CHAP. III.

EXPEDITION FROM PORTUGAL-CORTEREAL-THE WORK ENTITLED "PAESI NOVAMENTE RITROVATI," &c.-LETTER OF THE VENETIAN AMBASSADOR AT LISBON ELEVEN DAYS AFTER THE RETURN OF CORTEREAL-REFERENCE TO THE PREVIOUS VOYAGE OF CABOT-TRINKETS FOUND AMONGST THE NATIVES-TRANSLATION OF THE "PAESI," &C. IN 1516.

THE Voyage from Spain may not have taken place, but in another quarter a more decided result was produced; and we reach now an enterprise of some celebrity, undertaken directly from that country whose adventurers have been traced to England animated with the hope of turning to account the discoveries of Cabot.

After the recent shame to Portugal of the rejection of Columbus, her enterprising and sagacious monarch could not but take alarm at the departure of his subjects to seek the shelter, and to advance the glory, of a foreign flag. He had, moreover, the strongest motives of interest for wishing to anticipate the efforts of others to reach by a shorter route those regions of which he had heretofore monopolised the lucrative and envied commerce. Nor could the attempt be now deemed a very arduous one. The dispersion of a force of three hundred men, which, according to Peter Martyr, accompanied Cabot on the voyage spoken of by that historian, would leave not a single sea-port without many mariners eager to describe, and to exaggerate, the wonders of the region they had visited, and anxious, as well as competent, to act as guides in the prosecution of a new enterprise. We are quite prepared, therefore, to believe that the ready assent, and liberal countenance, of Emanuel might enable those who enjoyed them to get the start of such of his own subjects as had, perhaps, earlier conceived the project and repaired to England, but

whose proposals had there to encounter all the delays produced by the cautious and penurious temper of the personage to whom they were addressed. It does not seem probable that Gunsolus and Fernandus would have resorted to England after an expedition for a similar purpose, and likely to cross their path, had been fitted out under the auspices of their own Sovereign. The voluminous treaty between them and Henry VII. may, perhaps, sufficiently explain the apparent tardiness of their subsequent movements. It wears, in every line, a character of anxious and elaborate preparation, and its terms are so harsh and narrow that they could not have been assented to without reluctance, and were found so impracticable that in the second patent, as we have seen, the necessity of a relaxation is conceded. The conduct of Emanuel presents an honourable contrast in every particular. He contributed largely from his own purse, and all the arrangements were marked by that spirit of liberality which constitutes on such occasions the truest economy.

The command of the Expedition was confided to Gaspar Cortereal, who had been brought up under the immediate eye of the king while Duke de Beja.* Of its result we happen, very fortunately, to possess an account from a disinterested quarter, remarkably clear, and minute.

As early as the year 1507 there was published at Vicenza a Collection of Voyages and Travels under the title, "Paesi novamente retrovati et Novo Mondo da Alberico Vesputio Florentino intitulato." The extreme scarcity of the work may be inferred from the circumstance that Camus, having all the libraries of Paris within his reach, deplores the absence of the original edition (Memoire sur la Collection des Grands et Petits Voyages, &c., p. 5), and Navarette (Colecion de los Viages, &c., tom. iii. p. 187) knew of it only through an acquaintance who had been in London. Haym (Bibliotheca Italiana o sia notizia de Libri rari Italiani) had not seen the Vicenza publication. In this precious volume is preserved

* Damiano Goes Chronico del Rey D. Manoel, cap. Ixvi.

a letter from the Venetian ambassador in Portugal to his brothers, written eleven days after the return of Cortereal. The writer's opportunities for obtaining correct information were abundant. He saw the natives whom Cortereal had brought with him-heard from the adventurers themselves all the particulars of the voyage-and speaks of the hopes and speculations to which it gave rise at the Court to which he was accredited. When it is stated that of this Letter there was a most flagitious perversion in a Latin translation which appeared at Milan the next year, and which has poisoned all the subsequent accounts, the importance will be seen of noting carefully the language of the original. The letter appears, lib. vi. cap. cxxvi. and bears date 19th October 1501, seven months, it may here be remarked, subsequent to Henry VII.'s Patent to the three Portuguese. After a few remarks irrelative to the expedition, the writer thus continues

"Adjr. VIII. del presente arivo qui una de le doe Caravelle quale questo seren. issimo Re lanno passato mando a discoprire terra verso tramontana Capitaneo Gaspar Corterat et referissi havere trouato terra ii M. miglia lonzi da qui tra maestro & ponente qual mai per avanti fo cognita ad alcun; per la costa de la qual scorseno forsi miglia DC in DCC. ne mai trovoreno fin: per el che credeno che sia terra ferma la qual continue in una altra terra che lano passato, fo discoperta sotto la tramontana, le qual caravelle non posseno arivar fin la per esser el mare agliazato & infinita copia de neue; Questo in stesso li fa credere la moltitudine de fiumare grossissime che anno trovate la che certo de una Insula none havia mai tante & cosi grosse: Dicono che questa terra e molto populata & le case de li habitanti sonno de alcuni legni longissimi coperte de foravia de pelle de passi. Hanno conducti qui VII. tra homini & femene & putti de quelli: & cum laltra Caravella che se aspecta d hora in hora ne vien altri cinquanta.'

