USA > Maine > A history of the discovery of Maine > Part 26
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West of this river appears the name, " C. de muchas yslas " (the cape of many islands). It would be difficult to say, to which particular point or cape of the many headlands " surrounded by islands " west of Pe- nobscot Bay, we should ascribe this name. Judging strictly from the latitude, we might suppose it to be Cape Elizabethi; but looking at other circumstances, should incline to the opinion, that some headland in the neighborhood of Owl's Head is intended .*
About thirty leagues west of Penobscot Bay occurs the name " mon- tañas " (mountains) ; and these mountains must have been regarded by Gomez and subsequent map-makers and navigators as very con- spicuous objects ; for henceforth they never disappear from their maps of this region. They are sometimes found marked even on maps which have no other names inscribed. They are plainly intended to describe the " White Mountains " of New Hampshire. These may be seen near the mouth of the Kennebec, and along the coast of Casco Bay, and
* [See for this, " Die Beiden Aeltesten General-Karten von Amerika," vou J. G. Kohl, p. 64. Weimar, 1860 .- ED.]
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CHART OF RIBERO, 1529.
were doubtless sighted by Gomez, on his exploration of this region, and marked on his chart.
The numerous islands by which the bending coasts in this vicinity are skirted, would seem to be those of Casco Bay.
Next appears the name, " Arcipelago de Estevan Gomez " (the Archi- pelago of Stephen Gomez), written very prominently and at full length. I think it was not meant to designate any one of the smaller bays or inlets of this region, but the entire Gulf of Maine; and that perhaps it may be considered as the first name, by which this gulf was designated on the old charts .* At all events, it will become quite clear in the se- quel from other authorities, that the name " Arcipelago of Estevan Go- mez " has always been given either to the entire Gulf of Maine, or to some section of the waters north of Cape Cod.
The coast from this point bends round to the south-west and south, much in accordance with the trending of the coast-line of New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts, ending at the south, like that, in a peninsula projecting eastwardly, and called " Cabo de Arenas " (the Sandy Cape), and forming a bay exactly resembling the Gulf of Maine.
This cape has about the longitude of St. Domingo. It has the con- figuration of a horn, and is hooked or pointed like Cape Cod. Like that, it also has banks and shoals at the east; and like that forms a kind of cul de sac on the west, between the hook and the main-land. In respect to its longitude, its configuration, its sandy soil, its shoals on the east, its little bay on the west, it agrees with Cape Cod, and was intended, we can scarcely doubt, to represent this prominent feature of the New England coast; although the latitude of " Cabo de Arenas," the northern point of which is in 40º N., is two degrees lower than the northern point of Cape Cod, which lies in 42º N.
As far down as " Cabo de Arenas," the coast is lined, as before, with a chain of small islands, which thus forms the distinguishing feature of the whole east coast of New England. South of Cape Cod, no such coast islets appear within the limits of the United States.
It is scarcely credible that a navigator, sailing like Gomez along our coast from Newfoundland, in a direction from north-east to south-west, and following the coast-line, as he did, in search of an open passage, could have overlooked so prominent a headland as Cape Cod. Neither the Northmen nor Sebastian Cabot, on their voyages, failed to observe and represent it. Nor at a later period, did it escape the observation of the French under De Monts. Sailing in the same direction, they
* I shall make this more probable in reviewing the maps of Chaves, and the descrip- tion of this coast by Oviedo, in the following section.
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CHART OF RIBERO, 1529.
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were caught and arrested by this remarkable cape, and entered it on their charts by the name of " Cape Blanc " and " Malebarre."
The other capes in the neighborhood of 40° N., which have been sup- posed by some authors to be intended by "Cabo de Arenas,"-for in- stance, Sandy Hook near New York, and Cape Henlopen near Phila- delphia,-are located too far to the west to answer to a cape placed in the longitude of St. Domingo, and are hardly prominent enough to an- swer to the bold projection of this cape, as delineated on the map of Ribero.
