very wasted condition,
asked who he was and from what disease he was suffering. He was told that
it was the chief's grandson, and that he had been suffering for two years
from a violent fever. Magellan exhorted him to be of good courage, that
if he would devote himself to Christ he would immediately recover his
former health and strength. The Indian consented, and adored the Cross,
and received baptism, and the next day declared that he was well again,
rose from his bed and walked about, and took his meals like the others.
What visions he may have told to his friends I cannot say; but the chief
and over 2,200 Indians were baptized and professed the name and faith of
Christ. Magellan, seeing that this island was rich in gold and ginger,
and that it was so conveniently situated with respect to the neighbouring
islands that it would be easy, making this his head-quarters, to explore
their resources and natural productions. He therefore went to the chief
of Subuth and suggested to him that since he had turned away from the
foolish and impious worship of false gods to the Christian religion it
would be proper that the chiefs of the neighbouring islands should obey
his rule; that he had determined to send envoys for this purpose, and, if
any of the chiefs should refuse to obey this summons, to compel them to
do so by force of arms. The proposal pleased the savage, and the envoys
were sent; the chiefs came in one by one and did homage to the chief of
Subuth in the manner adopted in those countries. But the nearest island
to Subuth is called Mauthan, and its king was superior in military force
to the other chiefs; and he declined to do homage to one whom he had been
accustomed to command for so long. Magellan, anxious to carry out his
plan, ordered forty of his men, whom he could rely on for valour and
military skill, to arm themselves, and passed over to the island Mauthan
in boats, for it was very near. The chief of Subuth furnished him with
some of his own people to guide him as to the topography of the island
and the character of the country, and if it should be necessary to help
him in the battle. The King of Mauthan, seeing the arrival of our men,
led into the field some 3,000 of his people. Magellan drew up his own men
and what artillery he had, though his force was somewhat small, on the
shore, and, although he saw that his own force was much inferior in
numbers, and that his opponents were a warlike race and were equipped
with lances and other weapons, nevertheless thought it more advisable to
face the enemy with them than to retreat or to avail himself of the aid
of the Subuth islanders. Accordingly he exhorted his men to take courage
and not to be alarmed at the superior force of the enemy; since it had
often been the case, as had recently happened in the island [peninsula]
of Yucatan, that two hundred Spaniards had routed two or even three
hundred thousand Indians. He said to the Subuth islanders that he had not
brought them with him to fight, but to see the valour and military
prowess of his men. Then he attacked the Mauthan islanders, and both
sides fought boldly; but as the enemy surpassed our men in number and
used longer lances, to the great damage of our men, at last Magellan
himself was thrust through and slain. Although the survivors did not
consider themselves fairly beaten, yet, as they had lost their leader,
they retreated; but as they retreated in good order the enemy did not
venture to pursue them. The Spaniards then, having lost their Admiral
(Magellan) and seven of their comrades, returned to Subuth, where they
chose as their new admiral John Serrano, a man of no contemptible
ability. He renewed the alliance with the chief of Subuth by making him
additional presents, and undertook to conquer the King of Mauthan.
Magellan had been the owner of a slave, a native of the Moluccas, whom he
had formerly bought in Malacca; and by means of this slave, who was able
to speak Spanish fluently, and of an interpreter of Subuth, who could
speak the Moluccan language, our men carried on their negotiations. This
slave had taken part in the fight with the Mauthan islanders, and had
been slightly wounded, for which reason he lay by all day intending to
nurse himself. Serrano, who could do no business without his help, rated
him soundly, and told him that though his master (Magellan) was dead, he
was still a slave, and that he would find that such was the case, and
would get a good flogging into the bargain, if he did not exert himself
and do what was required of him more zealously. This speech much incensed
the slave against our people; but he concealed his anger, and in a few
days he went to the chief of Subuth and told him that the avarice of the
Spaniards was insatiable; that they had determined, as soon as they
should have defeated the king of Mauthan, to turn round upon him and take
him away as a prisoner; and that the only course for him (the chief of
Subuth) to adopt was to anticipate treachery by treachery. The savage
believed this, and secretly came to an understanding with the king of
Mauthan, and made arrangements with him for common action against our
people. Admiral Serrano and twenty-seven of the principal officers and
men were invited to a solemn banquet. These, quite unsuspectingly, for
the natives had carefully dissembled their intentions, went on shore
without any precautions to take their dinner with the chief. While they
were at table some armed men, who had been concealed close by, ran in and
slew them. A great outcry was made. It was reported in our ships that our
men were killed, and that the whole island was hostile to us. Our men
saw, from on board the ships, that the handsome cross, which they had set
up in a tree, was torn down by the natives and cut up into fragments.
When the Spaniards, who had remained on board, heard of the slaughter of
our men they feared further treachery; so they weighed anchor and began
to set sail without delay. Soon afterward Serrano was brought to the
coast a prisoner; he entreated them to deliver him from so miserable a
captivity, saying that he had got leave to be ransomed if his men would
agree to it. Although our men thought it was disgraceful to leave their
commander behind in this way, their fear of the treachery of the
islanders was so great that they put out to sea, leaving Serrano on the
shore in vain lamenting and beseeching his comrades to rescue him. The
Spaniards, having lost their commander and several of their comrades,
sailed on sad and anxious, not merely on account of the loss they had
suffered, but also because their numbers had been so diminished that it
was no longer possible to work the three remaining ships.
On this question they consulted together and unanimously came to the
conclusion that the best plan would be to burn one of the ships, and to
sail home in the two remaining. They therefore sailed to a neighbouring
island, called Cohol,* and, having put the rigging and stores of one of
the ships on board the two others, set it on fire. Hence they proceeded
to the island of Gibeth. Although they found that this island was well
supplied with gold and ginger and many other things, they did not think
it desirable to stay there any length of time, as they could not
establish friendly relations with the natives; and they were too few in
number to venture to use force. From Gibeth they proceeded to the island
of Porne.**
(*Footnote. A misprint for Bohol.)
(**Footnote. Borneo.)
In this archipelago there are two large islands, one of which is called
Siloli, whose king has six hundred children. Siloli is larger than Porne,
for Siloli can hardly be circumnavigated in six months, but Porne in
three months. Although Siloli is larger than Porne, yet the latter is
more fertile, and distinguished as containing a large city of the same
name as the island. And since Porne must be considered to be more
important than the other islands which they had hitherto visited, and it
was from it that the other islanders had learnt the arts of civilised
life, I have determined to describe briefly the manners and customs of
these nations. All these islanders are Caphrae or Kafirs, i.e. heathens,
they worship the sun and moon as gods; they assign the government of the
day to the sun, and that of the night to the moon; the sun they consider
to be male, and the moon female, and that they are the parents of the
other stars, all of which they consider to be gods, though little ones.
They salute rather than adore the rising sun with certain hymns. Also
they salute the bright moon at night, from whom they ask for children,
for the increase of their flocks and herds, for an abundant supply of the
fruits of the earth, and for other things of that sort. But they practise
piety and justice; and especially love peace and quiet, and have great
aversion to war. As long as their king maintains peace they show him
divine honours; but if he is anxious for war they never rest till he is
slain by the enemy in battle. When the king has determined on war, which
very seldom happens, his men set him in the first rank, where he has to
stand the whole brunt of the combat: and they do not exert themselves
vigorously against the enemy till they know that the king has fallen;
then they begin to fight for liberty and for their new king; nor has any
king of theirs entered on a war without being slain in battle. For this
reason they seldom engage in war, and they think it unjust to extend
their frontiers. Their chief care is to avoid giving offence to the
neighbouring nations or to strangers. But if at any time they are
attacked they retaliate; and yet, lest further ill should arise, they at
once endeavour to come to terms. They think that party acts most
creditably which is the first to propose terms of peace; that it is
disgraceful to be anticipated in so doing, and that it is scandalous and
detestable to refuse peace to those who ask for it, even though the
latter should have been the aggressors. All the neighbouring people unite
in destroying such refusers of peace as impious and abominable. Hence
they mostly pass their lives in peace and leisure. Robberies and murders
are quite unknown among them. No one may speak to the king but his wives
and children, except at a distance by hollow canes, which they apply to
his ear, and through which they whisper what they have to say. They think
that at death men have no perception as they had none before they were
born. Their houses are small, built of wood and earth, covered partly
with rubble and partly with palm leaves. It is ascertained that there are
20,000 houses in the city of Porne. They marry as many wives as they can
afford to keep; they eat birds and fish, make bread of rice, and drink a
liquor drawn from the palm-tree--of which we have spoken before. Some
carry on trade with the neighbouring islands, to which they sail in
junks, some are employed in hunting and shooting, some in fishing, some
in agriculture. Their clothes are made of cotton. Their animals are
nearly the same as ours, excepting sheep, oxen, and asses; their horses
are very slight and small. They have a great supply of camphor, ginger,
and cinnamon. On leaving this island our men, having paid their respects
to the king and propitiated him by presents, sailed to the Moluccas,
their way to which had been pointed out to them by the king. Then they
came to the coast of the island of Solo, where they heard that pearls
were to be found as large as doves' eggs, or even hen's eggs, but that
they were only to be had in very deep water. Our men did not bring home
any single large pearl, as they were not there at the season of the year
for pearl-fishing. They said however that they found an oyster there the
flesh of which weighed 47 pounds. Hence I should be disposed to believe
that pearls of the size mentioned would be found there; for it is certain
that large pearls are found in oysters. And, not to forget it, I will add
that our men reported that the islanders of Porne asserted that the king
wore two pearls in his crown as large as goose eggs. After this they came
to the island of Gilona, where they saw some men with such long ears that
they reached down to their shoulders; and when they expressed their
astonishment the natives told them that, in an island not far off, there
were men who had such long and wide ears that one ear could, when they
liked, cover the whole of their heads. But as our men were not in search
of monsters but of spices they did not trouble themselves about such
rubbish, but sailed direct for the Moluccas, where they arrived in the
eighth month after their Admiral (Magellan) had been slain in the island
of Mauthan. The islands are five in number, and are called Tarante,
Muthil, Thedori, Mare, and Matthien*, situated partly to the north,
partly to the south, and partly on the equator; the productions are
cloves, nutmegs, and cinnamon. They are all close together, but of small
extent.
(* Ternate, Moter, Tidore, Maru, Mutjan.)
A few years ago the kings (of) Marmin began to believe that the soul is
immortal. They were induced to believe this solely from the following
reason, that they observed that a certain very beautiful small bird never
settled on the earth, or on anything that was on the earth; but that
these birds sometimes fell dead from the sky to the earth. And when the
Mohammedans, who visited them for trading purposes, declared that these
birds came from Paradise, the place of abode of departed souls, these
princes adopted the Mohammedan faith, which makes wonderful promises
respecting this same Paradise. They call this bird Mamuco Diata, and they
venerate it so highly that the kings think themselves safe to battle
under their protection, even when, according to their custom, they are
placed in the front line of the army in battle. The common people are
Kafirs, and have much the same manners and customs as the islanders of
Porne, already spoken of. They are much in need of supplies from abroad,
inasmuch as their country only produces spices, which they willingly
exchange for the poisonous articles, arsenic and sublimated mercury, and
for the linen which they generally wear, but what use they make of these
poisons has not yet been ascertained. They live on sago-bread, fish, and
sometimes parrots. They live in very low-built cabins; in short, all they
esteem and value is peace, leisure and spices. The former, the greatest
of blessings, the wickedness of mankind seems to have banished from our
part of the world to theirs; but our avarice and insatiable desire of the
luxuries of the table has urged us to seek for spices even in those
distant lands. To such a degree has the perversity of human nature
persisted in driving away as far as possible that which is conducive to
happiness, and in seeking for articles of luxury in the remotest parts of
the world. Our men, having carefully examined the position of the
Moluccas, and of each separate island, and also into the character of the
chiefs, sailed to Thedori, because they understood that this island
produced a greater abundance of cloves than the others, and also that the
king excelled the other kings in prudence and humanity. Providing
themselves with presents they went on shore, and paid their respects to
the king, and handed him the presents as the gift of the Emperor. He
accepted the presents graciously, and looking up to heaven said: "It is
now two years since I learnt from observation of the stars that you were
sent by the great King of Kings to seek for these lands. Wherefore your
arrival is the more agreeable to me inasmuch as it has already been
foreseen from the signification of the stars. And since I know that
nothing happens to men which has not long since been ordained by the
decree of Fate and of the stars, I will not be the man to resist the
determination of Fate and the stars, but will spontaneously abdicate my
royal power, and consider myself for the future as carrying on the
government of this island as your king's viceroy. So bring your ships
into the harbour, and order the rest of your companions to land in
safety, so that now, after so much tossing about on the sea and so many
dangers, you may securely enjoy the comforts of life on shore, and
recruit your strength, and consider yourselves to be coming into your own
king's dominions."
Having thus spoken, the king laid aside his diadem, and embraced each of
our men, and directed such refreshments as the country produced to be set
on table. Our men, delighted at this, returned to their companions and
told them what had taken place. They were much delighted by the
graciousness and benevolence of the king, and took up their quarters in
the island. When they had been entertained for some days by the king's
munificence they sent envoys thence to the other kings to investigate the
resources of the islands and to secure the goodwill of the chiefs.
Tarante was the nearest; it is a very small island, its circumference
being a little over six Italian miles. The next is Matthien, and that
also is small. These three produce a great quantity of cloves, but every
fourth year the crop is far larger than at other times. These trees only
grow on precipitous rocks, and they grow so close together as to form
groves. The tree resembles the laurel as regards its leaves, its
closeness of growth, and its height; the clove, so called from its
resemblance to a nail (Latin clavus) grows at the very tip of each twig.
