CHAP. II.

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED GOMARA.

Of the passage in Gomara, Hakluyt presents the following version:

"The testimonie of Francis Lopez de Gomara, a Spaniard, in the fourth chapter of the second booke of his generall history of the West Indies, concerning the first discoverie of a great part of the West Indies, to wit, from 58 to 38 degrees of latitude, by Sebastian Cabotà out of England.

"He which brought most certaine newes of the countrey and people of Baccalaos, (saith Gomara, was Sebastian Cabote, a Venetian, which rigged up two ships at the cost of king Henry the Seventh of England, having great desire to traffique for the spices as the Portugals did. He carried with him three hundred men, and tooke the way towards Island from beyond the Cape of Labrador, until he found himselfe in 58 degrees and better. He made relation, that in the moneth of July it was so cold, and the ice so great, that hee durst not passe any further: that the dayes were very long in a maner without any night, and for that short night that they had, it was very cleare. Cabot feeling the cold, turned towards the West, refreshing himselfe at Baccalaos; and afterwards he sailed along the coast unto 38 degrees, and from thence he shaped his course to returne into England."

There is to be noted here another of Hakluyt's loose and suspicious references. The Spanish work is not divided into "books," and the passage quoted occurs in the first part. This is said, after consulting the Saragossa edition of 1552that of Medina del Campo, 1553-that of Antwerp, 1554— and the reprint of the work in Barcia's "Historiadores Primitivos" in 1749. A ready conjecture presents itself as to the source of Hakluyt's error. an early period, translated into French, by Fumee, in whose version, published in 1578, the matter is distributed into "Books," and the passage in question really becomes, according to his arrangement, the fourth chapter of the second Book. That Hakluyt was ignorant of the Spanish language, may be inferred from the circumstance, that when he has

The work of Gomara was, at

occasion (vol. iii. p. 499) to quote Oviedo, he gives us not the original but an Italian version of it by Ramusio. He was at Paris shortly after the appearance of Fumee's Translation, and remained there for some time, as is stated in the dedication of his first volume to Lord Charles Howard. We shall see, presently, how far he has been misled by relying on that translation. The following is Gomara's own language

"Qui en mas noticia traxo desta tierra fue Sebastian Gaboto Veneciano. El. qual armo dos navios en Inglaterra do tratava desde pequeno, a costa del Rey Enrique Septimo, que desseava contratar en la especiera como hazia el Rey d'Portugal. Otros disen que a su costa, y' que prometio al rey Enrique de ir por el norte al Catayo y traer de alla especias en menos tiempo que Portugueses por el Sur. Y va tambien por saber que tierra eran las Indias para poblar. Llevo trezientos hombres y camino la buelta de Islandia sobre cabo del Labrador, hasta se poner en cinquenta y ocho grados. Aunque el dize mucho mas contando como avia por el mes de Julio tanto frio y pedaços de yelo que no oso passar mas adelante, y que los dios eran grandissimos y quasi sin noche y las noches muy claras. Es cierte que a sesenta grados son los dias de diez y ocho horas, Diendo pues Gabota la frialdad y estraneza dela tierra, dio la buelta hazia poniente y rehaziendose en los Baccalaos corrio la costa hasta treynta y ochos grados y tornose de alli a Inglaterra.” "Sebastian Cabot was the first that brought any knowledge of this land. For being in England in the days of king Henry the Seventh, he furnished two ships at his own charges, or as some say, at the king's, whom he persuaded that a passage might be found to Cathay by the North Seas, and that spices might be brought from thence sooner by that way than by the viage the Portugales use by the sea of Sur. He went also to know what manner of landes those Indies were to inhabit. He had with him 300 men, and directed his course by the tract of island upon the Cape of Labrador, at fifty-eight degrees, affirming that in the month of July there was such cold and heaps of ice that he durst pass no further; also, that the days were very long, and in manner without night, and the nights very clear. Certain it is, that at the three score degrees, the longest day is of eighteen hours. But considering the cold and the strangeness of the unknown land, he turned his course from thence to the west, following the coast unto the thirty-eight degree, from whence he returned to England." (Eden's Translation, see Decades, fol. 318.)

The unwarrantable liberties taken by Hakluyt will appear at a glance. He drops, entirely, the passage of Gomara as to the length of the day in the latitude of 60°, though it stands in the middle of the paragraph. Again, Gomara states the contradictory assertions which he found, as to whether the expedition was fitted out at the cost of Henry VII. or of an individual. In Hakluyt's day this was deemed a matter of great importance; for in the passages in the third volume.

which relate to the North-West passage, and the colonization of America, considerable stress is laid, with a view to repel the pretensions of Spain, on the direct agency of the king of England. Hakluyt, therefore, boldly strikes out the words which show that Gomara had arrived at no conclusion on the point; and by this mutilation exhibits an unqualified averment that the whole was at the cost of Henry VII. No English reader would hesitate to cite the Spanish author, as candidly conceding that the enterprise was a national one, at the king's expense; and Mr Sharon Turner, in his "History of England during the Middle Ages," asserting anxiously the merits of Henry VII., declares (vol. iv. of second ed. p. 163, note 54), with a reference to Hakluyt, " Gomara also mentions that the ships were rigged at Henry's costs." Hakluyt wants here even the apology of having been misled by Fumee, as the French writer, and Richard Eden, fairly state the matter in the alternative.