"On the 8th of the present month one of the two Caravels which his most Serene Majesty dispatched last year on a voyage of discovery to the North, under the command of Gaspar Corterat, arrived here, and reports the finding of a country distant hence West and North-West two thousand miles, heretofore quite unknown. They proceeded along the coast between six and seven hundred miles without reaching its termination, from which circumstance they conclude it to be of the mainland connected with another region which last year was discovered in the North, but which the Caravel could not reach on account of the ice and the vast quantity of snow; and they are confirmed in this belief by the multitude of great rivers they found, which certainly could not proceed from an island. They say that this country is very populous, and the dwellings of the inhabitants are constructed with timber of great length and covered with the skins of fishes. They have brought hither of the inhabitants, seven in all, men, women, and children, and in the other Caravel which is looked for every hour there are fifty more.”

Describing the captives the Ambassador says

"Questi sono de equal colore, figura, statura, et aspecto, similimi a cingani, vestiti de pelle de diversi animali, ma precipue de ludre; de instade voltano el pello i suso, et de inverno el contrario; et queste pelle non sonno cusite insieme in alcun modo, ne couze, ma cosi como sonno tolte da li animali se le meltono intorno lespalle et braze; et le parte pudibunde lgate cum alcune corde facte de nervi de pesse fortissime. Adeo che pareno homini salvatichi: sono molto vergognosi et mansueti; ma tanto ben facti de brazi & gambe & spalle che non se potria dire: Hanno signata la faza in modo de Indiani: chi da vi chi da viii. chi da manco segni. Parlano ma non sonno intesi dalcuno: Ampo credo chi sia sta facto parlare in ogni lenguazo possibile: Nela terra loro non hano ferro: ma fanno cortelli de alcune pietre: & similmente ponte de freze: Et quilli anchora hanno porta de la uno pezo de spada rotta dorata laqual certo par facta in Italia: uno putto de questi haveva ale orechie dui todini de arzento, che senza dubio pareno sta facti a Venetia: ilche mi fa creder che sia terra ferma, perche non e loco, che mai piu sia andato nave, che se haveria hauto notitia de loro. Hanno grandissima copia de salmoni, Arenge, Stocha fis, & simil pessi: Hanno etiam gran copia de leguami, & fo sopra tutto de Pini da fare arbori & antenne de nave, per el che questo Serenissimo Re desegna havere grandissimo utile cum dicta terra si per li legni de nave, che ne haveva debesogno como per li homini ch seranno per excellentia da fatiga, & gli meglior schiavi se habia hauti sin hora."

"They are of like colour, figure, stature, and aspect, and bear the greatest resemblance to the Gypsies; are clothed with the skins of different animals, but principally the otter; in summer the hairy side is worn outwards, but in winter the reverse; and these skins are not in any way sewed together or fashioned to the body, but just as they come from the animal are wrapped about the shoulders and arms: over the part which modesty directs to be concealed is a covering made of the great sinews of fish. From this description they may appear mere savages, yet they are gentle and have a strong sense of shame and are better made in the arms, legs, and shoulders, than it is possible to describe. They puncture the face, like the Indians, exhibiting six, eight, or even more marks. The language they speak is not understood by any one, though every possible tongue has been tried with them. In this country there is no iron, but they make swords of a kind of stone, and point their arrows with the same material. There has been brought thence a piece of a broken sword which is gilt, and certainly came from Italy. A boy had in his ears two silver plates, which beyond question, from their appearance, were made at Venice, and this induces me to believe that the country is a Continent; for had it been an Island and visited by a vessel we should have heard of it. They have great plenty of salmon, herring, cod, and similar fish; and an abundance of timber, especially the Pine, well adapted for masts and yards, and hence His Serene Majesty contemplates deriving great advantage from the country, not only on account of the timber of which he has occasion, but of the inhabitants who are admirably calculated for labour, and are the best slaves I have ever seen."

When it is known from Lord Bacon (History of Henry VII.), and the earlier annalists, that the vessels which sailed with Cabot were "fraught with gross and slight wares fit for

commerce with barbarous people," we can have no difficulty in deciding whither to refer the ear-rings and the fragments of the showy sword. Aside from the commercial relations of the father with his native city, such articles would naturally, at that period, have been drawn from Venice. It would be absurd to offer arguments to prove that the country further north, which Cortereal could not reach but of which he rightly conjectured he had found a continuation, was that discovered by Cabot.

An early French translation of the "Paesi, &c." appeared at Paris, without date, but usually referred by bibliographers to the year 1516. After the quaint old introductory "Sensuyt,” its title is, "Le Nouveau Monde et navigations faictes par Emeric de Vespuce." It states the year 1500, instead of 1501, as the date of Pasquiligi's letter, and the 7th, instead of the 8th, October as the day on which Cortereal returned; but these errors are unimportant, as the editions in the original are unanimous, and even the fraudulent translation which remains to be noticed does not falsify the date of the letter. Dr Dibdin (Literary Companion, vol. i. p. 370, note) has fallen into a singular mistake with regard to this work, following Meusel, who was in his turn misled (Bibl. Hist. vol. iii. p. 265) by the prominence given on the title-page to the name "Emeric Vespuce." They suppose it to be a translation of another curious volume, of early date, occupied with the ages of Americus Vespucius, and Dr Dibdin is, consequently, amazed at the "unaccountable" price given for it by Mr Heber. Its contents are precisely those of the "Paesi," the three first books being devoted to Cadamosto, &c., and the three last to various voyages and enterprises in the old and the new world. The name of Vespucius occurs only in the fifth book. The passages in italics, in which it follows correctly the original, are noted for the purpose of contrast hereafter with the Latin perversion. In comparing the following passages of Pasquiligi's letter (ch. cxxv. feuil. 78), with the original, it will be borne in mind that the league is of four miles.

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