First a bud appears, and then a blossom much like that of the orange; the
point of the clove first shows itself at the end of the twig, until it
attains its full growth; at first it is reddish, but the heat of the sun
soon turns it black. The natives share groves of this tree among
themselves, just as we do vineyards. They keep the cloves in pits till
the merchants fetch them away. The fourth island, Muthil, is no larger
than the rest. This island produces cinnamon; the tree is full of shoots,
and in other respects fruitless; it thrives best in a dry soil, and is
very much like the pomegranate tree. When the bark cracks through the
heat of the sun it is pulled off the tree, and being dried in the sun a
short time becomes cinnamon. Near Muthil is another island, called Bada,
more extensive than the Moluccas; in it the nutmeg grows. The tree is
tall and wide-spreading, a good deal like a walnut-tree. The fruit too is
produced just in the same way as a walnut, being protected by a double
covering, first a soft envelope, and under this a thin reticulated
membrane which encloses the nut. This membrane we call muskatbluthe, the
Spaniards call it mace; it is an excellent and wholesome spice. Within
this is a hard shell, like that of a filbert, inside which is the nutmeg,
properly so called. Ginger also is produced in all the islands of this
archipelago; some is sown, some grows spontaneously; but the sown ginger
is the best. The plant is like the saffron-plant, and its root, which
resembles the root of saffron, is what we call ginger. Our men were
kindly received by the various chiefs who all, after the example of the
king of Thedori, spontaneously submitted themselves to the Imperial
Government. But the Spaniards, having now only two ships, determined to
bring with them specimens of all sorts of spices, but to load the ship
mainly with cloves because there had been a very abundant crop of it this
season, and the ships could contain a great quantity of this kind of
spice. Having laden their ships with cloves, and received letters and
presents from the chiefs to the Emperor, they prepared to sail away. The
letters were filled with assurances of fidelity and respect; the gifts
were Indian swords, etc. The most remarkable curiosities were some of the
birds called Mamuco Diata--that is the Bird of God with which they think
themselves safe and invincible in battle. Five of these were sent, one of
which I procured from the captain of the ship, and now send it to your
lordship--not that you will think it a defence against treachery and
violence, but because you will be pleased with its rarity and beauty. I
also send some cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, that you may see that our
spices are not only not inferior to those imported by the Venetians and
Portuguese, but of superior quality because they are fresher. Soon after
our men had sailed from Thedori the larger of the two ships sprang a
leak, which let in so much water that they were obliged to return to
Thedori. The Spaniards, seeing that this defect could not be put right
except with much labour and loss of time, agreed that the other ship
should sail to the Cape of Cattigara, thence across the ocean as far as
possible from the Indian coast, lest they should be seen by the
Portuguese, until they came in sight of the southern point of Africa,
beyond the tropic of Capricorn, which the Portuguese call the Cape of
Good Hope, for thence the voyage to Spain would be easy. It was also
arranged that when the repairs of the other ship were completed it should
sail back through the archipelago and the vast (Pacific) Ocean to the
coast of the continent which we have already mentioned (South America),
until they came to the Isthmus of Darien, where only a narrow neck of
land divides the South Sea from the Western Sea, in which are the islands
belonging to Spain. The smaller ship accordingly set sail again from
Thedori, and though they went as far as 12 degrees south they did not
find Cattigara, which Ptolemy considered to lie considerably south of the
equator; however after a long voyage they arrived in sight of the Cape of
Good Hope, and thence sailed to the Cape Verde Islands. Here this ship
also, after having been so long at sea, began to be leaky, and the men,
who had lost several of their companions through hardships in the course
of their adventures, were unable to keep the water pumped out, They
therefore landed at one of the islands, called Santiago, to buy slaves.
As our men, sailor-like, had no money, they offered cloves in exchange
for slaves. When the Portuguese officials heard of this they committed
thirteen of our men to prison. The rest, eighteen in number, being
alarmed at the position in which they found themselves, left their
companions behind, and sailed direct to Spain. Sixteen months after they
had sailed from Thedori, on the 6th September 1522, they arrived safe and
sound at a port near Seville. These sailors are certainly more worthy of
perpetual fame than the Argonauts who sailed with Jason to Colchis; and
the ship itself deserves to be placed among the constellations more than
the ship Argo. For the Argo only sailed from Greece through the Black
Sea, but our ship setting out from Seville sailed first southwards, then
through the whole of the West, into the Eastern Seas, then back again
into the Western.
I humbly commend myself to your Most Reverend Lordship.
Written at Valladolid, 24th October 1522.
Your Most Reverend and Most Illustrious Lordship's most humble and
perpetual servant,
MAXIMILIANUS TRANSYLVANUS.
Cologne--(printed) at the house of Eucharius Cervicornus, A.D. 1523, in
the month of January.
CHAPTER 27. A.D. 1522 TO 1523.
ALLEGED GLOBE OF SCHONER OF 1523.
(ILLUSTRATION 71. ALLEGED GLOBE OF SCHONER OF 1523.)
(ILLUSTRATION 90. INITIAL T. ASTRONOMER FROM PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY.)
The voyage of the Vittoria had a marked influence on the geography of
Australasia at the period immediately following the return of the first
circumnavigators. Its influence on cartography is of a strange character,
and this period might be termed the NO AUSTRALIA PERIOD, its strangeness
consisting in the transitory total disappearance of the Australian
continent; for although the Great South Land appears again in a new form
and under a new name with the Desceliers Lusitano-Spanish type of map,
ranging between 1530 and 1556, yet its effacement is maintained in such
an important document as the Sebastian Cabot mappamundi of 1544. Whether
the leaving out of the Australian continent was a matter of political
purpose, or whether the inclusion on the maps of the period of a
continent which had not been sufficiently surveyed, was not deemed
advisable, are questions which remain to be considered. It must be
conceded however that the previous periods were periods of geographical
incunabula as far as Australia is concerned, for the indications of a
Great South Land on maps previous to 1530/1536 were of a very rough
nature. Those indications showed a mere knowledge of the existence of
certain portions of the coastlines which geographers had taken upon
themselves to join together in a more or less arbitrary manner. The
voyage of the first circumnavigators demolished in a great measure
certain theories and vagaries, and relegated towards the South Pole the
unknown continent. On the other hand the absence on the charts of the
terra incognita may have been a provisory measure adopted until better
information was available.
...
ALLEGED GLOBE OF SCHONER OF 1523.
The late Henry Stevens considered the globe which we are going to deal
with--and which with Mr. Henry Harrisse and for want of a better name we
shall describe as the Alleged Globe of Schoner of 1523*--as "one of the
immediate results of the publication of the celebrated first edition of
the Letter of Maximilianus of Transylvanus, printed at Cologne in January
of that year, and not 1524, as has been generally held.
(*Footnote. The Munich gores is another name given by Mr. H. Harrisse to
the Alleged Globe of Schoner of 1523.)
He also credits Schoner with laying down the precise routes of Magellan's
fleet, with the latitudes and longitudes given, projected and worked over
360 degrees of the world in a far more correct and intelligible manner
than ever had been done before";* and, in support of his belief that the
globe we are considering was constructed by Schoner, Mr. H. Stevens
refers his readers to Schoner's description of his 1523 globe, De Nuper,
etc. But we do not possess that globe, as Mr. Harrisse has proved most
conclusively.**
(*Footnote. Johann Schoner etc. by Henry Stevens of Vermont, page xxiv.
line 17. C.H. Coote of the British Museum in voce.)
(**Footnote. The Discovery of North America by Henry Harrisse, page 519
et sequit Number 147.)
Schoner's lost globe of 1523 was copied from his globe of 1520, which, as
far as the Australasian regions are concerned, is identical with his
globe of 1515. Now, this Alleged Globe of Schoner of 1523 is totally
different, as may be observed, from the Schonerean gores of 1515, and
cannot therefore be accepted as the work of Schoner.
A passage occurs in Schoner's description of his 1523 lost globe which is
sufficient proof to that effect, for he says: "I do not however wish to
set aside the globe I constructed some time ago, as it fully showed all
that had, at that time, been discovered; so that the former, as far as it
goes, agrees with the latter."
Our sketch of the Alleged Schoner's Globe of 1523 is taken from the
reproduction of the original gores formerly in the possession of the late
Mr. Henry Stevens. Concerning these reprinted gores Mr. H. Harrisse
remarks* "that the original woodcut, from which the reprint was made
recently (1885), does not bear the date of 1523 or the name of Schoner.
On the contrary, it is entirely anonymous and dateless."
(*Footnote. The Discovery of North America, page 520 line 15.)
Moreover, as regards at least the Australasian regions and its fantastic
islands, the leading feature inaugurated in this important wood block is
a marked departure from the Behaimean and Schonerean configurations, one
strange phase of this new departure being the total disappearance of the
Austral-Asian continental protuberance which occupied in previous charts
the site of Australia. In this map Magalhaens' course is set down. After
leaving the straits that bear his name* Magalhaens' track runs through a
group of islands where the word Crete may be noticed; reaching the tropic
of Capricorn it passes between two islands which bear the name Insule
Infortunate, then, following the same course, the equator is crossed and
the first land reached is the island Iuuana, the Inuagana of Maximilian's
letter.
(*Footnote. The entrance to this strait on the South Atlantic side bears
the name Sinus Juliana, Bay of St. Julian, and is placed too far north.)
In proximity to Iuuana may be noticed five islands without names. Had
there been sufficient space for naming them we might expect to find
Maximilian's nomenclature, i.e. Acacan, Selani, Massana, Subuth, and
Mauthan. Cohol, left to the north, has preserved its original
orthography, and Gibith to the south stands for Gibeth; the track then
passes by Porne, leaving in an easterly direction Yciagina?--a name not
to be found in Maximilian's letter; whereas of the nine islands mentioned
under the names Siloli, Solo, Gilona, Tarante, Muthil, Thedori, Mare,
Matthien, and Bada* six only are named on this map, namely Mare, Taraze
(Tarante?), Siloli, Muthil, Thedori, and Badam.
(*Footnote. An error occurs in Stevens' Johann Schoner, page 142 note 2,
where Bada, the nutmeg producing Banda, is mistaken for Badjan or
Batchian.)
Upon leaving the Spice Islands the course of the remaining ship of
Magalhaens' fleet is set down to the south of Iaua, that island being
placed longitudinally according to the erroneous interpretation initiated
after the altering of Fra Mauro's mappamundi.
To the south of the track of the Vittoria and halfway between Java and
the Cape of Good Hope we notice a large island, bearing the name Sadales,
which recalls the Sandalos silve of the Frankfort gores of 1515. This
island is a remnant of the bogus Madagascar of Marco Polo, but Cabo
Godanige, the name of the north cape of this island, is here introduced
for the first time as far as we are aware.
In conclusion, we may say, with reference to this map and to the voyage
of the first circumnavigators, that the nomenclature in the Spice Island
region is certainly derived from Maximilian's letter; and, although the
track of Magalhaens' vessels is very carelessly indicated and does not
always agree with the above-mentioned letter, it nevertheless bears signs
of being derived from the same source as the nomenclature.
CHAPTER 28. A.D. 1525 TO 1529.
LOAYSA'S EXPEDITION TO THE SPICE ISLANDS.
DON JORGE DE MENEZES.
THE FRANCISCUS MONACHUS MAPPAMUNDI OF 1526.
ALVARO DE SAAVEDRA DISCOVERS NEARLY THE WHOLE OF THE NORTH COAST OF NEW
GUINEA.
(ILLUSTRATION 97. INITIAL A.)
After the return of the Vittoria the old dispute between the Portuguese
and Spanish about the line of demarcation was resumed and referred to the
Badajos convocation of learned cosmographers and pilots. No decision
however was arrived at, and another expedition to the Spice Islands was
fitted out by Spain.
This was entrusted to Garcia Jofre de Loaysa with Sebastian del Cano as
pilot-major and other survivors of Magalhaens' expedition.
They sailed from Coruna in July 1525 with an armament consisting of seven
ships.*
(*Footnote. Nombrose por Capitan general de esta armada y capitan de la
primera nave llamada Santa Maria de la Victoria a Garcia Jofre de Loaisa,
Caballero del Avito de San Juan, natural de Ciudad-Real, con 450
castellanos; a Juan Sebastian del Cano, por capitan de la segundo nave,
dicha Sancti Spiritus; a Pedro de Vera, continuo de la Casa Real, por
capitan de la tercera, i de la 40a, dicha San Gabriel, a D. Rodrigo de
Acuna; y de la 5a llamada Santa Maria del Parral, a D. Jorge Manrique de
Naxera; y de la 6a que llamaban San Lesmes, a Francisco de Hoces, y de un
patage a Santiago de Guevara. Herrera. Decada III lib vii. cap. v.)
The expedition proved a most disastrous one. Sebastian del Cano's vessel
was wrecked at the entrance to Magalhaens' strait and the captain-general
was separated from the fleet. Francisco de Hoces, who commandad the San
Lesmes, is reported to have been driven by the storm to 55 degrees of
south latitude, where he sighted land, which, if we consider the evidence
of the De orbi situ of Franciscus Monacus,* must have been either the
South Georgia or South Sandwich Islands. Francisco de Hoces believed it
to belong to an Austral continent and to be connected with the Tierra del
Fuego.
(*Footnote. See below The Franciscus Monacus Mappamundi.)
It was April before they entered Magalhaens' strait, and the passage was
tedious and dismal, several of the sailors dying from the extreme cold.
At last, on the 25th of May 1526, they entered the Pacific Ocean, where
they were met by another violent storm which dispersed them right and
left. One of the small vessels, a rowboat called a patache, in command of
Joam de Resaga, ran along the coast of Peru and reached New Spain, where
they gave an account to the celebrated Cortez, telling him that Loaysa
was on his way to the islands of cloves; the others steered a
north-westerly course.
By this time they had met with many hardships, several seamen had died,
and Loaysa and Sebastian del Cano were very sick. At last the commander
of the expedition died, July 30 1526, and Sebastian del Cano soon
followed his commander, expiring a few days later. Alonso de Salazar was
now appointed to the command of the fleet; he steered for the Ladrones.
When they reached this group of islands they had lost thirty-eight
seamen. From the Ladrones they sailed to the Philippines, and on their
journey lost their third commander, Alonso de Salazar. They then made
their way to the Spice Islands.