There is still another ground for concluding, that the " Cabo de Are- nas " of Ribero and Gomez is neither Sandy Hook nor Cape Henlopen, but Cape Cod. We know for certain, that the " Baia de Sta. Maria " is the old name for Chesapeake Bay. Now this " Baia " is placed by Rib- ero five degrees south of his "Cabo de Arenas ;" and five degrees is the true distance between Chesapeake Bay and Cape Cod, and much more than the distance between that bay and Cape Henlopen or Sandy Hook.
There are. however, some serious objections to the view, that "Cabo de Arenas" is Cape Cod. I shall show hereafter, that the names found on this map between " Cabo de Arenas " and " Arcipelago de Estevan Go- mez," namely, "S. Juan Baptista," " R. de buena madre," " Montagna verde," " b. de S. Antonio," " b. de S. Christoval," are applied by sub- sequent authors on their maps to localities situated south-west of Cape Cod; particularly the name St. Antonio, which is given by them to Hudson River. Hence if we insist. that " Cabo de Arenas " is Cape Cod, we must admit that Ribero was greatly mistaken in putting names along the Gulf of Maine which belong to the neighborhood of New York, and in leaving out of his map the Bay of New York altogether.
But great as these difficulties may be, there would perhaps be still greater on the supposition, that Sandy Hook, Cape Henlopen, or some other southern cape, was meant by the " Cabo de Arenas." On this supposition we should find on our map no indication whatever of Cape Cod, that most prominent object on the coast, with the banks and shoals in its offing, so difficult to the navigator; and should be driven to the inadmissible supposition, that it had been entirely un- noticed bothi by Gomez and Ribero. My own opinion is, that the coast was correctly delineated by Ribero, but that he put some names in the wrong places. Before proceeding to vindicate this opinion, I shall adduce for evidence, in subsequent pages, some new documents regard- ing the voyage of Gomez and our coast of New England.
In concluding the present section, I will say a few words on the remaining portion of this map.
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CHART OF CHAVES, 1536.
The southern division of the coast, from " Cabo de Arenas" to Flor- ida, is called on our map " Tierra de Ayllon" (the country of Ayllon), the name of the well-known commander of two expeditions, by which, in 1520 and 1526, our east coast was discovered as far north as Bahia de Sta. Maria (Chesapeake Bay). The names on the east coast in the neighborhood and south of this bay, are all derived from Ayllon's expeditions.
I will only add, that the " line of demarcation," as determined by the pope and the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, is indicated on our map in the same manner as it had been on former maps, by a line drawn at a distance of 370 leagues (five degrees of longitude) west of the island of San Antonio, the westernmost of the Cape de Verde group; and that in this partition, it allots to Spain " Tierra de Estevan Gomez," includ- ing New England and Nova Scotia, and to Portugal " Tierra de los Ba- callaos " and " Tierra del Labrador," including the eastern part of New- foundland, and all east of it .*
2. ON CHART OF THE EAST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA, BY ALONZO DE CHAVES IN 1536, AND OVIEDO'S DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST IN 1537.
Oviedo relates,t that in the year 1536 the emperor Charles V. is- sued an order to this effect: "that the charts for navigators and the ' padrones' (muster-charts) should be examined and corrected by some learned and experienced persons," whom he selected for the purpose. In pursuance of this order, a map was constructed and issued by Alon- so de Chaves, representing the new Spanish discoveries, and the entire geographical knowledge of the time; in the same manner as a learned commission under the imperial order had prepared and issued, in 1527 and 1529, the maps of Diego Colon and Diego Ribero.
