USA > Maine > A history of the discovery of Maine > Part 30
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It is said that, in 1542, a learned Portuguese, " Don Miguel de Sylva," bishop of Viseu, having been banished from Portugal, had come to France, and brought with him several good official Portuguese and Spanish charts and maps. If this is true, it suggests the source from which the unknown author of this map procured the excellent and true delincations, which he has given us in his general map of the world, of the coasts of East India, China, Australia, and several parts of America. These concurrent events-the arrival in the same year, 1542, of new maps from Canada on the one hand, and from Portugal and Spain on the other-may have given occasion in France for the composition of a new and splendid atlas of the world for Francis and the Dauphin. But still, I think we should allow the compiler a year to arrange these abundant materials, prepare and publish his great work, and must therefore determine the year of its publication to be 1543.
The map is not only one of the most brilliant, but also one of the most exact and trustworthy pictures of the world which we have in the first part of the sixteenth century. It gives accurately all that was
* [This grand entrance to the gulf is about seventy-five miles wide in its narrowest part from Cape Hay to North Cape, the northern point of Cape Breton .- ED.]
t See M. D'Avezae's Inventaire et classement raisonne des " Monuments de la Geo- graphie " in " Bulletin de l'Academie des Inscriptions." Séance du 3), avut, 1967.
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352
FRENCH MAP OF EAST COAST, 1543.
known of the world in 1543, especially of the ocean, and the outlines of the coasts of different countries. It is a sea-chart, and contains very few of the geographical features of the interior of countries, ex- cept in Europe; supplying their place with portraits of kings, pictures of the natives, and the natural productions of the countries, the trees, animals, and other objects of interest. But on the sea-coasts there is nothing fanciful. The author of the map must have been a well- instructed, intelligent, and conscientious man. Where the coasts of a country are not known to him, he so designates them. For his repre- sentation of countries recently discovered and already known, he had before him the best models and originals. The central parts of Amer- ica around the Gulf of Mexico, and even East India and Southern Chi- na, are drawn with admirable accuracy.
No. 18, the map now under consideration, is reduced from a frag- ment of M. Jomard's copy, representing the east coast of the United States and the river and gulf of St. Lawrence. The original chart is covered all along the shores with a multitude of nanies. Those which are applied to the coast of Maine, I have given in full; on more distant coasts, I have omitted those which are of little consequence to us, and on which I have no explanations to make: noticing only those which are better known to history, and which may serve as a guide to my reader.
The names on the east coast of the United States are Spanish, and must have been taken from Spanish originals. We find in the south, "La Florida," " Cape St. Helene," " C. St. Romain," " Bay de St. Marie " (Chesapeake Bay), and others.
Of the three great gulfs on the east coast, two are clearly expressed, . namely, that of Georgia in the south, and the Gulf of Maine in the north. No trace of the Gulf of New York is found on the chart.
The names on the coast of New England and Nova Scotia are also of Spanish origin. No evidence appears that the report or chart of the French commander, Verrazano, had been used in constructing this chart. Not even the island of " Claudia " appears, which later English and German map-makers still retained at the time of its composition. It is probable that the chart of Verrazano had disappeared from the marine archives of France; and this supposition confirms the state- ment of IIakluyt, that Verrazano carried his chart to England, and presented it to Henry VIII.
The often mentioned " Cabo de arenas," here translated "C. des sab- lons," is placed as usual in 40º N. It has large sand-banks before it; which strengthens my opinion that by this " Sandy Cape," Cape Cod was designated, surrounded as it is by George's sand-banks and Nan-
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353
FRENCH MAP OF EAST COAST, 1543.
tucket shoals ; while in the vicinity of Cape Henlopen or Sandy Hook, there are no such great and dangerous shoals and banks.
The gulf to the north-east of "Cape des sablons," as far as Nova Scotia, represents the Gulf of Maine, and has evidently been copied from the chart of Ribero, No. 16. It has exactly the same configuration, the same chain of islands characteristic of this gulf, the same great river-mouth running north and south, and also the same Spanish names, in a French version; "G. de St. Christophle," " R. de St. An- thoine," "M. verde" (green mountain), " R. de bonne mere," " Baye de St. Johan Baptiste," "Les montaignes," the " Arcipel de estienne Gomez," and "C. des isles." Beyond this on the east, "los medanos" (the hillocks); and on the coast of Nova Scotia, "Les montaignes" (the mountains), and " R. de la volte," or " buelta " (river of the return).