Galvano informs us that only one vessel of Loaysa's fleet reached the
Moluccas or Spice Islands. The fourth commander, Martin Iniquez de
Carquicano, died, poisoned, it is said, and the command of the remnant of
the expedition was entrusted to Hernando della Torre. Disputes
immediately arose between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, eventuating
in a warfare that lasted several years.
Meanwhile in the year 1526* Don Jorge de Menezes, in his passage from
Malacca to the Spice Islands, was carried by currents, and through his
want of information respecting the route to the north coast of Papua,
probably to Waigiu, which appears to be the island known at the time
under the name of Versija.**
(*Footnote. 1526, 1527, 1528, according to various authors.)
(**Footnote. See above.)
Having spent some time in a good port at this island of Versija, he
continued his journey towards the east and made other discoveries along
the north-west coast of New Guinea. It is in these regions that we find
on old charts Os Papuas and the legend Hic hibernavit Georgius de
Menezes.*
(*Footnote. See G. de Barros, Asia, Decad. iv. lib. i. c. xvi., and
Lavanha, Voyage of Menezes page 53. Madrid 1615.
THE FRANCISCUS MONACHUS MAPPAMUNDI OF 1526 OR 1527.
(ILLUSTRATION 32. THE FRANCISCUS MONACHUS MAPPAMUNDI OF 1526 OR 1527.)
The two spheres of Franciscus Monachus, which we borrow from Harrisse's
valuable work,* form an important geographical document. They are of the
year 1526 or 1527, and belong to a work De orbis situ, which contains the
following remarkable passage: "Praterea inventa anno abhinc millesimo
quingentesimo vigesimo sexto, terra longitudine o. meridionali
latitudine, 52. partium cultoribus vacua. Reliqua Australis ora etianum
in obscuro latent: Moreover in the year 1526 a land has been discovered
by 0 degrees longitude and 52 degrees south latitude, which is not
inhabited. The other parts of that Austral country are yet in the dark."
Mr. Harrisse asks: "What is that Austral country beginning on a line with
the initial meridian, and in such extreme southern latitude, which
Franciscus Monacus says was discovered in 1526? The latter date can only
be a lapsus pennae, as no such discovery was accomplished in that year.
As to the country itself we have only to compare its delineation and
position in Franciscus' woodcuts with the antarctic land in the various
globes of Schoner to see at a glance that it can only be the region on
which the Nuremberg mathematician has inscribed, in 1533, the legend:
Terra Australis recenter inventa, sed nondum plene cognita. The
difference is that Franciscus makes another lapsus in inserting in his
map the following statement: Hec pars ore** (sic pro orb) is nobis
navigationibus detecta nondum existit: This part of the world has not yet
been discovered [sic] in our navigations."
(*Footnote. Harrisse, The Discovery of North America.)
(**Footnote. The E of ORE is only due to a slip of the wood engraver's
burin. G. Collingridge.)
Mr. Harrisse adds, and we agree with him, that "Franciscus evidently
meant that the country had not been entirely explored or made known,
since he says so explicitly in his text, adding even a latitude and a
longitude, and configurates the region in his map." Now, why should there
be any lapsus at all? This land in 0 degrees longitude 52 degrees south
latitude can be no other than South Georgia or the South Sandwich
Islands, which we have seen* was discovered by Francisco de Hoces in the
San Lesmes in 1526; and if we ask how did the news of such discovery
reach Europe we have the answer in the fact that Joam de Resaga ran along
the west coast of South America until he reached New Spain, where he
rendered an account to Cortez concerning, the proceedings of Loaysa's
fleet.
(*Footnote. Above.)
If the remarkable passage in the De orbis situ, confirmed by the
Franciscus Monachus mappamundi and other documents, such as the Paris
Gilt Globe, establishes another claim in favour of Spanish priority of
discovery, the Monachus mappamundi seems to settle another in favour of
the Portuguese. We refer to the further discovery of New Guinea, the
north-westernmost parts of which had already been seen in 1511/1512.
On this small and apparently insignificant mappamundi New Guinea is
represented in size as equal to Sumatra, which in itself is approximately
correct; but, and which is more important, its periplus is also depicted,
showing that Torres' Strait was known long before that navigator wended
his way through its waters. Nevertheless in this map the Australian
continent is left out.
ALVARO DE SAAVEDRA DISCOVERS NEARLY THE WHOLE OF THE NORTH COAST OF NEW
GUINEA.
In 1527 Cortez sent from New Spain his kinsman, Alvaro de Saavedra, in
search of Loaysa's expedition. Saavedra reached the Spice Islands, and on
his way back, in endeavouring to reach America, in June 1528, he fell in
with land 250 leagues east of the Spice Islands, which land has been
identified as lying to the north of New Guinea and was named by him the
Isla del Oro, the Island of Gold: ANDUVIERON 250 LEGUAS HASTA LA ISLA DEL
ORO, GRANDE Y DE GENTE NEGRA, CON LOS CABELLOS CRESPOS...CORRIERON 250
LEGUAS HASTA DAR EN OTRAS ISLAS, EN ALTURA DE 7 DEGREES pobladas de gente
blanca, barbuda, que salieron a la nao, amenazando de tirar piedras con
las hondas; y fue cosa maravillosa ver en tan poco distancia hombres tan
diferentes de color. (Herrera, Decada iv. lib. iii. cap. vi.) If we
accept Herrera's description concerning the variety of races met with by
the Spaniards--variety which is known to exist nearer the equator--it is
not difficult to reconcile it even with modern experience, but we must
take for erroneous the latitude of 7 degrees mentioned in the Spanish
text.
In November 1528 Saavedra returned to the Spice Islands, arriving at
Tidor on the 19th. He had been unable, owing to calms and headwinds, to
make his way back to America; nor was he more successful in a second
attempt made the following year, when, after having followed his previous
course, and having vainly attempted to sail eastward, he met with his
death soon after leaving the Good Gardens Islands. The ship's company was
compelled once more to seek the refuge of the Spice Islands where they
remained for seven years, when a favourable opportunity enabled them to
return to Spain by way of Lisbon, in the year 1536.
According to Galvano, Saavedra's discoveries in 1529 were more extensive
than in 1528. He says:* "In the yeere 1529, in May, Saavedra returned
back againe towards New Spaine, and he had sight of a land towards the
south in two degrees, and he ran east along by it aboue fiue hundred
leagues till the end of August [according to their account]. The coast
was cleane and of good ankerage, but the people blacke and of curled
haire; from the girdle downward they did weare** a certaine thing plaited
to couer their lower parts. The people of Maluco call them Papuas,
because they be blacke and friseled in their haire; and so also do the
Portugals call them. [Alvaro] Saavedra hauing sailed four or five degrees
to the south of the line, returned unto it, and passed the equinoctiall
towards the north..."
(*Footnote. Galvano, page 176.)
(**Footnote. Skirts of feathers, well made, of various colours.)
CHAPTER 29. A.D. 1527 TO 1536.
SPANISH OFFICIAL MAPS.
THE ANONYMOUS WEIMAR MAPPAMUNDI OF 1527.
THE DIEGO RIBEIRO MAPPAMUNDI OF 1529.
THE DAUPHIN CHART, 1530 TO 1536.
(ILLUSTRATION 97. INITIAL A.)
A few years after the discovery of the New World the Spanish Government
found it necessary, in order to regulate her navigations and ascertain
what new discoveries were being made, to order the creation of an
official map of the world, in the composition of which the skill and
knowledge of all her pilots and captains were sought.
(ILLUSTRATION 22. DIEGO RIBEIRO MAP, 1529.)
Diego Ribeiro Map, 1529.
This official map, from which copies were made, was called the Padron
Real and afterwards the Padron general. The Diego Ribeiro mappamundi of
1529, a portion of which is reproduced here, belongs to the Padron
general category of maps. In this class of Spanish maps the Australian
continent has been left out. With reference to our subject this
mappamundi is nevertheless of importance, because it shows graphically
that such documents were prepared and used in Spain by the highest
authorities in cartographical matters, for this mappamundi is a duplicate
or replica of an earlier map by the same author as the anonymous Weimar
mappamundi of 1527, which, according to Mr. Harrisse, is "the earliest
complete specimen which we possess of a chart made with data collected in
the Casa de contratacion, and on that account of great importance."
The importance that it has with us is that it shows what were the claims
of the Spanish Crown in connection with the famous line of demarcation.
According to the King of Spain's cosmographer, and as shown in this map,
the Spice Islands fell within Spanish territory, so that with regard to
Australia Portugal could only have claimed Western Australia; whereas the
remainder of the continent, the lion's share, would have fallen to Spain.
In the Propaganda Diego Ribeiro map of same date the same division may be
observed, and the flags of Spain and Portugal float over the space which
the Australian continent ought to occupy.
In the maps which we shall consider next, maps which, although showing
Spanish influence, are essentially more Portuguese in their origin, the
reverse occurs, and the line of demarcation is placed so as to include
the Spice Islands in Portuguese territory.
Before we dismiss Diego Ribeiro's map, it may be well to notice that to
the south of Java and below the pretty ship that announces that she comes
from Maluco, the Spice Islands, Vego de Maluco, there is an open sea,
called in the Propaganda copy Occeanus Oriemtalis. We draw attention to
this fact because in the Dauphin chart, which we shall presently
consider, we shall find that this ocean or sea is blocked by the
Australian continent.
CHAPTER 30. A.D. 1530 TO 1550.
THE DAUPHIN MAP* OF THE ASSIGNED DATE OF 1530 TO 1536, AND OTHER MAPS OF
THE SAME SCHOOL.
(*Footnote. This map has been called the Harleyan map, having belonged to
Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford. See also The Early Discovery of Australia
by George Collingridge. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical
Society of Australasia, Sydney 1891/1892 Volume V.)
(ILLUSTRATION 19. DAUPHIN CHART OF AUSTRALIA.)
The Dauphin Chart, A.D. 1530 to 1536.
(ILLUSTRATION 91. INITIAL W.)
We now arrive at the most important document hitherto come to light
connected with the early discovery of Australia--the map or chart which
the late R.H. Major has called the Dauphin Map.
It belongs to a type of manuscript Lusitano-French planispheres, which is
represented by several specimens, all of which are copies from a
prototype which has either been destroyed or has not yet been found.
As we infer that the prototype of these planispheres is of a date
anterior to 1530* we shall, notwithstanding the apparent later date of
those we shall speak of, consider them collectively. According to Mr.
Harrisse this planisphere, or at least its American portion, dates from
after 1536.**
(*Footnote. Mr. Harrisse says: Le redacteur du catalogue du British
Museum, ou cette carte est conservee (Add. Manuscripts 5, 413), en infere
qu'elle est anterieur a l'annee 1536. Nous n'oserions l'affirmer. Jean et
Sebastien Cabot, page 198.)
(**Footnote. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, page 200.)
One thing certain is that it has not been copied from the other maps of
its class considered in this chapter, for it bears a legend in
Portuguese, to which we shall refer, that has been corrupted in the other
maps. Referring to these Lusitano-French maps in general, and describing
this one in particular, the late R.H. Major says:* "The earliest in all
probability, and the most fully detailed of these maps, is the one from
which we give the annexed reduction of that portion immediately under
consideration. It is a large chart of the world, on a plane scale, on
vellum, 8 feet 2 inches by 3 feet 10 inches, highly ornamented, with
figures, etc., and with the names in French. At the upper corner, on the
left hand, is a shield of the arms of France, with the collar of St.
Michael; and on the right, another shield of France and Dauphiny,
quarterly. It was probably executed in the time of Francis I of France,
for his son, the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II. This chart formerly
belonged to Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, after whose death it was taken
away by one of his servants. It was subsequently purchased by Sir Joseph
Banks, Bart., and presented by him to the British Museum in 1790."
(*Footnote. Early Voyages to Australia, Introduction. Page xxvii. A
reduced copy of the Dauphin map is given, facing same page.)
It may not be out of place to state here that Edward Harley was one of
the principal Lords of the Admiralty, and that he was instrumental in
sending Dampier out to Australia.*
(*Footnote. See W. Dampier by W. Clark Russell. London, Macmillan & Co.
1889.)
The strongest evidence of discovery as yet brought to light is shown in
the drafting of these old charts of Australia. Unfortunately, as we have
said, they are all mere copies, more or less altered in outline and
corrupted in nomenclature, from a prototype which has not yet been found.
But, if the internal evidence of these old charts clearly shows the
original or originals to have been Portuguese and Spanish, one point of
the question will be settled, and the Portuguese and Spanish will
undoubtedly be entitled to the claim and honour of having discovered
Australia.
As to the question of date, that is of less importance, and can be fixed
approximately, for the discovery must have taken place at some period
between the arrival of the Portuguese and Spaniards in these seas and the
drafting of the earliest known chart, that is between 1511 and 1542.*
(*Footnote. See below. John Rotz' charts 1542.)
But after all, until the very date of the expedition which resulted in
the first discovery can be ascertained, the question of the nationality
of the first discoverers is a much more interesting one. Having no other
documentary evidence except these old charts, the first conclusion drawn
was, that as they are all written in French, the French, although no
claim was made by them, were the discoverers.
The late R.H. Major, having thoroughly considered the possibility of a
French claim, came to the conclusion that such a claim is untenable.
Being somewhat shaken however in his first belief of a Portuguese
discovery, he was led to adopt a Provencal theory to explain certain
words on these old Gallicized charts which were neither Portuguese nor
French. The whole question was in this state of incertitude when, a few
years ago, having occasion to examine minutely these old documents, we
discovered on this particular one a phrase in Portuguese, which curiously
enough had escaped the notice of all those who had made a study of this
early specimen of cartography. This phrase, ANDA NE BARCHA (no boats go
here), situated as it is in the Gulf of Carpentaria, had in our mind a
very great significance, since it not only proves the Portuguese origin
of the chart but also the genuineness of the discovery made in that
locality, as it showed that the discoverers were fully aware of the
shallowness of the water off this part of the coast of Australia.
It must be admitted however that on the original chart the phrase anda ne
barcha may refer to the difficulty of navigating the strait between Java
and Bali or Lomboc.
