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After Verrazano, the French paused for about ten years, and then . renewed their efforts for the exploration of some section of the east coast neglected by him. From 1534 to 1543, at the suggestion of Car- tier, one of their most eminent navigators, and under the commission of Francis I, they undertook a series of expeditions to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by which, at last, the entire geography of this region was disclosed. These expeditions gave rise to some admirable reports and maps, which are especially interesting to us from the intimate relations existing between the regions described and the State of Maine. The history of this series of expeditions is given in CHAPTER IX. I have added to it. however, a short report of an unsuccesful English expedi- tion, made to the same regions at the same time. Nearly all the Eng- lish expeditions of the sixteenth century are so disconnected that they cannot be easily grouped together. Sometimes there are feeble imita- tions of the enterprises of other nations, or at the best, results of them; and I have therefore thought it proper to dispose of them, as in this case, under the head of some greater undertaking of some other n.vion, to which they seem to be most nearly related with respect to ume, and perhaps also to plan.
In CHAPTER X. I have given an account of the continuation of the Spanish expeditions, including that of AAyllon to Chicora, in 1526; that of De Soto to the Mississippi, and that of Maldonado and Arias along the east coast of North America, in the years 1538-1543.
After the extensive explorations of Verrazano and Cartier, the
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INTRODUCTION.
French gave the name of New France to a large section of North America, and sometimes even to the whole American continent; and they continued to navigate thither, especially to the Banks of New- foundland and the neighboring coasts. Until near the close of the century they took the lead of other nations in the affairs of North America. 'At the time of their religious wars, soon after the middle of the sixteenth century, the Huguenots, who had friends in some of the western ports, desired to find upon the east coast of North America a suitable place, where they might establish a new home for the adherents of their religion, condemned and persecuted as heretical in France. They commenced, therefore, in the year 1562, a series of exploring and planting expeditions, under the command of their captains Ribault and Laudonnière, to the coasts of " French Florida," the name given by them to the region included in our present States of Georgia and South Carolina. On these expeditions some new and shorter oceanic routes were discovered, which afterwards became common, and were used in sailing to the coasts of New England. By these French expeditions to Florida, the Spaniards were also attracted to the same regions, and under their great navigator, Don Pedro Menendez, explored a great part of the cast coast. The English also followed the French, under the command of Sir John Hawkins, and, conducted by French pilots, sailed from thence along the entire east coast of North America. Still another expedition, connected in a similar manner with these expe- ditions of the French Huguenots, and accompanied and described by the celebrated French cosmographer, Andre Thevet, sailed along the east coast, and came to anchor in Penobscot Bay. On the breaking up of this Huguenot colony, under the assaults of the Spaniards and the neglect of their own government, some of the colonists took refuge in England, where their reports and maps on the beautiful country of "French Florida " were the means of arousing the English nation to those enterprises, which ended at last in the establishment of the col- ony of " Virginia." In CHAPTER XI. I have treated on all the English, French, and Spanish expeditions here alluded to. The voyages of Ribault and Hawkins, described in this chapter, being the immediate precursors of the voyages of Gilbert and Raleigh, with which the later period commences, form the appropriate conclusion of our historical report.
In a concluding chapter, CHAPTER XII, I have summed up the whole contents of the volume; but discarding the chronological arrangement before adopted, have distributed this recapitulation under the heads of the different nations participating in the enterprises and discoveries herein described.
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INTRODUCTION.
4. General remarks.
1.) In the history of the discovery of the east coast of North America, which I have given in these chapters, I have always had special refer- ence to the discovery of Maine, as the particular object of this volume. I have accordingly described the discovery of the other, and especially the more remote sections of the coast, less fully, and in more general terms; and at the end of the chapters, in which these other sections have been treated, have stated the influence which their discovery may have had on the discovery of Maine; while I have at the same time given prominence to all those voyages and explorations which were intended directly for the coast of Maine, or in which it was incidentally observed and surveyed, taking care to give in full the original passages, in which this coast and the coasts adjacent to it are described. This particular coast, and also the entire east coast of the United States, are, as the reader will observe, often spoken of by me throughout the work, as our coasts. In using this expression, adopted sometimes for the sake of brevity, and sometimes for the sake of variety, I have not intended to convey the impression of my being a citizen of the State of Maine, or of any other State of the Union, but have rather allowed myself, almost unconsciously, to identify myself with my subject.