Besides these old Spanish names, introduced by Stephen Gomez and Ribero, our chart has many others along the coast, not to be found on Ribero's or any prior Spanish chart known to us. These new names are from south-west to north-east, as follows: " Ys des loups " (the isl- ands of the wolves), " Les escorey " ( ?), " Les germaines " ( ?), "Coste R. ontra " (?), "La playne " (the plain), and "Auorobagra," as M. Jomard has given it. This remarkable name stands near the largest bay of our coast (Penobscot Bay), at the same place where subsequent maps have the name "Norumbega." From the similarity of these names, we might suppose them to be the same, and that M. Jomard carelessly substituted " Auorobagra " for the word " Norobagra " in the original. The name " Auorobagra " runs up to a cluster of houses, or a castle, in the same place where we find represented, on subsequent maps, the large but fabulous " city of Norumbega."
It is impossible for us to say whether all these new names, the local- ities of which I cannot exactly determine, may be taken as indications of new discoveries made by French seamen on our coast.
Beyond Penobscot Bay, and on the coast of Nova Scotia as far as " Cape Breton," which is represented as a very small island, the new names are still more numerous. The name "Terre des Bretons," seems to be given to the whole of Nova Scotia, and no indication what- ever exists of the Bay of Fundy. .
The most important new feature of this map is, that the waters and countries in the rear and at the north of Maine are, for the first time, correctly exhibited. The gulf and river of St. Lawrence are depicted with great truthfulness, according to the discoveries of Cartier and Roberval in 1534 and 1542, and according to their charts. Our map shows that Cartier made very good observations on latitude, longitude, and distance. The Gulf of St. Lawrence and all its principal bays, head-
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354
CHART OF NICHOLAS VALLARD, 1347.
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lands, and islands, are given in their right places and with their true configuration, as is also the River St. Lawrence, as high up as the first rapids. The territory of Maine, on the peninsula between the great river and the Atlantic, has also its true position and extent.
Neither the gulf nor the river of St. Lawrence has a name on this chart. The name "St. Laurens" is given to a small bay in the north, where Cartier placed it on his first exploring expedition. The river was at that time styled, " the great river of Hochelaga," which was ap- plied to it by Cartier .*
The name Hochelaga (or Ochelaga) is given to the country north- east of the river; and further on is laid down the remarkable river "Le Saguenay," described by Cartier. The name "Canada," though not as yet generally adopted, makes a large figure on our chart. But I can only slightly allude here to the history of these names and objects the details of which belong more properly to a history of Canada.
A portrait is given of the principal commander of the expedition to Canada in 1542, " Monsieur de Roberval," standing in the midst of this wild country, at the head of his little troop of French soldiers. Among the pictures placed on the coast of New England, are those of a wild bear and of a unicorn.
The North Atlantic Ocean is styled, " La Mer Oceane," and the south- ern section of it, " Mer d'espaigne." The northern section, nearer our coasts, is named " Mer de France." The coast of Maine is also distin- guished by a canoe with Indians paddling along the shore; and the coast and waters adjacent to it are well delineated. The banks of Newfoundland are indicated by two long lines of points, where whale- fishing is going on.
The French, after Gomez and Verrazano, probably came near our coast several times and planted their French names, which soon superseded the original Spanish.
3. ON CHART, No. 19, OF THE EAST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA, FROM THE ATLAS OF NICHOLAS VALLARD DE DIEPPE, 1543.
No. 19 is a chart of Canada and the east coast of North America, copied from a manuscript atlas now in possession of Sir Thomas
* Thus "El gran riv " is still called " El gran riv de Ochelaga " by Herrera, in his description of America, published in 1601. The name " St. Lawrence River," must, however, have come into use very soon after Cartier. In 1553 it was used by the Spanish historian Gomara. In his Ilistory of the Indies, printed in 1553, fol. 7, he describes Canada, and then speaks of the great river St. Lawrence (gran riv dicho san lorenço).
355
CHART OF NICHOLAS VALLARD, 1547.
Phillips, Bart., of Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham. This English gen- tleman, well known for his large collection of rare and curious books, MSS., and historical documents, had the great kindness to allow me, in 1854, to take a copy of this map.
The atlas has this inscription: "Nicholas Vallard de Dieppe dans l'année, 1547." This inscription is thought by some to denote the au- thor of the map; by others, simply its owner in 1547. The celebrated French geographer, Barbie du Bocage, in 1807, read a paper on this atlas at a public session of the French Academy, in which he expressed the opinion " that the atlas had been drawn at Dieppe, in 1547, by a person of the name of Nicholas Vallard."* Sir Frederick Madden, " who had an opportunity of examining the atlas, thought that it was not made by Vallard, although it bore his name and the date 1547; t but that the name was only a mark of ownership." This is also my own opinion.