When we say that this legend proves the Portuguese origin of the chart we
do not mean to convey the idea that we accepted it there and then as a
proof of Portuguese origin, but we took it as a clue, for the meaning of
these words had evidently not been understood by the copyist, since he
had left them in their original form instead of translating them into
French, and had mistaken them for the names of two islands. This clue led
us to make a special study of every word on the chart that had proved so
interesting, the result being that we came to the conclusion that the
western coasts of Australia had been charted by the Portuguese, whereas
the eastern coasts, which fell within the sphere allotted to the
Spaniards, had been discovered and charted by them.
If we take for granted that these charts are unquestionably of Portuguese
and Spanish origin the next point of importance that calls for our
attention relates to the peculiar configuration, or, to be more precise,
the strange distortion which all these charts have undergone. This
distortion is so great that one might fail to recognise Australia within
the coastline set down were it not for the general fitness of the terms
used as descriptive of this coastline, terms which have been handed down
to us, and some of which are recorded in the very maps we use every day.
Further we have the equally important fact that within the latitude and
longitude charted Australia does actually hold its place in the vast
ocean around.
We must make great allowance for the measurement of longitude as computed
in the days when Magalhaens was called upon to determine whether the
Moluccas fell within the Spanish or Portuguese territory, for after the
return of the remnant of his glorious but disastrous expedition the
matter was as unsettled as ever. Albeit the errors of these charts are
far more suggestive of deliberate distortion than of inaccurate charting.
A contemporaneous Spanish pilot, Juan Gaetan, who navigated the seas to
the north of Australia, reports that the Portuguese purposely distorted
and otherwise altered their charts: Che cautelosamente le portano false.*
(*Footnote. The passage is worth giving in full. It will be found in
Ramusio, Venetia 1563. Delle Navigationi et Viaggi, Primo Volume Fol. 377
B. Da malaccha nauigammo a Caniai con li lor nauilij, nelliquali ne
codussero, et essendo io Pilotto stato in tutte le nauigationi che si
fecero dipoi che vscimmo da Malaccho, conobbi tutte le lor carte, che
cautelosamente le portano false, & fuori delle altezze & parizzi veri, &
nauigano per certi derotteri, cioe pariggi, & libri che portano senza
tener posta alcuna longitudine in quelli, di maniera che si ristringe &
ritira la terra di Maluccho al capo di Buona speranza, al mio giudicio,
piu di cinquecento 50 leghe, secondo quello che io nauigai & considerat
in questa nauigatione; perche ordinariamente ogni giorno io pigliano la
mia altezza, et derotta, et ne tengo fatta vna carta, la quale, come
dico, e differente & discorde da quello che essi pongono la quatita
sopradetta, & quiui lascio molte altre particolarita che mi passorno in
questa andata, perche questo mi pare che solo faccia al capo principale,
et e cosa certa che li Portoghesi vedendo ch'io intendeua le cose della
lor nauigatione, procurono che io restassi con loro & mi offersero molti
partiti, liquali io non volsi accettare per venir a servire la Maesta
Cesarea.)
The Portuguese, who were the first to make discoveries in these seas,
must have been perfectly aware that the coasts they had charted lay more
to the east than shown in these maps, and if they placed them more to the
west it was in order to secure to themselves the lion's share, for their
line of demarcation, as fixed by Pope Alexander VI, did not extend much
beyond the east coast of Timor. They could not have believed that Timor
was situated to the east of the peninsula now known as York Peninsula,
and clearly shown in these charts, nor that there was not an open sea to
the south of Java, although the south coast of that island was not known
at the time.
When that memorable council was convened on the shores of the Guadiana, a
few years before these charts were made, to settle the dispute between
the Spanish and Portuguese, after the return of Magalhaens' expedition,
there may or may not have been collusion between both parties in
connection with a distortion of the original charts used in the council,
but both nations had something to gain by showing the sea-way blocked as
it is in these maps.
In confirmation of this theory a very significant passage occurs in the
Portuguese Asia of Barros (continued by Diego do Couto) relative to the
blocking of the sea-way which we allude to. Diego do Couto, writing about
1570, having described the fort in the Canal de Sunda, and referring to
the advisability of blocking the Straits of Malacca, says: "And it was
the opinion of our forefathers that if the king (king of Portugal)
possessed three fortresses, one in this situation (Strait of Sunda), one
on Acheen Head, and one on the coast of Pegu, the navigation of the East
could in a manner be LOCKED BY THOSE KEYS, and the king would be lord of
all its riches; and they gave many reasons in support of their opinions
which we FORBEAR TO REPEAT."
Now these fortresses in the Straits of Sunda and Malacca would have been
ineffectual unless some means were also adopted of blocking the passage
to the south of Java. Fortresses and cannon were of no avail here, the
passage was too wide, but, by connecting the south coast of Java with
Australia, and the surveyed coastline of Australia with an imaginary
continent extending to and around the South Pole, the question was
solved, the respective possessions of Portugal and Spain defined, and
further discoveries by other nations discouraged.
To effect this connection of the surveyed coasts with the imaginary
continent certain fictitious coastlines were laid down, and a portion of
the north-west coast was left out, from Dampier's Archipelago to King
Sound, in order to compensate in a certain measure for the extreme
westing given to the western and north-western part of Jave la Grande,
which had been placed under Java.
That the Portuguese and Spanish knew of an open sea to the south of Java
is certain, since Sebastian del Cano, returning to Spain from Timor with
the last ship of Magalhaens' fleet, sailed through it. But the secret was
so well kept that seventy-eight years after Magalhaens' voyage Java and
Australia were still believed to be one and the same continent by certain
well-informed navigators, as will be seen from Linschoten's Discours of
Voyages into ye East and West Indies, London 1598, in which the following
description of Java Major occurs: "South, south-east, right over against
the last point or corner of the Isle of Sumatra, on the south side of the
equinoctial line, lyeth the island called Jaua Maior, or Great Java,
where there is a strait or narrow passage, called the Strait of Sunda, of
a place so called, lying not far from thence within the Isle of Java.
This island beginneth under 7 degrees on the south side, and runneth east
and by south 150 miles long; but touching the breadth it is not found,
because as yet it is not discovered, nor by the inhabitants themselves
well known. Some think it to be firme land and parcell of the countrie
called terra incognita, which being so should reach from that place to
the Cape de Bona Sperace; but as yet it is not certainly known, and
therefore it is accounted an island."
With regard to the distortion of the eastern coast of Australia we
confess to have been somewhat startled by the discovery that we
made--startled not so much at the proof of distortion we found, but
because this proof of distortion bore witness to a more accurate survey
of the eastern coast than could have been expected or even dreamt of.
It occurred to us that, in order to duly appreciate the displacement
occasioned by Cape York having been placed under the island of Sumbawa,
it would be well to establish a comparison by scaling the map we are
describing and setting down the continent of Australia in its true
position.
Having marked the degrees of longitude and latitude in the modern style,
we were just going to begin drafting the eastern coast from Cape York
when we found the place already occupied by an island that bears the name
ye de Tnbanos? Strange to say, this island gave us the correct outline of
the portion of Cape York Peninsula that extends from Cairncross Island to
Cape Grenville, and thence to Cape Direction. Then, continuing our
coastline in a south-easterly direction, we came across another island in
the latitude of the tropic of Capricorn and extending thence to the 26th
degree of south latitude.
These islands also formed part, and occupied the exact site of, that
portion of the coast of Queensland that extends from Curtis Island to the
southern extremity of Great Sandy Island.
But these were not the only landmarks that had been left in their true
position. C. de Fremose, which seems to jut out in such an extraordinary
way on this chart, occupied the position of Cape St. George (Jervis Bay),
and the line of coast we were drafting had to follow the one on the
Dauphin chart from C. de Fremose to Gouffre (gulf), where we found Corner
Inlet and Wilson's Promontory set down for us.
Then, turning north again, we found another group of islands occupying
the position of Cape Arnheim in the northern territory. These were set
down as ye de Alioter; or Aliofer.
Now, could it be through mere coincidence that these fictitious islands
and stretches of coast were set down and actually occupied such portions
of our coast, with such extraordinary accuracy, not only as to
configuration, but also as to longitude and latitude? It does not seem
likely.
(ILLUSTRATION 67. PORTUGUESE CARAVEL.)
The illuminations form a conspicuous feature in these old maps, and lend
a great charm to such productions of a bygone age; it would be a useless
task however to seek in these quaint devices a strict pourtrayal of the
scenes appertaining to the countries they are supposed to illustrate; to
do so would be to forget their chief purpose--the decorative. But,
allowing for the liberty usually granted to the artist and often exacted
by him, the scenes depicted are not borrowed from the realms of Idealism
to the extent that has been supposed by certain commentators. The
kangaroo is not represented; no, nor the gum-tree either, perhaps? But
that clump of bamboos on the top of the hill is not a volcano in full
eruption, as a learned critic ventured to assert. We see on these charts
fairly correct presentments of that animal seen for the first time by the
Spaniards in the straits to which Magalhaens gave his name, and thus
described by Pigafetta, who accompanied the first circumnavigators: "This
animal has the head and ears of a mule, the body of a camel, the legs of
a stag, and the tail of a horse, and like this animal it neighs."*
(*Footnote. The same author describes the Patagonians, an illustration of
which is given in its proper place, in the 1550 chart, under the heading
of Geants trouve par les Espaignals. Pigafetta says, speaking of one of
these giants: "This man likewise wore a sort of shoe, made of the same
skin." The Patagonians covered their feet with the skin of the guanaco;
it is on account of this shoe, which made their feet resemble somewhat
those of an animal, that the Spaniards called these people Patagones, and
their country was probably called Regia Patalis, and Patagonia, from
Pata, an animal's foot.)
The animal thus described by Pigafetto is the Guanaco (camelus huanacus),
and it is not astonishing to find it depicted on the continent of
Australia, for we know that this continent was supposed to be connected
with Tierra del Fuego. It is indeed described in certain old maps of the
post-Magellanic period as Regio Patalis,* which Latin appellation may
correspond to the Spanish Tierra Patagonia, as Terra Australis
corresponds to Tierra Australia.
(*Footnote. See above.)
Now this brings us to the subject of the name given to Australia, on this
and other early charts of this type. In the chart we are describing
Australia is called Jave la Grande. La Grande Jave would have been the
French construction, but this term--Jave la Grande--is merely the
translation of Java Maior, the Portuguese for Marco Polo's Java Major.
Marco Polo described Java, from hearsay, as being the largest island in
the world, and, the Portuguese finding this to be incorrect, as far as
their knowledge of Java went, but finding nevertheless this "largest
island in the world" to the south-east of Java, in fact, approximately in
the longitude and latitude described by Marco Polo, the Portuguese, we
say, did the best thing they could, both for Marco Polo's sake and their
own, when they marked it on their charts where it was said to be, and
with the name given to it by Polo, for he calls it Java Major to
distinguish it from Sumatra, which island he calls Java Minor.
The channel marked between Java and Australia is evidently a concession
due to the fact that a passage was known to exist. This channel, which is
left white in the chart we are describing, is painted over in the 1550
specimen, as if it were blocked, and two men are represented with pick
and shovel as if in the act of cutting it open. It is curious to notice
how in both maps the upper silhouette of the landscape in this part
defines the real south shore of Java. The Australian Alps, the range of
hills on the western and north-western coast, and the great sandy
interior of Australia, are also roughly sketched in.
...
NOMENCLATURE.
The names on the Dauphin map will be found compared in the following list
with the nomenclature of other charts of the same class. Modern names are
given in the last column.
[Table: COMPARATIVE LIST OF NAMES.]
NORTH COASTS OF SUMBAWA AND JAVA.
(*Footnote. As this work was going through the press, the following
additional information concerning this corrupted legend to which we have
already referred in connection with Francisco Rodriguez' Portolanos (see
page 114 et sequit) was kindly forwarded by Mr. C.H. Coote, the worthy
successor of the late R.H. Major of the British Museum. Mr. Coote's
reading of the legend on the original portolano is as follows: Agoada da
Joham lopiz dallvim elle descobrio da que ate Japara.--Watering place of
Joao Lopez Dalvim, he discovered from this (place understood) as far as
Japara. And Mr. Coote adds: "If you will turn to my friend W. de Gray
Birch's Commentaries of Alboquerque, volume 3 page 166, you will find
that Dalvim was captain of one of the vessels ordered by Alboquerque to
remain at Malacca under the orders of Fernao Perez Andrade during the
absence of Antonio D' Abreu's expedition to the Banda or Spice Islands,
1511/1512. Rodriguez we know served under D' Abreu as pilot during this
expedition. Upon his return he was probably transferred to Dalvim's ship
upon a surveying expedition along the north coast of Java; hence the
legend on chart 16 of the portolano. The copyist on the Dauphin chart of
1536, unaware that dalvim was a proper name and not a common term, makes
nonsense of the whole thing.)
CHAPTER 31. A.D. 1531 TO 1542.
THE MAPPEMONDE OF ORONTIUS FINAEUS OF 1531.
SCHONER'S WEIMAR GLOBE OF 1533.
G. MERCATOR'S DOUBLE CORDIFORM MAPPAMUNDI OF 1538.
HERNANDO DE GRIJALVA'S EXPEDITION TO THE SPICE ISLANDS.
TWO MAPS OF AUSTRALIA BY JOHN ROTZ (JEAN ROZE), 1542.
(ILLUSTRATION 60. ORONCE FINE'S TERRA AUSTRALIS.)
Map of the World, by ORONTIUS FINAEUS (1531) Half of Southern Hemisphere.
(Reduced from Nordenskiold's Atlas.)
(ILLUSTRATION 59. ORONCE FINE'S MAPPEMUNDI ON OUR PROJECTION.)
Mappemonde of Oronce Fine--1531--on our projection.
(ILLUSTRATION 96. INITIAL T.)