Unhappily neither the original, nor even a good copy of this remark- able and important map of Chaves, has come to our knowledge. But Oviedo had it before him when he wrote his most interesting descrip- tion of the east coast of North America, contained in chapters IX-XI, book XXI. of his " History of the Indias ;"# which is the fullest and best Spanish report on our coast of the sixteenth century. We may there-
* [Sce J. G. Kohl's work before cited, " Die beiden ältesten General-Karten," etc., pp. 11-14 .- ED.]
t Oviedo, Historia General de las Indias, parte segunda, tom. 1, p. 150. Madrid, 1852.
* Oviedo, Ilistoria General de las Indias, parte segunda, tom. 1, pp. 143-152. Mad- rid, 1852.
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CHART OF CHAVES, 1536.
fore consider this report of Oviedo as a description of the contents of Chaves' map, and as the result of the experience and views of the Span- ish geographers in the year 1536. Oviedo calls this chart a modern work; and says, " that it was recently made in the late year 1536 " (carta moderna, que nuevamente se corregiò el año que passò de mill é quini- entos y treynta y seys años). It is thus evident, that he wrote the de- scription, and the chapter of his great work in which it occurs, in 1537.
Oviedo begins his description of our east coast at the south with Cape Florida, which he calls " Punta de la Florida," putting it in 25° 40' N. This latitude agrees very nearly with the true position of that cape.
The great cape on the east coast of Florida, which Ponce de Leon discovered in 1513, and which he called " Cabo de Corrientes " (Cape of the currents), is called by Oviedo "Cabo de Cañaveral" (Cape of the reeds). We do not know by whom, or at what time, that celebrated name was introduced. Oviedo puts it a little too low in 28º N.
From Cape Canaveral to " Cabo de Sta. Cruz," a name introduced by Ponce de Leon, there is, according to Oviedo, a distance of forty-five leagues. Between bothi capes, he says, the coast runs to the north ; but from Cabo de Sta. Cruz it begins to change its direction toward the north-east. Accordingly we must look for this "Cabo de S. Cruz " somewhere north of St. John's River,-if it is not this coast-section itself, projecting somewhat near this river.
From " Cabo de Sta. Cruz," where the direction of the coast changes, to " Cabo de Sta. Elena," the distance is, according to Oviedo, sixty leagues; and he puts this cape in 33º N. On this coast-section he designates the following places :
1. A river, called " Mar Baxa," twenty leagues north-east of Cabo de Sta. Cruz. It may be the Altamaha.
2. A river, called " Rio Seco" (dry river), ten leagues from " Mar Baxa," or thirty leagues from C. de Sta. Cruz. Perhaps the "Savannah " is meant.
3. A cape called "Cabo Gruesso " (the big cape), ten leagues northi- east of Rio Seco. This Cabo Gruesso is found on many Spanish maps, but we will not venture to say what cape may be meant by it.
From Cape St. Helena to " Cabo Trafalgar " the distance is, according to Oviedo, one hundred and twenty leagues ; and this cape lies in 35º3)' N. This Cabo Trafalgar is found on nearly all the old Spanish charts, and must have been a very prominent headland. Some authors have supposed that Cape Lookout, others that Cape Fear was designated by it; and several old maps may be adduced in support of these different views. But following Oviedo's latitude we should conclude. that Cape Hatteras was intended, which stands only some minutes
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CHART OF CHAVES; 1536.
lower. This becomes nearly certain. from the fact that Oviedo, after "Cape Trafalgar," puts down no other cape for a distance of forty leagues.
In the intermediate space between Cape Sta. Helena and " Cabo de Trafalgar," Oviedo mentions the following points :
1. " Rio de Sta. Elena," which is mentioned in connection with the cape, and, a little further on, "Rio Jordan," our Port Royal, and St. Helena Sound.
2. " Cabo de St. Roman " is put down thirty leagues from the Cape Sta. Helena in 32° 30' N., which agrees quite well with Cape St. Romain. It is only twenty minutes too high. The distance of thirty leagues is rather too great, if Castilian leagues (17; to a degree) are meant, which is probable. Nearly all the distances of Oviedo are too great, suppos- ing that he gives rectilinear distances. But he may have followed in his measurement the indentations of the coast, as a mariner sailing along the shore would be likely to do.