We know but little of Vallard, except that he was a Frenchman. Some have called him a French geographer and map-maker. But it is obvious from internal evidence, that this atlas could not have been · made by a Frenchman, but only by a Portuguese. There are very ac- curately depicted in the atlas certain discoveries made by the Portu- guese in Australia, which were kept secret by the king of Portugal, and of which Frenchmen probably could have had no knowledge at that time. And again the French names in the atlas, as I shall show more particularly hereafter, are either given in a Portuguese translation, or so corruptly written, as to render the opinion of a French authorship entirely inadmissible.
The question, how a document like this, made in Portugal and con- taining Portuguese secrets, could be brought from Lisbon, and fall into the hands of a Frenchman, has been answered by the conjecture, that it was taken to France by Don Miguel de Sylva, bishop of Viseu, a faithless servant of John III, of Portugal. This bishop had been a secretary and a favorite of the king of Portugal, but had left his place and country in a treacherous manner about 1542, " carrying with him certain papers of importance," with which the king had intrusted him. He passed through France to Italy, to receive in Rome the car- dinal's hat in 15434 Among the documents thus taken from Portugal and left in France, this atlas, or at least the Portuguese original of it,
*See a translation of this paper, in R. H. Major's Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Introduction, p. XXXV.
t See Major, I. c. p. xxvil.'
# See R. 11. Major, Early Voyages to Australia, Introduction, p. xllv. scq. London, 1859.
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CHART OF NICHOLAS VALLARD, 1547.
is supposed to have been one; besides which there were other precious Portuguese charts, which are now deposited partly in French, partly in English collections. A French amateur and painter copied the l'or- tuguese original, and embellished it with figures aud scenes from life; and this French copy fell into Vallard's hands. At the beginning of this century it came into the possession of Prince Talleyrand, and then attracted the attention of the French geographer, Barbie du Bo- cage,* who described it as above mentioned, in his paper read before the members of the French Academy. The work was afterwards ob- tained by Sir Thomas Phillips, who is the present owner.
The title given in this atlas to the section now under review, is " Terre de Bacalos." This is the old name applied to these regions before the middle of the sixteenth century, and was for some time used by the side of the new name " Nouvelle France." The former title may have been added by Vallard, the owner of the atlas.
In the north, the map begins with " Labrador," our present Green- land, and gives to this country, as well as to the entrance of Davis' and Hudson's Straits, in 60º N., the configuration and features which they usually have on old Portuguese charts.
Next follows " Terra Nova," our present Labrador and Newfound- land, with many names affixed, which are partly Portuguese and partly Freneli, as far south as " C. de Rax " (Cape Race).
The best parts of the map are the waters and coasts north of Maine. and the outlines of the gulf and river St. Lawrence. Like our map No. 18, made for Henry II, but better and more accurate thau that, they are evidently drawn from Cartier's discoveries and surveys. The gulf and river of St. Lawrence have a Portuguese name, "Rio do Canada." Frince Edward Island, at the south of the gulf, is better delineated than on former maps. Nearly all the names from the Strait of Belle Isle along the south coast of Labrador, and along the northern shore of the River St. Lawrence, are evidently taken from Cartier's reports and charts. . though some of them are apparently much corrupted by the Portu- guese writer. We find from east to west, " Belle Isle," " brest," " C. tre- not" (instead of Cape Tieno, as Cartier has it), " G. lorens " (instead of la baye de St. Laurens), " Rio douche " (instead of Rivière douce), " le Saguenay," " Ille de coudre " (instead of Isle aux coudres), " Ille dor- liens " (instead of Isle d'Orleans), " canada," and " tadacone " (instead of Stadacone), near Quebec, " lago de golesme " (instead of lac d'in- gouleme), " ochelaga" (instead of Hochelaga), near Montreal.
Some of the names along the River St. Lawrence, " totomagy," "es-
* See Major, I. c. p. xxviii.
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CHART OF NICHOLAS VALLARD, 1547.
tadacoe," " agochonda," " canoche," etc .. are not found in Cartier's re- ports, though they may have been on his charts.
From these names it appears to be quite certain, that the original atlas was composed by a Portuguese; who. however, must have copied from the French charts of Cartier, at least for the outlines of the coun- try of Bacalaos; thus also proving, that these French charts must have reached Portugal soon after Cartier's voyage of 1535. The Portuguese of course were eager to gain a knowledge of the prosecution of the discoveries, which they had begun in these regions with the voyages of the Cortereals, and where their fishing operations were so extensive and valuable.