The first of the three maps that we shall examine briefly at the
beginning of this chapter is a very rare engraved map of the world by the
celebrated French astronomer and mathematician, Oronce Fine. The
projection is a double cordiform one, of which we reproduce from
Nordenskiold's atlas half of the hemisphere in which the TERRA AUSTRALIS
occurs. In order to show the interesting features of the northern
portions of many Australasian islands, and for the purposes of comparison
with older and later maps, we give also a more comprehensive sketch map
on our adopted projection.
Oronce Fine's information was borrowed from Lusitano-Spanish charts
through the intermedium no doubt of Schoner's maps and globes, for we
find on the Terra Australis recenter inventa, sed nondum plene cognita,
his Brasielie regio and Regio Patalis.
The Malay peninsula is left out, or, at least, Cambodia and French
Cochin-China is made to serve for it, as those regions are brought down
south to the equator. Sumatra (Samotra vel TAPROBANA) lies too far to the
west, Java (IAVA) is in its place. A kind of duplicate Java above it,
without any name, may have been originally an indication of the south
coast of Borneo, which appears above under the name of burney. To the
east of Iava an island occupying the position approximately of Sumbawa or
Timor bears the name Minor, which may have been intended for Java Minor,
or is a bad reading for Timor. It appears however to have given rise to
Sumbawa being called Java Minor, as we shall find it called in some later
maps. Gilolo (Gelolo vel Siloli*) is greatly exaggerated in size, and
appears to include in its area the island of Ceram, other islands of the
Banda Sea, and perhaps what was known of New Guinea.
(*Footnote. Mr. A.F. Calvert, in his book The Discovery of Australia
(between pages 18 and 19) gives a reproduction of the Australian half of
the southern hemisphere, in which Siloli appears under the name of Sylon.
The mistake however is ours. This is how it happened; through the
kindness of Mr. Delmar Morgan we received some time ago a
photo-lithograpic copy of the portion we refer to. The Royal Geographical
Society of Australasia wished to reproduce Mr. Delmar Morgan's
reproduction. Everyone knows how blurred these repeated reproductions
come out. In consequence we were asked to make a pen and ink facsimile of
Mr. Delmar Morgan's photo-litho. At the time we had not seen the northern
hemisphere of this map, the word read like Sylon, and as the island of
Ceram in that locality has often been written Seillan, Seylan, and Sylon
in old maps, we took it to be Sylon. When we saw the WHOLE MAP shortly
after we perceived our mistake at once, and also that the S of Siloli in
the original was a bad reading for G. Had our signature been left on the
reproduction of our map made by Mr. A.F. Calvert there would have been no
need for this explanation. We have corrected the mistake in the present
map.)
(ILLUSTRATION 72. SCHONER'S WEIMAR GLOBE.)
Schoner's Weimar Globe of 1533.
Schoner's Weimar Globe of 1533 is reproduced here on our projection from
Mr. Harrisse's Discovery of North America. When compared with the
preceding map it appears to have been copied from it. But we must
remember that Schoner's lost globe of 1523, based on the knowledge of
Magalhaens' voyage, contained, according to Schoner's own statements,
features similar to those of this 1533 globe of his; and also that
Schoner was the first geographer who joined America with Asia, and not
Oronce Fine. There is a notable difference between this globe and
Schoner's 1515 globe: In this one the islands, which in 1515 were placed
on the Tropic of Capricorn, are placed on the equator. Java Major and
Java Minor correspond to Java and Sumbawa, and bear the longitudinal
deformation to which we have already referred.* Gilolo (Siloli Gilolo) is
on the equator instead of above it. Magalhaens' Insulae Infortunatae are
placed on the Tropic of Capricorn in the longitude of the Tonga islands.
Timor is right out of its latitude to the north-west of Borneo, which
bears no name.
(*Footnote. See above.)
(ILLUSTRATION 33. GERARD MERCATOR'S DOUBLE CORDIFORM MAPPAMUNDI.)
Gerard Mercator's double cordiform mappamundi of 1538.
Gerard Mercator's double cordiform mappamundi of 1538 is translated here
from the copperprint made by Lafreri and published in Rome in 1560. The
fictitious Australian continent of Schonerean maps is less prominent here
and bears no name. In this region appears for the first time, as far as
we have been able to ascertain, two islands which in latitude and
longitude correspond to some of the largest islands on the western coast
of Australia. These islands are named Los roccos insule.* Java is called
Jaua Maior; it assumes the correct latitudinal position of its early
cartography. Sumbawa, greatly exaggerated in size, is called Jaua Minor.
We notice the Terra alta high land of the Ribeiro maps. The Spice Islands
(Insulae Molucce) and the Ladrones of Magalhaens (Insule Latronum) are
placed to the south of the equator instead of north. The Insulae
Infortunatae, which in Schoner's globe of 1533 are placed in the
longitude of the Tonga Islands, are here situated 15 degrees to the east
of them, somewhere near Rarotonga.
(*Footnote. For further information with regard to these islands, we beg
to refer our readers to the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal
Geographical Society of Australia, Sydney, New South Wales 1891/1892,
Volume V, Point Cloates (Western Australia), and the bird called Rock or
Ruck, by Marco Polo. By George Collingridge, C.M.N.G.S.)
...
HERNANDO DE GRIJALVA'S EXPEDITION.
The year that witnessed the return from the Moluccas of the survivors of
Saavedra's expedition, 1536, witnessed also the sailing of another
expedition sent out from Acapulco by Cortes to discover in the same
waters. It consisted of two ships commanded by Hernando de Grijalva and
Fernando de Alvarado. The account of this voyage of discovery is very
vague, and the various writers on the subject do not entirely agree. It
appears certain however that many islands on the north coast of New
Guinea were visited, and one in particular called isla de los Crespos at
the entrance to Geelvink Bay, near which a bloody tragedy was enacted and
Grijalva murdered by his revolted crew. The expedition came to an end, a
few of the survivors reaching the Spice Islands in 1539. It is supposed
that the second in command, Fernando de Alvarado, returned to New Spain.
Most of the names given during the course of exploration are difficult to
localise. Besides the various place names mentioned by Galvano, Ostrich
Point is perhaps an interesting reminiscence of this untimely voyage. A
casoar would of course be called an ostrich, and here we have for the
first time a picturesque description of that Australasian bird. Galvano's
translator says: "There is heere a bird as bigge as a crane; he flieth
not, nor hath any wings wherewith to flee, he runneth on the ground like
a deere: of their small feathers they do make haire for their idols."
...
(ILLUSTRATION 44. JEAN ROZE'S MAP OF AUSTRALIA, NUMBER 1.)
CHART NUMBER 1. Jean Roze's Chart of Australia, A.D. 1542.
(ILLUSTRATION 45. JEAN ROZE'S MAP OF AUSTRALIA, NUMBER 2.)
Jean Roze's Chart Number 2. 1542.
(ILLUSTRATION 46. JEAN ROZE'S MAP OF AUSTRALIA, NUMBER 2, ORIGINAL
PROJECTION.)
Chart Number 2. Original projection.
TWO MAPS OF AUSTRALIA BY JOHN ROTZ (JEAN ROZE), 1542.
These two maps of Jean Roze, portions of which we give here, are
described as Numbers 10 and 20 respectively in the following extract from
the Catalogue of Maps and Drawings in the British Museum.
"John Rotz, his book of Hydrography, so called, being an account of the
compass, elevation of the pole, latitude, sea coasts, etc., finely
painted. Anno 1542."
This book is dedicated by the author to King Henry VIII, and the diagrams
and maps have illuminated borders, and are otherwise ornamented in gold
and colours.
It is mentioned by Malte-Brun in his Histoire de la Geographie, who on
one point compares it with the additional Manuscript 5413, that is, the
one containing the Dauphin chart, and adds the following, which we have
translated:
"This curious and important manuscript is written in English, on vellum,
but the dedication is French. The author was perhaps one of those
Flamands who went over to England with Anne of Cleves in 1540. Besides a
calendar and some instructions on navigation there are several charts
executed with exactness and elegance, especially a planisphere, which
ends the collection. New Holland is drawn almost like in the charts of
the seventeenth century, before the voyage of Abel Tasman. It bears the
name of Land of Java. In comparing this work with the map of the world
spoken of above one is inclined to believe that the charts of Rotz are
the original ones, for they contain many Portuguese names, which in the
other are translated into French. In both the western coast of Borneo is
placed where it should be, with the names of Porto de Borneo and Paseos
de Borne. To the north of Borneo is to be seen Palaouan or Palawan; to
the east are the Moluccas. These details render inadmissible the opinion
of those who have pretended to see in the New Holland of these charts
only an erroneous repetition of the island of Borneo, named Grand Java by
Marco Polo. In the map of the world Borneo is in fact represented by an
oblong much too small, but this error is common to all the charts of the
same century. Mr. Coquebert-Montbret has seen a collection of charts that
belonged to a certain Jean Valard, of Dieppe, and which bears date 1552,
and the same information is found in them as in the two charts of the
British Museum."
Before proceeding to further describe these two charts we shall correct
some of the statements in the above description. We have received lately
from our learned friend, Dr. E.T. Hamy, a monograph bearing for title
Jean Roze, Hydrographe Dieppois du Milieu du seizieme siecle. This
pamphlet clearly sets forth the following facts:
1. John Rotz was a Frenchman, a native of Dieppe, his correct name being
Jean Roze or Rose.
2. He dedicated his atlas first to the King of France: Parce que ja lons
temps ayant le desir et affection de faire quelque oeuvre plaisante et
agreable an Roy de France quy adonc estoyt mon souverain et naturel
signeur Et apprez auoyr considre le monde estre assez Remply de cartes
marines selon la maniere vulgaire ie maduisay por le mieux de luy faire
et drecer vng liure contenant toutte lidrographie ou science marine Pour
ce quil seroyt plus vtille et proffitable et de plus grand esprit et plus
ayse et plus facile a manyer et regarder que ne seroyt vgne longue carte
marine de quatre ou cinq verges de long Parquoy (Sire) apprez auoyr mis
accord entre l'oppinion et le desir. Je commencay loeuure avec lentention
deuant proposee mays comme ja elle estoit ou peu s'en falloit (accomplie)
notre signeur quy de toutte choses veult disposer selon son plaisir la
voullu adrecer vgne aultre part auec milleure fortune que moy mesme
nesperoys comme jestime veu que telle en a este lordonnance divine...
3. Jean Roze went over to England in 1542, and,
4. his atlas was inspired from the Dieppese school of hydrography, the
first and leading school in France.
So that Jean Rose or Roze was not a Fleming, nor did he go over to
England with Anne of Cleves in 1540.
Moreover, his charts are not the original ones, for the legend ANDA NE
BARCHA and other Portuguese legends and place-names render that
inadmissible.
Malte-Brun is wrong also when he states that Marco Polo named Borneo Java
Major*
(*Footnote. See above.)
...
CHART NUMBER 1.
The first and largest of Jean Roze's maps given here, Number 20 of the
catalogue of maps and drawings in the British Museum, is contained in a
chart of the Indian Ocean from Cape Comorin on the west to Aimoey Bay, in
China, on the east, and from 25 degrees north to 19 degrees south,
including Lytil Jaua, and only a small portion of the Australian
continent, which is cut off from east to west just below our modern Cape
Grafton on the east, and our modern King Sound on the west. In this chart
the south is placed at the top. We reproduce here all that is given of
Australia, with Java and portion of Sumatra. Java is called Lytil Jaua,
Australia bears no name, although in Roze's other map it is called The
Londe, or Lande, of Java.*
(*Footnote. Referring to these maps in his excellent work on the
Discovery of North America Mr. H. Harrisse says: "In the Lusitano-French
maps of the world which originated in the year 1542 with Dieppe
cosmographers such as Pierre Desceliers and his school, there is a
continental configuration which of late has greatly exercised the
historians of maritime discovery. South of the well-known island of Java,
and separated by a strait, these mappamundi exhibit an extensive
continent, stretching southward, and the north coast of which is dotted
with numerous designations of dangerous coasts, capes, rivers, and
landing places. That region, called therein Terre de Java la grande, or,
as John Rotz (Jean Roze) names it so far back as 1542, the Londe of Java,
in contradistinction to Lytil Java, stands, historically speaking,
relative to the Sunda archipelago, precisely in the same position as the
north-western continent in the Cantino chart stands as regards the West
Indies. No historian, no documents of the sixteenth century mention the
existence of such an Austral mainland. We also see it disappear from
subsequent maps until long afterwards, when the region looms up again,
but this time as an alleged discovery accomplished recently by Dutch
navigators.
"That continental land, nevertheless, so far from being imaginary or an
invention of cartographers, was nothing else than Australia, now justly
considered by competent judges as having been discovered, visited, and
named by unknown Portuguese mariners--whose maps furnished the
cartographical data used in the Dieppe charts--sixty or seventy years
before the Dutch first sighted the shores of that extensive country." The
Discovery of North America, pages 96 to 97.
Mr. Harrisse adds the following note: Page 97 Note 4--The Sandwich
Islands and the Falkland Islands present other instances of the kind.
"That the Spaniards knew the Sandwich Islands a long time before COOK,
that they had a name for them, that they probably visited them
repeatedly, was proved by a map which Admiral ANSON found on board a
Spanish vessel, and on which those islands were laid down in their true
position." J.G. KOHL. Substance of a lecture delivered at the Smithsonian
Institution in General Appendix to the Report for 1856. Washington D.C.
4to. page 111.)
It is contrary to all precedent for Java to be called Lytil Java. This
name may have been suggested by a chart similar to the Dauphin chart,
that is, a chart bearing the name Java Maior or Jave la Grande, on the
Australian continent, for this name given to Australia would naturally
suggest Java Minor, Jave la Petite, or Lytil Java for the smaller of the
two islands. But such a name, as we have said, is without precedent in
the historical nomenclature of this part of the world. In other words, it
is an error.