3. Near Cabo St. Roman the " Rio de las Canoas" (Canoe River), empties into the sea. This river appears very often on Spanish maps near Cape St. Romain, and probably the "Pedee" or "Santee" is intended by it, because no other river is laid down near this cape.
4. Not far from Cabo de Trafalgar on the south-west, two rivers or inlets are mentioned : "Rio del Principe " and " Rio de Trafalgar." It is possible that some outlets of Pamlico Sound are alluded to by tlrese names.
" All this country," remarks Oviedo, after having mentioned Cabo Trafalgar, "was discovered by Ayllon:" from which we are confirmed in the opinion already expressed, that these names (Cape Trafalgar in- cluded) originated with Ayllon in 1520 and 1526.
From Cabo Trafalgar (Hatteras) to "Cabo de San Johan," Oviedo makes it forty leagues, and between them midway places the " Bahia de Santa Maria." This distance from Cape Hatteras to " Cabo St. Jo- han," would take us to some point of the eastern coast of Delaware. The entrance to the "Bahia de Santa Maria " is placed by Oviedo in 36° 40' N., which thus represents Chesapeake Bay, the mouth of which lies in 37º N. This becomes more evident from the subsequent Span- ish historians, Barcia for instance, who puts "St. Mary's Bay " in 37º N., and north of Cape Trafalgar. This excludes the opinion which might be drawn from Ribero's map, that Pamlico or Albemarle Sound might have been meant by it.
The discovery of this bay was made by Ayllon in 1526, and in 1520 Ribero puts it on his map for the first time; but somewhat lower than the true latitude of Chesapeake Bay.
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CHART OF CHAVES, 1536.
Oviedo represents "Rio del Espiritu Santo" (Holy Ghost river) as discharging into the western, and the " Rio Salado" (salt river) into the eastern part of the bay. The "Holy Ghost River" is probably James River. These rivers are also found on the map of Ribero, and are put down on nearly all the Spanish charts of the sixteenth century.
"Cabo de St. Johan" is put by Oviedo only one-third of a degree north of Chesapeake Bay. But at the same time he makes the distance between both points nearly twenty leagues. It is impossible to tell what island or headland on the peninsula of Delaware may have been meant by it.
The next point is " Cabo de las Arenas " (cape of the sands). Oviedo says, that it lies in 38° 20' N., and thirty leagues from "Cabo St. Johan ;" that is, fifty leagues from Chesapeake or St. Mary's Bay.
This points rather clearly to Cape Henlopen, though the distance, fifty leagues, carries us a little north, and the latitude "38º 20"" a little south of it. Oviedo does not describe his " Cabo de las Arenas " as a very prominent point, though all the old Spanish charts, and those made after them, place a cape bearing this name in about 40º N., and represent it as a very prominent object. They give to it nearly the shape of our Cape Cod. It is so drawn for the first time on the map of Ribero, 1529, and was, doubtless, discovered by Gomez, though not so named by him, as I have before suggested, and shall prove hereafter.
After " Cabo de las Arenas," Oviedo mentions " Cabo de Santjago " (St. James Cape), thirty leagues north of it, and in 39º 30' N .; then a "Bahia de San Christobal" (St. Christopher's Bay). It appears to me impossible to say, which of our bays and capes north of Cape Heulopen correspond to these names.
Oviedo now proceeds to say: "The Rio de San Antonio is in 41º N. This river stands on the coast in a line directly from north to south. And whilst the coast runs north to the mouth of this river, it then begins to trend to the north-east, quarter cast, for more than forty leagues."