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2.) The further we advance into our subject, and the more active the nations as well as individuals appear on the stage, the greater becomes the difficulty of grouping the whole mass of partially connected and dis- connected enterprises in a strictly chronological order. Sometimes a series of voyages having the same object, and following the same route, and growing out one from the other, was prosecuted in one and the same country for a long course of years; while during the same period of time, expeditions and explorations were undertaken from other countries. In observing, therefore, a strict chronological order, and relating these enterprises year by year, as several Spanish authors, for instance Herrera and Barcia have done, I should have been forced to transport myself and the reader continually from one country to another, and there would have been no end of the breaking and the mending of the thread of the story. It appeared, therefore, to be evi- dently better, that, putting aside chronology, we should follow out the enterprises of one nation to a proper stopping-place, and then go back and resume the consideration of the contemporaneous enterprises of another nation.
But on the other hand, the division of the subject according to na- tions, which has been adopted by Forster, and other historians, has also Its great inconveniences, if strictly and exclusively followed. The mari- time enterprises of any particular nation, the English for example,
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were, as a general thing, undertaken not so much from causes origi- nating at home, as operating from abroad, and could not be justly described, without keeping in view the parallel enterprises of friendly or hostile nations, of the allied or rival powers.
From these considerations I have followed in my work a middle course, arranging its materials, partly according to the order of time, partly according to that of nationality. If I have met a group of connected enterprises, undertaken in one country, or under the influ- ence of a single individual, I have traced it from beginning to end; and then arranged it chronologically with other groups, formed in a similar manner.
3.) With respect to the sources from which I have taken the data for my historical report, I have to make the following remarks. It has been my endeavor to obtain the best and earliest editions of the works on which I have relied as my authorities. But it has not always been possible for me to obtain the "best editions;" nor always, indeed, any editions of some works which I have wished to consult. In these cases, I have contented myself with secondary sources. I may say, . however, that I have seen and consulted most of the great authorities in this department of learning, preserved in the libraries of Germany, Paris, the British Museum, Oxford, New York, Boston, and Cambridge ; all of which, in the course of my travels, I have formerly visited for the purpose of collecting materials for a general history of the discovery of America.
It was my first intention to give an account of the standard works on the topics discussed at the beginning of each chapter; but this might have rendered the volume too bulky. Instead of this I have taken care to refer the reader, in foot-notes, to the works consulted, and the editions used. I trust, therefore, he will be satisfied of the solidity of my literary foundation.
II. ON THE MAPS.
Geographical maps and charts have been composed from time imme- morial. The ancient Greeks and Romans, and after them the Arabs, composed maps. Even the Northimen of the middle ages did the same, so far as they were able. In the era of modern discovery, it became customary for explorers to draw, during each expedition, a chart, mark- ing the configuration, and the latitude and longitude of the new coun- try seen by them. These original charts of the discoverers themselves, inade from actual survey, drawn on board their ships, or composed soon after they had reached home, with the assistance of their journals and notes, would be, if we possessed them, invaluable historical documents.
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INTRODUCTION.
But the instances are rare in which they have been preserved. They came at first into the hands of hydrographers and map-makers, who copied and reduced them, and embodied their contents in the general maps of the world, or so-called " Portolanos,"-sailing-charts,-which they composed for the instruction of the public, or the uses of naviga- tion. After having been employed in this manner, they were consigned to oblivion. A similar fate soon overtook the copies and compilations made from them. For a time, indeed, those great and splendid pictures of the new world, which were composed from the original charts of the great discoverers, had great celebrity, and were held in high estimation ; but only for a time. We hear of new maps, which were hung up by kings in their palaces; and of others, which were discussed in the academies, and sent from city to city for the inspection of the learned. They were studied, copied, engraved, and painted over and over again ; but only so long as they were new. When another new map appeared, which occurred often and after short intervals, the old map disap- peared from the palace and the academy, and was laid aside and for- gotten.
The maps which through age had become erroneous, were consid- ered good for nothing, and even held in contempt; though their errors often had some good reason, and at least showed the ideas of their authors, and of the times in which they were composed. They some- times contained excellent intimations of the better views which after- wards prevailed.
For these and other reasons it may be jnstly said, that there is no class of historical documents on which the "tooth of time" has been more busy, more cruel and destructive, than on old maps,-those com- piled, as well as those made from actual survey, the manuscript, as well as the engraved and printed. We could point out some maps engraved and printed only a few hundred years ago, and then existing in hundreds or thousands of copies, of which now scarcely a copy is left, which is valued by amateurs at its weight in gold.
Nevertheless it has happened, that by chance and good fortune, a considerable number of old maps and charts has been preserved to our times, either in the public archives, or in the old State libraries of the nations of Enrope. But even these maps and charts, which had been spared by all-destroying time, were scarcely noticed by the historians and geographers of the last century; sharing the neglect with which, during that period, Gothic buildings and other mediaval monuments were regarded. Indeed, during this interval, the old maps and charts were never invested with the dignity of historical documents. Even
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INTRODUCTION.
those most learned and intelligent French geographers, D'Anville and Delille, who were still living in the time of our grandfathers, felt no interest in old maps, and did nothing to recover or preserve them ; though they would have found in them some information not to be obtained elsewhere, and might have used them to illustrate and adorn their geographical works.