Marco Polo, who was the first to use the terms Java Major and Java Minor,
applied the term Java Minor to Sumatra to distinguish it from "the
largest island in the world," which he called Java Major. A careful study
of mediaeval geographical literature and cartography will show that
whenever the term Java Minor, or Menor, is not applied to Sumatra, as it
should be according to Marco Polo's meaning, it indicates, according to
the various interpretations of divers historians and cartographers who
have written about these islands, the island of Bali, Lomboc, Madura or
Sumbawa--all islands smaller than Java, and having therefore an
appearance of claim to the term. The nomenclature of the portions of
coast shown north, east, and west, is as follows:
North coast--Lytil Jaua; and Fin de Jaua, end of Java. For other names on
this island we beg leave to refer the reader to the map published in the
Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia,
Sydney, New South Wales; volume v. 1891/1892.
In the Gulf of Carpentaria, or perhaps to the east of Java, and if so,
referring to the rapid tides between Java and Bali, Bali and Lomboc, we
find the legend ANDA NE BARCHA (no boats go here) of the Dauphin chart
corrupted to Au fane bacha. Erroneously it appears to refer to, and name,
two islands situated between York Peninsula and the east end of Java.
Those two nameless islands are probably charted for Bali and Lomboc,
since Sumbawa is there also to the east of them. Sumbawa however is
undistinguishable because forming the apex of York Peninsula, to which it
has been joined. With reference to Anda ne barcha, the elision of the
letter r in the word bacha indicated by the stroke above its position in
the word, and the fact of the same word being spelt in full, barcha, on
the Dauphin chart, proves beyond the slightest doubt two important
points: first, that these charts are not the originals; and second, that
they were copied from different originals, since the copyist in each case
set down mechanically the two correct forms of spelling the word boat or
ship, bacha and barcha, without knowing what it meant, as is evidenced by
his incorrect spelling of the first portion of the phrase in this chart,
and the incorrect spelling of most of the nomenclature in the Dauphin
chart. The nomenclature of the island of Sumbawa, which we have omitted
for want of space on our sketch, is as follows: From east to west,
gumape, cape bima, c: vatraar or ratraar, Sinbana, moro, and moda.
Which we interpret as follows: Gumape--modern Gunong Api, a small island
lying off the north-east coast of Sumbawa. It is important however
because it contains a volcano which forms one of the most remarkable
physical features of the Indian archipelago.
Cape bima--modern name, Bima--north-east coast of Sumbawa.
C: Vatraar, or ratraar--probably a bad reading for Aramaram in F.
Rodriguez' Portolano 1511/1512; or it may be a corruption of Masaram or
Massaram, another name for Bramble Cay, an island situated at the extreme
north end of Cape York.
Sinbana--the name of the island, the modern Sumbawa. It is written
Simbana in F. Rodriguez' Portolano, 1511/1512.
Moro, or Maro, may be intended for Maio, a small island at the entrance
of Salee Gulf, Sumbawa.
Moda (?)--a name on the north-western coast of Sumbawa. We have not been
able to identify it.
On the east coast, which is the coast of Queensland, one name only
occurs, not far distant from the spot where Cook was nearly wrecked in
the Endeavour. This name--coste dangerose--speaks for itself; it appears
along a coast lined with reefs, clearly shown on this map.
On the west coast appear the following names:
Ille de llame (?) may be a corruption of ilha llana--Low island, or Level
island.
Illa or Ille da, an unfinished appellation.
Isle Mege or Nege (?)
abaie bressille, Brazil Bay.
terra en negade, a corruption of terra anegada, submerged land.
Abaie a besse (?)
Abaie de, an unfinished appellation.
...
CHART NUMBER 2.
Chart Number 2 is a reduced copy of portion of Jean Roze's outline map of
Southern Asia and Australia. As will appear from our sketch the
information to be obtained from this document as regards nomenclature is
meagre; one item however of great importance is that the west coast of
the Londe of Java terminates precisely in the latitude of Cape Lioness,
or Leeuwin of modern charts; this points to the discovery of Cape
Leeuwin. We have suggested elsewhere that the peculiar shape of the
Australian continent might have suggested the name Lioness. Since then we
have received a photographic copy of another of these old charts of the
Lusitano-Dieppese school, and we offer now another suggestion, quantum
valeat. Tigers and lions have been supposed to inhabit Australia, but on
the document we have lately received a lion, or lioness (we would not be
quite certain as to the artist's intention), is represented as having
taken up his or her abode in the latitude of Cape Leeuwin, where Jean
Roze's chart comes to an end.
Java is called The Lytil Jaua, and Australia The Londe, or Land of Jaua.
The outline of the Australian continent shows that it belongs to the same
class of maps as the Dauphin chart, although in the latter the
prolongation of coast from Cape Leeuwin to the South Pole constitutes a
notable difference that may have some meaning. It is obvious that Jean
Roze, in presenting this map to Henry VIII, had no intention or interest
in showing the sea-way blocked as it is in all the other maps of this
school.
CHAPTER 32. A.D. 1540 TO 1545.
VILLALOBOS' EXPEDITION.
NEW GUINEA NAMED BY INIGO ORTIZ DE RETEZ AND GASPAR RICO.
JUAN GAETAN'S ACCOUNT OF THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE OF THE SAN JUAN ALONG THE
NORTH COAST OF NEW GUINEA.
(ILLUSTRATION 97. INITIAL A.)
After the treaties of Segovia, Seville, and Zaragoza the King of Spain
renounced at last his claim to the Moluccas for the sum of 350,000
ducats. But this agreement did not interfere with other possessions of
the Spanish Crown, nor did it prevent it from making fresh conquests. The
Spanish Government continued therefore to send out their armadas to those
quarters that were on the confines of the Portuguese settlements; for
islands to which they lay claim, such as the Archipelago of St. Lazarus,
discovered by Magalhaens, afterwards called the Philippines in honour of
Philip II of Spain, invited their eager enterprise.
One of these maritime excursions belongs to our subject as it gave rise
to a further survey of Papua, and to the naming of that island as it is
now called New Guinea. We refer to the expedition of Ruiz Lopez de
Villalobos, which set sail from the port of Juan Gallego in New Spain, on
the 1st of November 1542, for the purpose of settling the colony now
known as the Philippines. The armada was composed of six ships and four
or five hundred soldiers, and as many Indians of the country, says
Galvano. On their way from the west coast of North America to the islands
discovered by Magalhaens they discovered many islands in the North
Pacific Ocean, among others the group of islands afterwards named by
Cook* the Sandwich Islands.
(*Footnote. See above.)
In 1543 one of the ships belonging to the fleet, the San Juan, commanded
by Bernardo de La Torre, with Gaspar Rico as pilot, made an unsuccessful
attempt to return to New Spain.
The Spaniards in their numerous efforts to reach New Spain from the great
Asiatic Archipelago had not yet found out the proper season nor latitude
to sail in, and through their want of knowledge concerning the
periodicity of the winds in those regions they met with many mishaps.
In Bernardo de La Torre's attempt many islands were discovered; but,
after sailing seven hundred leagues in their estimation, the wind
failing, they were compelled to return to the Philippine Islands.
The fleet had now reached the Moluccas, and in 1545 the San Juan was
despatched again. She was now commanded by Inigo Ortiz de Retez, Gaspar
Rico being still the pilot. They sailed from Tidor in the month of May,
and made extensive discoveries on the north coast of OS PAPUAS, or Papua.
One of the three great Papuan rivers, the river now called the AMBERNO,
was discovered. It received the name of St. Augustin River.* Formal
possession of the island was taken in the name of the King of Spain, and,
says Galvano's translator, "BECAUSE THE PEOPLE THERE WERE BLACK AND HAD
FRISLED HAIR, THEY NAMED IT NUEVA GUINEA"..."AND BECAUSE THEY KNEW NOT
THAT SAAVEDRA HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE, THEY CHALENGED THE HONOUR AND FAME
OF THAT DISCOUERIE."..."FOR THE MEMORIE OF SAAVEDRA AS THEN WAS ALMOST
LOST, AS ALL THINGS ELSE DO FALL INTO OBLIVION, WHICH ARE NOT RECORDED,
AND ILLUSTRATED BY WRITING."
(*Footnote. See below, Hoeius' map 1640.)
Juan Gaetan, one of Villalobos' pilots, has written an account of this
expedition which is given in Ramusio's collection. We give here the
portion of it relating to New Guinea, because it corroborates Herrera's,
Galvano's, and other descriptions, and mentions the return of the little
ship San Juan to New Spain: Ramusio, fol. 377 F: ...essendo gia l'anno
1545, al principio di quello, & muto il parizzo, che noi altri per auanti
haueuamo fatto, & volse che si andasse per la parte di mezzodi, il
nauilio il qual seguitte la sua nauigatione, & secondo che dapoi da loro
sapemmo, navigarono cento leghe per quella altezza al leuante, &
trouarono la costa, & terra da mezzo grado, alla banda di mezzodi, &
andarono costeggiando & nauigando 650, leghe senza perder vista di
quella, quasi al leuante, & ponente, salvo che montarono sei in sette
gradi della banda di mezzodi, la qual terra trouarono tutta habitata da
negri, che vennero alla costa con freccie, & bastoni senza veleno a
fargli la guerra, & sono negri molto agili, & con li capelli corti, &
ritorti finalmente dopo molti trauagli, & fortune che hebbero, giunsero
nella nuoua Spagna, & diedero nuoua al Vice Re, di quanto per noi era
stato fatto, ma noi nola sapemmo se non dapoi.
With reference to the description of New Guinea natives given in the
passage above we may be allowed to correct a statement made lately by Mr.
Petherick, and endorsed by Mr. Delmar Morgan, two eminent writers on
Australasian maritime discovery. These writers appear to have taken
Gaetan's description as referring to Australian natives, if both of these
gentlemen did not indeed believe that the San Juan ran along the coast of
Queensland. This points to the necessity of referring to original
documents. Mr. Delmar Morgan says*: "The only allusion to one (a southern
continent) is that given by Ramusio from the account of the pilot Gaetan,
who heard that a small vessel, the San Juan, sailed 650 leagues (2,600
miles) without losing sight of land, running nearly east and west, and
that this land was found to be inhabited by naked black people with short
hair, who came to the coast carrying darts and clubs to make war, and
that they were very active. This, observes Mr. Petherick in an article
contributed to the Melbourne Review, is the earliest account we have of
the natives of Australia, and may be taken as a true picture of the
inhabitants of Queensland 250 years ago."
(*Footnote. Remarks on the Early Discovery of Australia by E. DELMAR
MORGAN, F.R.G.S., with maps, for the Geographical Congress at Berne.
London 1891 page 14.)
Had Mr. Petherick, and after him Mr. Delmar Morgan, only referred to
Ramusio's text, they would have noticed that the San Juan was ordered to
follow the equator--Volse che si andasse per la parte di mezzodi, which
she did, sighting land in 1/2 a degree south of the equator--
...trouarono la costa, & terra da mezzo grado, alla banda di mezzodi, and
following this land until they stood in six or seven degrees of south
latitude--salvo che montarono sei in sette gradi della banda di mezzodi,
In other words, they sighted New Guinea at its north-west extremity, or
Cape of Good Hope, and never lost sight of land till they reached Cape
King William or thereabouts, making the passage between New Britain and
New Guinea. Nor is the distance correctly translated, for 650 leagues do
not make 2,600 miles.
CHAPTER 33. A.D. 1544 TO 1569.
THE SEBASTIAN CABOT MAPPAMUNDI OF 1544.
THE HENRI II (SO CALLED) MAPPAMUNDI OF 1546.
PIERRE DESCELIERS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1550.
MENDANA'S EXPEDITION OF 1567.
(ILLUSTRATION 73. SEBASTIAN CABOT MAPPAMUNDI.)
(ILLUSTRATION 98. INITIAL T.)
The Sebastian Cabot Mappamundi of 1544 is an engraved map drawn in one
ellipsis on the Bordone projection. The Australasian portion of it,
reproduced here from Jomard's Atlas, we have limited to 10 degrees south,
as there is no Australian continent represented. The East Indian
Archipelago follows the features of the Diego Ribeiro type of map,
inasmuch as the southern shores of most of the islands composing that
group are not defined; but the islands between Java and Flores, left out
in the Diego Ribeiro map of 1529, are set down in this one.
Jaua Maior applies to Java, and Jaua Minor seems to apply to the East
Indian Archipelago from Java to Flores. Sumbawa is indicated by the name
Simbana.
The interest of the map for us lies in the representation of a portion of
New Guinea, and an island bearing the name of Camabam.
Camabam appears to represent that portion of the north-west coast of New
Guinea situated below the McCluer Inlet, from Deri, Cape Peninsula, to
Adi Island, and which to the present day figures on the latest Admiralty
charts as a possible island.
Ysla de los hobres blancos, island of white men, in the same locality,
reminds one of a similar appellation given by Saavedra to some islands on
the north coast of New Guinea.
The Los roccos islands of G. Mercator's map of 1538 are set down on this
map, but in a different longitude and latitude. They are in 120 degrees
longitude, and between 15 and 20 degrees latitude, and do not appear
therefore in our sketch. They bear the name islas Rocos with the marginal
note Enestas islas Rocos ay aues de tal grandeza [segum dizen] y fuerza
que tomam un boy ylo traienuolando para comer, y mas dizen que tomam un
batel por grande que sea ylo leuantan en grande altura, y despues lo
dexan caer, y comense los hombres, y el Petrarcha semeiantemente lo dize
en su libro de prospera y aduersa fortuna. In these Roc Islands there are
birds of such a size (as some say) and strength, that they can carry away
an ox to eat it, and many say that they take a boat, no matter how big,
lift it to a great height, and then let it fall and eat the men, and
Petrarch says the same in his treatise on prosperity and adversity.
The fictitious Antarctic continent of earlier charts has been left out,
but an inscription in those regions reads thus: Terra vel mare
incognitum. Land or sea unknown, which is a very wise statement.
...
THE HENRI II MAPPAMUNDI (SO-CALLED). DATE, 1546.
(ILLUSTRATION 38. HENRI II MAPPAMUNDI.)
This is a large manuscript planisphere by Pierre Desceliers, a priest of
Arques, near Dieppe, who was a celebrated cosmographer and cartographer,
and the author of several maps of this type.