It is impossible to give a more accurate description of Hudson River, which therefore I believe to be the S. Antonio of Oviedo. As Oviedo never mentions Verrazano, nor any of the names given by him, but often cites Gomez as his authority, I infer that the name " Rio de San Anto- nio" must have been derived from the account of Gomez. And this view is confirmed by Gomara, who gives to a chapter of his " Historia de las Indias," in which he reports the expedition of Gomez, the title, " Rio de San Antonio," as if this river had been one of the most im- portant discoveries of Gomez .*
. See this chapter in Gomara, Ilistoria de las Indias, fol. xx. Saragossa, 1553.
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CHART OF CHAVES, 1536.
"From the Rio de S. Antonio the coast runs for about forty leagues north-east, quarter east, to a certain point, which has on the west a river (que tiene de la parte del Ponente un rio ), named 'Buena Madre' (the Good Mother) ; and on the other side, east of the point (delante de la punta) is the bay, which they call "St. Johan Baptista."
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This description agrees very nearly with the configuration of Long Island and the neighboring coast. Long Island is not much less than forty Spanish leagues long, and Oviedo's distances, as we have seen already, are always ample. Its southern coast trends exactly north-east, quarter east. The " certain point" at the end of this dis- tance may be our " Montauk Point;" the river " Buena Madre," west of this point, the entrance to Long Island Sound, and the " Bahia de San Johan Baptista," east of this point, our Narraganset Bay. The latitude of 41º 30' N. which Oviedo gives to that point, is nearly the true latitude of Montauk Point.
" From the point of the bay of St. Johan" (Montauk), Oviedo proceeds to say, " the coast trends still north-east, a quarter east, for fifty leagues, as far as the " Cabo de Arecifes " (cape of the reefs), which cape stands in about 43º N. This 'Cape of the Reefs' is the principal or unique point of the Northern Archipelago (la una punta del Archipel- ago septentrional) ; from this cape over to the . Cabo de Sta. Maria,' are twenty leagues. Between these two capes is an inlet or bay, full of islands, which they call, in modern times, 'Archipelago.'"
From Montauk Point to Cape Cod is, after the manner of Oviedo's broad measurement, about fifty Spanish leagues; and, so far as this point, the general outline of the coast may be said to trend north-east, quarter east. It seems to me, therefore, very probable, that this " Cabo de Arecifes" of Oviedo is our Cape Cod, which may well be called a "unique point" on the coast, and which would be well named the " Reef Cape," as being surrounded by banks, and shoals, or reefs. Oviedo's latitude, 43º N., is only about half a degree two high. His "Cabo de Sta. Maria," which lies "twenty leagues from the 'Reef Cape,'" and also in 43º N., would then be our Cape Ann. It may justly be said, that across from Cape Cod to Cape Ann, the distance is "twenty leagues." The bay or inlet between those two capes, which is " full of islands," and " which they call, in modern times, the Archipel- ago," may be a section of the Gulf of Maine. Oviedo himself some- times names this Archipelago " Archipelago de la Tramontana," or " Archipelago Septentrional"* (the Northern Archipelago). From the manner in which he mentions it again on page 150, where he calls it "a great gulf," he cannot mean by it any of our small bays; for
* Oviedo, J. c. pp. 143, 116.
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CHART OF CHAVES, 1336.
instance, "Saco" or "Casco Bay." He evidently intends to designate by this term, a large body of our waters, like the bay of Massachu- setts, or nearly the whole of the Gulf of Maine; and hence, as has been already observed, it was probably to these waters that the Spanish name " Archipelago Tramontana," or "Septentrional," was applied. Oviedo gives us to understand, that he or Chaves had this information and these names principally from the survey and report of Gomez, who, as he says, discovered all these coasts lying between 41º and 40° 30' N .* But his remarkable expression, "they call it in modern times," seems to imply, that Gomez was not his only Spanish authority for his knowledge of these coasts, but that something regarding them may have been known among the Spaniards from other navigators occasionally visiting them.