Historians, geographers, explorers, and travelers have sometimes laid down on their maps and charts certain facts, of which they have omit- ted to speak in their reports and books, finding it easier to speak to the eye than to the ear ; or rather to convey the information they wished to impart, by using the brief and compact delineations of the map, instead of the diffuse and cumbersome phraseology of the book.
It is not seldom the case, that an old map will contain the only infor- mation we possess concerning some expedition or discovery. To give a single instance: our books and manuscripts give us very imperfect information about those highly interesting expeditions which Cortes ordered to be made in the Gulf of California, and along the western shores of the Californian peninsula. A chart of these regions, which was made by a contemporary of Cortes, and which, near the end of the last century, was discovered and published in Mexico, furnishes a most satifactory supplement to our knowledge on this subject.
Moreover, the map-makers of former times were not content with merely giving the outline and name of a particular region, but they often affixed to it some inscription, legend, or notice, in which they informed the reader what kind of people lived there, what animals and plants were raised there, and, occasionally, by whom and when it was discovered. Now and then remarks like these are seen on those old maps : " In the year 1500 the Spaniard Bastidas sailed as far as this point;" or, " Here Solis was killed;" or, " In the present year Garay has gone out to this country, but is not come back as yet." We often see jotted down on the old maps, all kinds of observations, con- jectures, and hypotheses, from which we can learn the ideas and no- tions which were current at the time when they were composed. These old maps were often highly embellished with pictures of the mountains, the forests, the animals, the cities of the newly-discovered countries, of their aboriginal inhabitants, and of the discoverer and his companions in their antique armor and costume, and the flags and crosses erected by them; to say nothing of the monsters in the sur- rounding waters, and the ships sailing among them to and fro; in great contrast with the dry and purely scientific character of our modern maps.
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INTRODUCTION.
This will suffice,* at present, to show the great importance of the old maps and charts in the history of discovery. In more modern times this importance has come to be more generally acknowledged. Near the beginning of this century, a praiseworthy antiquarian enthusiasm was awakened ; and under this impulse historians and geographers began to search after old maps in the archives and libraries of the dif- ferent States of Europe; and when they were found, to have them care- fully copied, collected, and published; thus repairing, as far as possible, the mischief resulting from the carelessness of former times, and restor- ing these lost documents to the common treasury of knowledge. To recite all that has been done in this way since the beginning of the nineteenth century by learned individuals and by scientific bodies, would be aside from my present purpose. Suffice it to say, that no work on the history of American discovery would now be regarded as complete, unless illustrated by copies of the old maps and charts, appropriate to the country of which it treats.
In accordance with these views. and with the wishes expressed by the Maine Historical Society, I have in this work paid particular atten- · tion to the subject of maps. From all which offered themselves for illustrating the discovery of the east coast of North America, and particularly of the coast of Maine, I have selected, in preference, those which come nearest to the first charts; those, too, made from actual survey, by the explorers themselves ; and next to these, such as were made by distinguished contemporary cosmographers, and which are specially valuable, as exhibiting the leading geographical notions and ideas then prevailing.
The arrangement of the maps is attended with some difficulties. If there were a separate original chart for each distinct discovery, there could be no question, but that it should be placed in connection with the history of that discovery. But generally, even the earlier maps are only later compilations, and exhibit the results of several explorations made in different periods and distant places. However, even in such instances, there is commonly, on each map, some one discovery which constitutes its most prominent feature, and gives it a special interest. I have, therefore, arranged the maps according to their prominent and characteristic features, and annexed them to the chapters to which they are related by their principal or most important contents. In doing this, I have not omitted to notice those contents of the maps which are
. I tako the liberty to refer the reader to a lecture on the subject of the old maps, delivered by me in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, and published in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of that Institution for the year 1856, pp. 93-147, where the subject is treated more fully.
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INTRODUCTION.
of secondary and subordinate interest; and to connect them also, by references, with the chapters to which they are related by their subjects, to which they afford some illustration, and from which they receive in turn some explanation. And as the chapters and the maps are both numbered, the connection between them can be easily indicated.
I might have embodied the maps in the chapters they were designed to illustrate; but I have thought it preferable to place them in an " Appendage " at the end of these chapters, and to give the history and explain the contents of each map in a separate section of this Append- age. If, on this method, repetitions could not be wholly avoided, they are certainly reduced to the smallest possible number. In our exami- nation of the maps it will often appear, that they not only confirm the facts related in our history, but often furnish additional information.