It bears the inscription Mappemonde peinte sur parchemin par ordre de
Henri II roi de France, and for this reason has sometimes been called the
Henri II map. Java bears the name of IAVA petite. The Australian
continent is called IAVA LA GRANDE. The west coast is prolonged further
south than in the Dauphin and Roze charts; the other Australian coastal
features of this map are almost similar to those described in maps of
this class. The island of Timor is larger than in the Dauphin chart, and
the island of Flores is placed latitudinally, as it ought to be, whereas
in the Dauphin chart it is placed longitudinally. For the nomenclature we
beg leave to refer the reader to the list given above chapter 30.
...
PIERRE DESCELIERS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1550.
(ILLUSTRATION 64. PIERRE DESCELIERS' MAP OF AUSTRALIA.)
Pierre Desceliers' Chart of Australia, A.D. 1550.
This is another large manuscript planisphere, by the priest of Arques,
and it bears in bold characters the inscription: FAICTE A ARQVES PAR
PIERRES DESCELIERS PBRE: LAN: 1550. It is now in the British Museum. The
general features of the Australian continent are the same as those of the
maps of this class which we have already described. In the position of
the Abrolhos group on the western coast of Australia there is an island
on this map which bears the name arenes. This island is also set down on
the Dauphin map, on the Jean Roze reduced map, and on the Henri II map,
but on all of them it bears no name. Thus we have been unable to compare
the word arenes and fix its meaning by corroborative evidence. We do not
believe it to be a corruption of arenas sand, but rather of abrolhos, the
name it has preserved to this day. Other similar charts might solve the
mystery. The full nomenclature of this interesting document will be found
above chapter 30.
The Portuguese and Spanish origin of this chart is as apparent as in the
others we have described belonging to this class, although many of the
words that have not been translated into French have suffered greater
mutilation. At first sight the most remarkable feature is the display of
descriptive matter contained in cartouches spread here and there between
the illuminations, and which have perhaps blocked out Jave la Grande, or
some similar name, describing the vast locality occupied by these
cartouches, and the quaint figures with which this map is profusely
ornamented. However there may have been an intention in this, for all the
descriptions are extracts taken from Marco Polo's and Barthema's
writings, and Marco Polo's description of Java Major has been, no doubt
purposely, left out also. With reference to the term major we must
remember that the general belief of Marco Polo's informers, whether
Chinese, Malays, or Arabs, was that the present Java and Australia were
but one and the same large island, and Marco Polo called it Java Major,
or the LARGEST ISLAND IN THE WORLD.
(ILLUSTRATION 9. CANNIBALISM.)
Cannibalism.
(ILLUSTRATION 41. IDOLATRY.)
Idolatry.
We have had some difficulty in translating the nondescript old French
contained in the cartouches we have referred to, and still greater
difficulty in localising these descriptions, for the name of place above
each frame is not in every instance the right name according to the
description below it. The result of our researches is as follows: The
descriptive matter under the respective headings of Java and Sumatra is
taken from Marco Polo's description of Java Minor, i.e. Sumatra. Pego
refers to Pegu, Melasque to Malacca, Seilan to Ceylon, and Angania to the
Andaman Isles. As none of these descriptions refer to Australia we shall
only point out that, as the figures representing cannibalism and idolatry
are alluded to in the text contiguous to them, they have no connection
with Australia; the same may be said of the two elephants, which
evidently are meant to illustrate the text on the right hand side, namely
under the heading of Sumatra. The only illustrations which might be
supposed to appertain to Australia are those NOT ALLUDED TO IN THE FRENCH
TEXT, such as the representations of trees, rough* guniah-looking
dwellings, guanacos, and those strange huts on the western coast which
may have been inspired by some such freak of nature as was seen by
Dampier on the same coast some hundred and thirty odd years after these
charts were depicted. Dampier says: "There were several things like
haycocks standing in the savannah, which at a distance we thought were
houses, looking just like the Hottentots' houses at the Cape of Good
Hope; but we found them to be so many rocks." Dampier and his companions
may have mistaken some ant-hills for rocks. Peron describes some huge
dome-shaped ant-hills seen on this coast, and Captain Pelsart, in 1629,
also describes some ant-hills seen by him and his companions when in
search for water on this same coast in latitude 22 degrees south. In 1818
Allan Cunningham, when on the west coast of Australia, at the Bay of
Rest, took occasion to measure one of these gigantic ant-hills of that
coast. He found it to be eight feet in height and twenty-six in girth.
Pelsart's account runs thus: "On the 16th of June in the morning they
returned on shore in hopes of getting more water, but were disappointed;
and having no time to observe the country it gave them no great hopes of
better success, even if they had travelled farther within land, which
appeared a thirsty, barren plain, covered with ANT-HILLS, SO HIGH THAT
THEY LOOKED AFAR OFF LIKE THE HUTS OF NEGROES."
(*Footnote. Pigafetta, in describing the houses of the inhabitants of the
Ladrone islands, was no doubt responsible for the delineation of these
rough and ready sheds. He says: "Their houses are of wood, covered with
planks, over which leaves of their fig-trees (banana-trees), four feet in
length, are spread.")
Dampier in his second voyage to this coast in 1699, but more than one
hundred miles further south, describes again some of these evidently very
remarkable features of the western coast of Australia. He says: "Here are
a great many rocks in the large savannah we were in, which are five or
six feet high and round at top like a haycock, very remarkable; some red
and some white." But Flinders when on this coast actually came across
native huts similar to those depicted on P. Desceliers' chart of
Australia.
As for the European buildings representing forts and castles, they are
mostly situated where we know them to have been, excepting of course
those two which are placed on York Peninsula.
The Portuguese legend Anda ne barcha has entirely lost its signification
on this map; it is altered to Autane bamcha, the only clue to the
transformation being that the second word still retains the initial small
b of barcha. Although, as we have remarked, the continent of Australia
bears no name (unless we reckon as such TERRE AUSTRALLE, which appears on
the imaginary part, prolonged towards the South Pole), the island of Java
bears a double name, JAVE, in large letters on the extreme border of the
Southern coast, and iaua in small, marked on the northernmost part.
Now this small name, iaua, occupying the true centre of what should be,
and probably was, the original shape given to Java, shows beyond doubt
that the south coast of Java has been deliberately extended further south
in order to block the passage between the south of Java and the north
coast of Australia; otherwise, had this been the original shape given to
Java, we might expect to see the name set down only once, in the centre
of the island. The term iaua is also older than Jave, which indicates
that the chart has been compiled from several sources.
(ILLUSTRATION 21. DIEGO DO COUTO'S HOG (JAVA).)
Diego do Couto's hog.
In Diego do Couto's description of Java appears the following, which
tends to show that the Portuguese soon became aware of a more correct
shape for Java than that under which it appears in this and the other
charts of this class. Quoth Diego do Couto, writing about 1570: "The
figure* of the island of Java resembles a hog couched on its fore legs,
with its snout to the channel of Balabero, and its hind legs towards the
mouth of the Straits of Sunda, which is much frequented by our
ships...its length about 160 and its breadth about 70 leagues. The
southern coast (hog's back), is not frequented by us, and its bays and
ports are not known; but the northern coast (hog's belly) is much
frequented, and has many good ports."
(*Footnote. Placing the south at the top was a common practice among
cartographers at the time these charts were made.)
In the above description we have a more accurate idea of the proportion
of Java, and an explanation for that unnatural sleek curve representing
the south coast, because unexplored, and described by Couto as the HOG'S
BACK.
MENDANA'S EXPEDITION OF 1567.
In pursuance of their object to attain the Spice Islands from America to
the westward and make fresh discoveries the Spaniards continued to send
out expeditions whenever an opportunity offered.
Most Spanish writers agree in ascribing the voyage in which Mendana
discovered the Solomon Islands to the period in which Lopez Garcia de
Castro governed Peru, and Dalrymple,* quoting Figueroa, says of this
voyage: "They sailed from Callao the 10th January 1567, and reached the
coast of Mexico 22nd of January 1568. They ran from Callao with contrary
winds 1450 leagues, when they discovered a small island inhabited in 6
degrees 45 minutes south, which Mendana named Isla de Jesus. At 160
leagues from this island they fell in with a large ledge of rocks and
small islands within them in 6 degrees 15 minutes south, which were named
the Baxos de la Candaleria; they lay north-east and south-west, and might
be 15 leagues in circuit altogether. They saw another land, which they
named Santa Isabella, very populous; at 6 leagues to the south-east of a
port in it they found two small islands in 8 degrees south." Dalrymple
further says: "Figueroa then gives an account of the rest of the Solomon
Islands; the farthest south he mentions, except St Christoval, which has
a port in 11 degrees south, is a volcano named Segarga, 8 leagues in
circuit in 9 degrees 45 minutes south, beyond which is Guadalcanal.
Figueroa does not mention the latitude of Guadalcanal, nor does he give
any longitude of these islands. He says they stood in north from
Christoval into 3 degrees south, where they had signs of land, and
thought it was New Guinea."
(*Footnote. An historical collection of the several voyages and
discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, 1770/1771.)
According to modern Spanish geographers* Mendana left Callao on the 20th
November 1567; sighted an island fifty days after, which they called la
isla de Jesus, and, continuing their course in a south and south-westerly
direction, came to anchor in a port of the island of Santa Isabel,
belonging to the Solomon Group.
(*Footnote. Descubrimiento de la Oceania por los Espanoles. D. Ricardo
Beltran y Rozpide. Ateneo de Madrid 1892.)
This group was so called because the legends of the time reported that
from those islands were derived the gold and other treasures that served
for the decoration of King Solomon's temple.
At the island of Santa Isabel they built a brigantine, and Mendana sent
Pedro Ortega and the chief pilot, Hernan Gallego, with 12 sailors and 18
soldiers to discover the whole group; some of the principal islands
discovered and named being Buena Vista, Sesarga, Guadalcanar, San Jorge,
San Nicolas, etc. In the month of August they returned to America, where
they arrived in January 1569.
Other islands of the same archipelago were named as follows: Ramos o
Malaita, Galera, Florida, San Dimas, San German, Guadalupe, Arrecifes,
San Marcos, Treguada, Tres Marias, Santiago, San Urban, San Christobal o
Pauro, Santa Catalina o Aguari y Santa Ana o Itapa.
We subjoin the following extract from C.M. Woodford's valuable book, A
Naturalist Among the Head Hunters: A translation of portions of Gallego's
Journal, a copy of which is in the British Museum, describing many of the
events that took place during the voyage of the Spaniards, is given in
Dr. Guppy's book, The Solomon Islands. The original manuscript of
Catoira, a much fuller account of the voyages than that of Gallego, is in
the possession of Mr. W. Amherst Tyssen Amherst, M.P., and has never been
printed. During my last visit to the Solomons I was furnished with a
translation of this journal which enabled me to identify the places
visited by the Spaniards. I have taken photographs of some of the most
interesting localities, and made copious notes upon the journal. It will,
I hope, shortly be published."
The original manuscript in which Mendana's voyage in 1567 is narrated was
found in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, by Dr. E.T. Hamy, its title
being: Relacion breve de lo suscedido en el viaje que hizo Alvaro de
Mendana en la demanda de la Nueva Guinea, laqual ya estava descubierta
por Inigo Ortiz de Retez que fue con Villalobos de la tierra de Nueva
Espana, en el ano de 1541.
CHAPTER 34. A.D. 1569 TO 1580.
GERARD MERCATOR'S MAPPAMUNDI OF 1569.
ORTELIUS' MAPPAMUNDI OF 1570.
THE RISE OF ENGLAND'S MARITIME POWER.
DRAKE AMONGST THE ISLANDS TO THE NORTH OF AUSTRALIA.
(ILLUSTRATION 5. AUSTRALASIAN REGIONS ON G. MERCATOR'S [1569]
MAPPAMUNDI.)
The Australian Regions in Mercator's Mappamundi of 1569.
(ILLUSTRATION 99. INITIAL G.)
Mercator's map of the world disregards previous cartographical
representations of Australia, and lays down a more or less fictitious
continent instead, which does not appear to be based on any definite
discovery or charting, but merely on a vague knowledge of the existence
of the Australian continent.
The nomenclature is taken chiefly from Marco Polo's writings, to which
however a false interpretation has been given, inasmuch as the islands in
the northern hemisphere mentioned by him have been placed in the southern
hemisphere on this mappamundi, and his Java Major is made to apply to
Java.
On the southern continental land, which occupies the site of Australia,
such names as Lucach, Beach, Maletur,* etc. may be seen, and a gulf which
looks something like the Gulf of Carpentaria is occupied by a couple of
islands named Petan and Jaua Minor.
(*Footnote. Maletur, through an oversight, has been omitted on our map;
it should occur under Beach thus: Maletur regnum in quo maxima est copia
aromatum.)
Lucach and Maletur, in Polo's writings, belong to Asia. Beach* is a
corruption of Lucach. Petan has been identified as Bintang, and Java
Minor refers to Sumatra.
(*Footnote. With reference to Beach, Major says in Early Voyages to
Australia, page xvii.: "We have already explained from Marsden's notes
the reasonable rendering of the name of Lucach or Lochac. The name of
Beach, or rather Boeach, is another form of the same name, which crept
into the Basle edition of Marco Polo of 1532, and was blunderingly
repeated by the cartographers; while for Maletur we have the suggestion
of the Burgomaster Witsen, in his Noord en Oost Tartarye, fol. 169, that
it is taken from Maleto, on the north side of the island of Timor, a
suggestion rendered null by the fact, apparently unknown to Witsen, that
Maletur, as already stated, was but a mis-spelling in the Basle edition
for Malaiur. The sea in which, on these early maps, this remarkable land
is made to lie, is called Mare Lantchidol, another perplexing piece of
mis-spelling upon which all the cartographers have likewise stumbled, and
which finds its explanation in the Malay words, Laut Kidol, or Chidol,
the South Sea." For another interpretation of Laut Kidol see also
Verhandelingen Betrekkelijk Het Zeewezen, volume 27 pages 165, 166.