Beyond the "Cape St. Mary" (Cape Ann) towards the east (a la parte oriental), comes " Cabo de muchas islas " (Cape of many islands) , thirty-five leagues distant; and twenty leagues from that is "Rio de las Gamas " (Deer River). " The month of this river and its headlands lie in 43º 30/ N., and thence the coast begins to trend more to the north-east."
Though it is difficult to designate exactly the point to which the name " Cabo de muchas islas" is given by Oviedo, yet it appears not improbable, that Cape Elizabeth is intended, which is about the same distance (twenty leagues), as given by him from the broad opening of the Penobscot, and stands at the entrance of a bay filled with " many islands."t
The latitude 43º 30' which Oviedo gives to "Deer River," differs only by half a degree from that of the entrance of the Penobscot,-the prin- cipal inlet or river on the coast of Maine. The " Rio de las Gamas " (Deer River) makes, on all the old Spanish maps of this region, a most prominent figure. It does not fall usually much short of the me- ridian of the Bermudas, which is about the true longitude of the Pe- nobscot.
"Near the Rio de las Gamas," Oviedo says, "is the coast which they
* I have stated before, that Oviedo, in another place in his " Sommario " (see Ramusio, vol. 3. fol. 52, Venetia, 1556), says, that Gomez discovered a great tract of country as far down as about 402 and 41º N. .
t [If we follow the authority, not of Ribero only, but of all the maps copied in this work, in all of which (with the single exception of the pretended map of Cabot of 1544), the "Cabo de muchas islas," wherever it is introduced, is placed at the very entrance of Penobscot Bay, we must make it, as has been before intimated, one of the headlands in the neighborhood of Owl's Head. But the distances here given between Cape Ann and the Penobscot, place " Cabo de muchas islas" at an intermediate point, and con- firm the conjecture of Dr. Kohl, that Cape Elizabeth was intended by Oviedo .- ED.]
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CHART OF CHAVES, 1536.
call Medanos (the hillocks), and further on, is the Rio de Montañas (the mountain river), which is fifty leagues from the Rio de las Gamas, and in 44º 15/ N."
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After this, Oviedo mentions a " Rio de Castanar" (chestnut river) : and "La Bahia de la Ensenada " (the bay of the inlet). "From this bay," says Oviedo, "the coast runs north, a quarter east (al Norte quarta del este), to that channel (Gut of Canso?), which separates the island of St. John (Cape Breton) from the main-land, for a hundred and twenty leagues east-south-east of Nova Scotia; and here is situated Cabo Breton in 47º 30' N." The island of St. Jolin, he says, is about a hundred and forty-five leagues in circumference, which is rather a large measurement for Cape Breton.
Leaving Cape Breton, Oviedo gives a very short description of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, without assigning to it any name, and only ob- serving, that the particulars of these waters and coasts are not yet well known; and that the charts and the cosmographers differ very much in their descriptions of them. "It is a wild and very cold country," he says, "and few are those who sail to it."* Thus neither Oviedo, nor his authority Chaves, appear to have been acquainted in 1336 and 1537, with the French surveys of the St. Lawrence, in 1534 and 1535, by Cartier. But he clearly and minutely describes the south coast of Newfoundland.t
" At a point not far from Cape Breton," Oviedo says, in conclusion. " the chart of Chaves, of the year 1536, comes to an end." For the remainder of the North American continent, he follows, in his descrip- tion, the old chart of Ribero of 1529. And he does this so accurately, that we can recognize and identify every point and name given by Ribero on the coast.# From which we may conclude, that the descrip- tion of our east coast, which he has drawn from Chaves, is not less accurate.
We may sum up the examination of Oviedo, and his description of Chaves' map of 1530, as follows:
Both the description and the map are much more correct, and more in accordance with the features of our coast, as represented on modern maps, than the map of Ribero of 1529.
In regard to "Cabo de Arenas," they greatly differ: Ribero gives it a prominent position, in latitude 40º N., while Oviedo places it in lati-
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