As to the course pursued by Cabot, Hakluyt has strangely misunderstood the author. The words of Gomara are"Llevo trezientos hombres y camino la buelta de Islandia y hasta se poner en cinquanta y ochos grados." The predecessors of Hakluyt in the work of translation were so numerous, as to leave him without apology for mistake. Richard Eden says, "He had with him three hundred men, and directed his course by the tract of Island (Iceland), upon the Cape of Labrador, at 58°." In the Italian translation of Augustin de Cravaliz, published at Rome in 1556, it is rendered "Meno seco trecento huomini et navico alla volta d'Islanda sopra Capo del Lavoratore finchesi trovo in cinquanta otto gradi;' and in a reprint at Venice, in 1576, 'Meno seco trecento huomini et camino la volta de Islandia sopra del Capo del Lavoratore et fino a mettersi in cinquanta otto gradi.'"

That Cabot really took the route of Iceland is very probable. A steady and advantageous commerce had for many years been carried on between Bristol and Iceland, and is referred to in the quaint old poem, "The Policie of keeping the Sea," reprinted in Hakluyt, (vol. i. p. 201)—

"Of Island to write is little nede,

Save of Stockfish; yet, forsooth indeed,
Out of Bristowe, and costes many one,

Men have practised by needle, and by stone
Thitherwards," &c.

Seven years before, a treaty had been made with the king of Denmark, securing that privilege. (Selden's Mare Clausum, lib. 2. c. 32.) The theory in reference to which Cabot had projected the voyage would lead him as far North as possible, and it would be a natural precaution to break the dreary continuity at sea, which had exercised so depressing an influence on the sailors of Columbus, by touching at a point so far on his way and yet so familiarly known. Hudson, it may be remarked, took the same route.

We turn now to the translation of Fumee; "Il mena avec soy trois cens hommes et print la route d' Island au dessus du Cap de Labeur, jusques a ce qui il se trouva a 58 degrez et par dela. Il racomptoit," &c. Acquainted as we are with the original, it seems difficult to mistake even the French version. Hakluyt, however, had no such previous knowledge, and he confesses (Dedication to Sir Walter Raleigh, vol. iii. p. 301) that he was not a perfect master even of the French language. Obliged thus to grope after a meaning, his version is as follows, (vol. iii. p. 9)—" He carried with him 300 men, and took the way towards Island from beyond the Cape of Labrador, (!) until he found himself in 580 and better. He made relation," &c. The timid servility with which Hakluyt strove to follow Fumee is apparent even in the structure of the sentences, for it is improbable that two independent versions of Gomara would concur in such a distribution of the original matter.

It is difficult to understand how Hakluyt could consent to put forth such palpable nonsense. He is evidently quite

aware that the word "Island" in the French could mean nothing but Iceland; and, indeed, it is the designation which he himself uniformly employs, particularly at p. 550, &c. of his first volume, where is given at great length-“The_true state of Island," being a translation from a Latin work, en

titled, "Brevis Commentarius de Islandia." Yet with this knowledge, and with all the means of a correct version, he represents Cabot as first reaching America and then proceeding onward to Iceland.

The version of Hakluyt is adopted by every subsequent English writer except LEDIARD, who, in his Naval History, seems to have paused over language seemingly so enigmatical. Not perceiving that a proper name was intended, he asked himself, in vexation, what "Island" could possibly be meant. Besides, the expression was ungrammatical, for it is not said ❝an Island," or "the Island," but simply, "towards Island." He therefore ventures on an amendment (p. 88)—“He took the way towards the Islands, (!) from beyond the Cape of Labrador, till he was beyond 58°." Having made grammar of the passage, he leaves the reader to make sense of it.

Wearisome as the examination may be, we have not yet reached the principal error of Hakluyt in reference to this short passage. It will be noted that the Spanish writer, after saying that Cabot reached the lat. of 58°, adds, “aunque el dize mucho mas contando como avia por el mes de Julio tante frio," &c. (" although he says much further, relating, how he had in the middle of July, such cold," &c.) Here, too, Hakluyt might have taken advantage of previous translations. In the Italian version of 1576, it is, "finchesi trovo in 58 gradi benche egli dice di piu et narrava come," &c.; and in that of 1556,"et fino a mettersi in 58 gradi anchor che lui dice molto piu il quale diceva." Hakluyt, however, relying on Fumee" jusques a ce qu'il ce trouva a 58 degrez et par dela," renders the passage "until he found himself in 58° and better." Thus the Spanish writer, who had peremp torily fixed the limit of 58°, is made, without qualification, to carry Cabot to an indefinite extent beyond it.*

The true version of the passage, not only renders it harmless, but an auxiliary in establishing the truth. That Gomara

• Campbell, in his Lives of the Admirals, changes Hakluyt's phrase into "somewhat more than fifty-eight degrees," for which he quotes Gomara.