In Prince Henry the Navigator, Appendix page 307, Major insists on the
blunder committed by the printer of the Basle edition of Marco Polo thus:
"In the Basle edition of Marco Polo in 1532 the printer unluckily altered
the L into a B, and the first c into an e, so that the word Locach became
Boeach. This was afterwards shortened into Beach, and the blunder was
repeated in books and on maps with so much confidence that we find it
even occurring on a semi-globe which adorns the monument of the learned
Sir Henry Savile in Merton College Chapel, Oxford; and strangely enough
it is the only geographical name thereon inscribed. As however some
editions of Marco Polo retained the word Locach, and others Beach, both
names came to be copied on to maps, and, the point of departure being
Java, the mapmakers, following the course indicated in Marco Polo, laid
these countries down as forming part of the great southern land which was
supposed to occupy the entire south part of the globe."
We are not quite sure that the printer of the Basle edition of Marco Polo
had no authority for altering the L of Lucach into a B, for the
alteration had already been made before the year 1532. It may be noticed
on the 1489 map of Bartholomew Columbus, where we read provintia bocaach.
See above.
On Martin Behaim's globe Lucach or Lochac is altered to Coachs.)
New Guinea forms an important feature in this famous mappamundi. It is
separated from the Australian continent by a narrow strait, although the
cartographer expresses his doubts as to its being thus separated...si
modo insula est, nam sitne insula an pars continentis Australis ignotu
adhuc est.
The inscription on New Guinea which contains the above remark reads thus:
Noua Guinea que ab Andrea Corsali Florentino videtur dici Terra de
piccinacoli. Forte Labadij insula est Ptolomeo, si modo insula est, nam
sitne insula an pars continentis australis ignoti adhuc est.
The information contained in that inscription is very faulty. Andrea
Corsali never saw New Guinea himself, but described it from hearsay.
Writing from Cochin China to the Duke of Medici on the 6th of January
1515 he says: Et nauigando verso le parti d' oriente, dicono esserui
terra de piccinacoli, & e di molti openione che questa terra vada a
tenere, & congiungersi per la Banda di Leuante & mezogiorno, con la costa
del Brezil o' verzino, perche per la grandezza di detta terra del Verzino
non si e per anchora da tutta le parti discoperta. And navigating towards
the east, they say there lies the land of Piccinacoli, and many believe
that this land is connected towards the east in the south with the coast
of Bresil, or Verzino,* because, on account of the size of this land of
Verzino, it is not as yet on all sides discovered.
(*Footnote. See above. Australia and Brasielie regio.)
Mercator, in attempting to rectify the cartography of his time, made it
worse in many respects, and certainly made great confusion of the Eastern
and Australasian portion of it. In endeavouring to rename the islands in
those regions he made use of Ptolemy's and Marco Polo's nomenclature, but
failed generally to understand or locate their descriptions. He was the
first cartographer, we believe, to alter Fra Mauro's Java to Japan, and
the Java* of Ptolemy, which had been set down in a duplicate manner under
the names Labadii** and Sabadibae he confounds with New Guinea, which he
splits up into four islands, naming the three smaller ones to the west
Cainam Sabadibe insule tres, and the large one to the east "is no doubt,"
he says, "Ptolemy's Labadij."
(*Footnote. There is a triplicate Java in Ptolemy's map bearing the name
Zaba. See above.)
(**Footnote. Labadii and Sabadibae are corrupted forms of Java Dwipa or
Jaoa diva of Sanscrit or Arabic origin.)
A strange thing happened, owing no doubt to Corsali's remarks, which cast
a doubt on the insularity of New Guinea,* and this is what happened.
Geographers, following Mercator's map, continued to represent New Guinea
as an island, and, notwithstanding, placed thereon an inscription to the
effect that it was not known whether it were an island or not.**
Mendana's discoveries to the east of New Guinea are not charted.
(*Footnote. New Guinea had been nearly circumnavigated before Mercator's
map was made. Coming from the north-west, Gomez de Sequeira (see
Appendix) had no doubt navigated the straits of Torres in 1525, and
Mendana in 1567 had reached the north-east end of New Guinea.)
(*Footnote. We think that Andrea Corsali's remarks give the clue to the
uncertainty which prevailed from that date until Captain Cook set the
matter at rest. On this subject, and referring to the chart in de
Brosses' work, Mr. G.B. Barton in History of New South Wales from the
Records, Volume 1 pages xxvii. and xxviii., says: "Looking at one of
these charts, we observe that there is nothing to indicate the existence
of the straits between the mainland and Van Diemen's Land; but the
passage now known as Torres Straits is distinctly shown, although in the
text the author repeatedly expresses a doubt whether the mainland touched
New Guinea or not.
"Why this doubt should have been expressed by de Brosses when the
position of the straits is shown so clearly in his charts is a question
not easily answered. The discovery of the fact that Torres had sailed
through the straits in 1606 is attributed to Dalrymple, who made it known
to the world in his Account of the Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean
previous to 1764, published in 1767--a work which we may safely assume
had its place in the Endeavour's library. Flinders states in his
introduction that 'the existence of such a strait was generally unknown
until 1770, when it was again discovered and passed by our great
circumnavigator, Captain Cook.' In making this statement he seems to have
repeated a remark made in the introduction (page xvi.) to Cook's Third
Voyage, where the reader is told that 'though the great sagacity and
extensive reading of Mr. Dalrymple had discovered some traces of such a
passage having been found before, yet those traces were so obscure and so
little known in the present age that,' among other things, 'the President
de Brosses had not been able to satisfy himself about them.' But, unless
he had satisfied himself on the subject, why did he construct his maps of
New Holland and New Guinea in such a manner as to show the straits? This
is one of the many little puzzles connected with Australian geography of
the last century which deserves the attention of those who are interested
in it. The only answer to the question seems to be that de Brosses looked
upon New Holland as an island, probably considering that fact
established; but not having seen the Relation, written by Torres of his
passage through the straits, he thought that there was just room for a
doubt on the subject. Nothing was known about Tasman's second voyage in
his time.
"Dalrymple's Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the
South Pacific Ocean was another work of great authority at the time it
was published--1770. It contained a chart of the South Pacific, 'pointing
out the discoveries made therein previous to 1764,' which showed Torres'
track in 1606 through the straits. The work made its appearance too late
to form part of the Endeavour's library..."
But although Dalrymple's Historical Collection of Voyages, etc.,
mentioned above, appeared too late to form part of the Endeavour's
library, Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks were in possession of the
information contained in that work when they passed through Torres
Straits. This would appear from a letter written by Dalrymple to the
editor of Cook's Voyages. We do not know whether this letter has been
published in any English work, but it was published in 1774 in a
translation of Dalrymple's work by Mr. de Freville, entitled Voyages dans
le mer du Sud. From page 469 to 502 of that work there is a long letter
from Dalrymple to Hawkesworth, in which Dalrymple states that he gave to
Mr. Banks (since Sir Joseph Banks) a collection of the discoveries
attempted in the Pacific Ocean with a map of those discoveries drawn by
himself and which he published only after the return of Mr. de
Bougainville. Dalrymple also states that he had marked Torres' track on
his map from information contained in Arias' memorial, and that the track
thus marked determined the course of the Endeavour between New Guinea and
New Holland. Opinions, he says, were at first divided: Captain Cook. on
the authority of Mr. Pingre, pretended that Torres had sailed to the
north of New Guinea: Mr. Banks on the contrary maintained that he had
left New Guinea on his right hand side. The route marked on my map, says
Dalrymple, was at last unanimously adopted, etc., Il n'est pas moins
vrai, que la route de Torrez que j'avois dessinee sur ma carte d'apres le
memoire d' Arias, determina l'Endeavour a passer entre la Nouvelle
Hollande and la Nouvelle Guinee. Les opinions avoient d' abord ete
partagees; le Capitaine Cook, s'appuyant sur l'autorite de M. Pingre,
pretendoit que Torres avoit fait voile au Nord de la Nouvelle Guinee; M.
Banks soutenoit all contraire qu'il avoit laisse la Nouvelle Guinee a
droite. La route dessinee sur ma carte reunit enfin les suffrages. And
Dalrymple adds that his map was not compiled from conjectures, but from
facts.)
The Australasian regions on Ortelius' mappamundi of the following year,
1570, are so similar to G. Mercator's in cartographical details and
nomenclature that we have not thought it necessary to reproduce here that
sample of cartography.
At the date we have now reached other European nations were on the eve of
contending with Portugal and Spain for the right to trade with distant
countries. The daring sea rovers of France and England first began the
conflict, to be followed afterwards by resolute Dutch sea captains and
merchants. "During the reign of Elizabeth," says an English historian,*
"that spirit of commercial enterprise which had been awakened under Mary
seemed to pervade and animate every description of men. For the extension
of trade and the discovery of unknown lands associations were formed,
companies were incorporated, expeditions were planned; and the prospect
of immense profit, which, though always anticipated, was seldom realised,
seduced many to sacrifice their whole fortunes, prevailed even on the
ministers, the nobility, and the Queen herself, to risk considerable sums
in these hazardous undertakings. The renowned Sir John Hawkins first
acquired celebrity by opening the trade in slaves. He made three voyages
to the coast of Africa; bartered articles of trifling value for numerous
lots of negroes; crossed the Atlantic to Hispaniola and the Spanish
settlement in America, and in exchange for his captives returned with
large quantities of hides, sugar, ginger, and pearls. This trade was
however illicit; and during his third voyage in the bay of St. Juan d'
Ulloa Hawkins was surprised by the arrival of the Spanish viceroy with a
fleet of twelve sail from Europe. The hostile squadrons viewed each other
with jealousy and distrust; a doubtful truce was terminated by a general
engagement; and in the end, though the Spaniards suffered severely,
Hawkins lost his fleet, his treasure, and the majority of his followers.
Out of six ships under his command two only escaped; and of these one
foundered at sea, the other, called the Judith, a barque of fifty tons,
commanded by Francis Drake, brought back the remnant of the adventurers
to Europe."
(*Footnote. Lingard's History of England volume vi. chap. vii.)
The English and Dutch opportunity for discovery on the coasts of
Australia began with the decline of Portuguese and Spanish supremacy. If
we trace the growth of maritime preponderance in Europe we shall see that
its results, so far as Australian maritime discovery is concerned, were
due to the natural consequences which forced the English and the Dutch to
invade the spheres of Portuguese and Spanish activity.
From Italy had come the first impulse which led to the re-discovery of
the New World; the great movement of maritime exploration was continued
by the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the French; and then began the
struggle of commercial enterprise and ambition in which England and
Holland had to join, owing to their geographical positions, or else
forsake their very nationality.
It was a question of life or death; the contest for supremacy was a long
one, and numerous were the naval combats between the rival Powers.
With Drake begins the rise of the naval fame of England; meanwhile the
power of Portugal and Spain began to decline. After the battle of Alcacer
Quibir in 1578, in which Don Sebastian was defeated and killed, and his
army utterly destroyed, Portugal never recovered from the blow. For sixty
years her throne became an appanage of Spain. Even when, in 1640,
Portugal threw off the yoke, and the Government was compelled to leave
Lisbon, and Portuguese India, and Brazil expelled the Spaniards, it was
too late for either Portugal or Spain to set forth any claim to
Australia, for the Dutch were by that time firmly planted in Java and
Amboyna, and Tasman's first expedition was on the eve of being sent out.
Before this time Spanish supremacy had also come to an end, and the very
same gale that Cavendish experienced when nearing the coast of England,
on his return from his voyage of circumnavigation, had already brought
ominous disaster on the famous Armada, and after the defeat of that great
Spanish fleet Spain gradually lost her hold on her zealously guarded
possessions.
At this period the idea of colonization or even discovery did not
forcibly suggest itself to the English mind.*
(*Footnote. The earliest English references to the colonization of the
Great South Land appear in the shape of certain proposals made to the
British Government in the sixteenth century. The manuscript containing
these proposals, which is endorsed by Lord Burleigh, A Discovery of Lands
Beyond the Equinoctial, 1573, has been printed in the Hakluyt Society's
edition of Frobisher's Voyages, 1867 pages 4 to 8, and is entitled The
discoverie, traffique and enjoyeuge for the Queen's Majesty and her
subjects of all or anie landes, islands and countries southwards beyond
the aequinoctial, or when the pole antartik hathe anie elevation above
the horizon. and which lands, islandes and countries be not already
possessed or subdued by or to the use of any Christian prince in Europe
as by the charts and descriptions shall appere. Landsdowne Manuscript C.
folio 142 to 6.
There is also in the same work (The Three Voyages of Sir Martin
Frobisher) a very rough map and rather interesting description. The
delineation of the Australian continent, which is joined to the Antarctic
lands, is taken from the preceding Mercator type of map. The description
of the Terra Australis is as follows:
Terra Australis seemeth to be a great firme land, lying under and about
the South Pole, being in many places a fruitefull soyle, and is not yet
thoroughly discovered, but onlye seene and touched on the north edge
therof, by the travaile of the Portingals and Spaniards in their voyages
to their East and West Indies.
It is included almost by a paralell, passing at 40 degrees in south
latitude, yet in some places it reacheth into the sea with greate
promontories, even into the tropicke Capricornus. Onely these partes are
best knowen as over against Capo d' buona Speranza (where the Portingales
see popingayes commonly of a wonderfull greatnesse), and againe it is
knowen at the south side of the straight of Magellanus, and is called
Terra del Fuego.
It is thoughte this south lande, aboute the pole Antartike, is farre
bigger than the north land aboute the pole Artike, but whether it be so
or not we have no certaine knowledge, for we have no particular
description hereof, as we have of the lande under and aboute the north
pole.
Referring to the map and above description Mr. G.B. Barton, in the first
volume of the History of New South Wales, from the Records, says: "To
understand exactly what the old geographers had in their minds when they
wrote about Terra Australis we must go back at least three centuries,
when the theory of its existence was in high favour among them. What they
thought about it may be seen in the map of