In accepting the proposals made to me by the Maine Historical Society, I understood, as they did, that fac-similes of the original maps were to be furnished. But in the strict sense of the term, a fac-simile is, in my opinion, an impossibility ; and furthermore, if it could be liad, it would avail nothing for our purpose. Whether fac-similes should be furnished, must always be a question of degree. To give a perfect fac- simile, one must make a copy of the old maps of the size, with the handwriting, with the gold and silver embellishments, with the yellow, red, and blue coloring ; nay, with the very material, the rich vellum, of the originals,-a proceeding beyond the means ordinarily possessed either by individuals or societies.
In giving fac-similes of the old maps, it cannot certainly be under- stood, that the enormous size of some of them should be retained. I have, therefore, reduced them to more convenient dimensions. The reduced copy is not, however, necessarily a less exact copy of the origi- nal, than an enlarged copy would be.
Nor would a fac-simile necessarily require, that the rich coloring of the old maps should be followed in the copy. However much this might add to the beauty of the map, it would add nothing to its his- torical value. From all these various and costly colors, I have there- fore retained only two; blue for the water, and black for the outlines of the firm land, and for the names.
Nor have I undertaken to reproduce exactly the quaint and often illegible handwriting, in which the names and inscriptions are written on the old maps; differing in fashion in different periods, different na- tions, and in different maps of the same period and nation. To have done this, would have been to throw a great deal of heavy work upon the reader. I have, therefore, taken this labor upon myself, and have written all the names and inscriptions in a uniform style, and in our
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INTRODUCTION.
current letters. And if it should appear to the reader, that on this plan he finds, in the case of doubtful names, nothing but my own pri- vate opinion; it might be a question, whether he would fare better, in being left to decipher them for himself. Besides, my rendering of the old names, in many cases, is the same as had been given before by learned geographers, and is commended to the reader by their high authority.
To guard against all error in this matter, I have stated in my account of each map how far, and in what sense, it may be considered a fac- simile copy of the original.
At all events, the reader will understand, that in reducing the size of the old maps, and in modernizing their handwriting, I have not made my task any easier. The method I have adopted, and which I think is an invention of my own, is no labor-saving contrivance. It would have been a far easier task for me, to place the original in the hands of a competent artist, and simply to have required of him an exact and faithful copy.
I will add nothing to these introductory remarks, but the expression . of my hearty wish, that the manner in which I have performed the diffi- cult work assigned to me, and have solved the many intricate problems connected with it, may prove to be satisfactory to the members of the Historical Society of Maine, and to the patriotic citizens of that State, and that they will be kindly disposed to excuse its manifold imperfec- tions.
BREMEN (Germany), 29 August, 1868.
DISCOVERY OF THE COAST OF MAINE.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE GULF AND COAST OF MAINE.
1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
THE first navigators and explorers of our coasts and waters reconnoitered, and the old map-makers depicted them, only in a very rough and general manner. In introducing a report on their history by a hydrographic description, it is not my intention to go into all the details of the subject. To describe minutely every little harbor or island on the coast, to enter deeply into its geology and geography, in our case would be perfectly superfluous; because all these smaller objects, during the period of time which we have to examine, never came into consideration. They were not observed by the first explorers, who from time to time, often after long intervals, appeared on our shores, sweeping along them in good or bad weather; and were never represented on their charts, or mentioned in their reports. They became impor- tant only at a later date, when our regions were oftener visited, and when the nature and value of every spot and corner for commercial purposes or settlement, were better estimated. For such a later period, a more detailed examina- tion no doubt would become necessary.
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Here it will be sufficient and proper, to give only a general description of the coast, and to point out those very prom- inent physical features, which from the beginning of the dis- covery of America by Europeans came into notice, by which the old mariners and cosmographers themselves were struck, and which can serve us for the better understanding of their doings, writings, and charts.
2. GENERAL CONFIGURATION OF THE CONTINENT OF NORTH AMERICA.
The continent of North America, of which the territory of the present State of Maine is but a very small part, may be said to form an irregular quadrilateral region of dry land, a kind of rhomboid of colossal proportions facing on all sides, with only one small exception, the salt-water.
This great quadrangle is broad in the north, and somewhat contracted toward the south.
The southern coast-line, along the shores of the American Mediterranean Sea, and more particularly of the Gulf of Mexico, is, therefore, not very extended. In a rough meas- sure, and as far as the great mass of the continent goes, it is about 1500 miles long. And the continent, by a long and gigantic bridge of countries, is united there to its sister conti- nent, South America. By this bridge, or isthmus, the coast- line is broken, the surrounding waters interrupted, and the form of the quadrangle made still more irregular.
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