Several interesting scenes are depicted on the northern shore of the river of Canada. Among them, near Quebec, is a fort mounted with cannon, and a French settlement, where is a group of Frenchmen sur- rounded, at a little distance, by astonished Indians. In front of this group, the figure of the commander stands forth prominently. Among them are soldiers, planters, monks, missionaries, together with several women, apparently of religious orders, and also wives of French peas- ants. Before them are some dogs playing, as if they were quite at home in this distant and strange country.
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These representations refer, not to Cartier's visit in 1535, because he had with him at that time only mariners. soldiers, and explorers ; but to the later visit of Roberval and Cartier, in 1541-1542, when they were accompanied by women, planters, missionaries, and the materials for founding a colony. By the " commander," on our map, is therefore probably intended the royal viceroy Roberval, who had been beforo pictured on another map of Canada (No. 18).
Roberval did not return home before the year 1542, the year in which these Portuguese maps are said to have been carried to France; and it may well be doubted, whether he and his company could have been de- picted in Portugal, before this date, in the manner here represented. And the French would have been more desirous of honoring their Grand Seigneur Roberval by such delineations, than the Portuguese. By adopting the suggestion of M. Barbie du Bocage, " that this atlas is not the Portuguese original, but only a copy of the stolen Portuguese doc- ument made in France,"* we may safely conjecture, that these pic- tures, not found in the Portuguese original, were added by the French artists, who were fond of embellishing their maps in this manner.
The principal objects on our map are the gulf and river of Canada. But it gives very little new light on the geography of the sea-coast of
* See Major, 1. c. p. xiv.
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CABOT'S MAP, 1541.
Nova Scotia and New England. At the south-west of Newfoundland. we find "C. Breton," with a fair delineation of this cape; and beside this, the name " Rio S. Pol," no doubt the " Cape de St. Paul," so called by Cartier on his second voyage in 1535. A large channel and island are depicted south of it; a misrepresentation, probably, of the "Gut of Canso." The " Rio grant " (Great River), is a name found on most of the old maps of Nova Scotia. At this point, then, we are still in that country ; and so far as the geography of Nova Scotia is concerned, our map shows no improvement. West of this the entrance of a large bay is indicated, perhaps the Bay of Fundy. Then comes " Rio primero" (first river), perhaps the first to be met with in arriving from Nova Scotia on the coast of New England. At some distance west comes " Rio do gamas," a Portuguese misreading for "Rio de las gamas" with its large mouth filled with islands (Penobscot River and Bay). Not far from this comes " C. Sta. Marie:" and near this is a small semi- circular bay, full of islands, which looks like Casco Bay, and bears the name " arcipelago." After this follow the usual names given by Go- mez in these regions, " montaña," " b. de S. Juan," and " R. de la buena madre," changed by the Portuguese author to " Rio de buena madeira " (the river of good timber). The whole coast from " Rio dolozo " and " Rio do gamas," as far south as " C. de Croix," is bordered with small isl - ets, and has the shape of the Gulf of Maine; which was, therefore, prob- ably intended. " C. de Croix," which is made very prominent, and put in latitude 40° 20' N., with a small bay west of it, undoubtedly denotes Cape Cod; having supplanted the old name of " Cabo de Arenas," now placed next to it on the south. From this point to " B. Sta. Marie" (Chesapeake), is but a short distance ; while the waters and coasts near New York, as we formerly suggested, appear to be wholly omitted from the map. This part of the map is one of those manifold misrep- resentations of the exploration of Estevan Gomez, introduced first in the map of Ribero, and after that repeated in endless variations.
South of the Bay of Sta. Marie (Chesapeake Bay). as far down as Florida, we find the customary Spanish names, which originated in the expeditions of Ponce de Leon and Ayllon.
4. No. 20, ON THE ENGRAVED MAP OF THE WORLD, SAID TO HAVE BEEN MADE BY SEBASTIAN CABOT, IN 1544,-AND THE VOY- AGE SAID TO HAVE BEEN MADE BY JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT, IN 1494.
Our map, No. 20, is copied from a fragment of a very large engraved map of the world, consisting of several sheets, found recently, I be- lieve about the year 1855, in Germany, from which it was taken to
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CABOT'S MAP, 1544.
France and deposited in the imperial library at Paris. The celebrated French geographer, M. Jomard, through whose instrumentality it was procured, embodied a fac-simile of it in his great work, " Monu- ments de la Géographie." I furnish here only that part of the map which has a special relation to the object of our researches.
The map contains, besides its delineation of all parts of the world, nu- merous and long inscriptions, written in the Spanish language, and translated into Latin. One of these inscriptions, No. XVII, is as fol- lows:
"Sebastian Caboto capitan y piloto mayor de la S. C. C. M. del Impe- rador Don Carlos quinto deste nombre y Rey nuestro sennor liizo esta figura extensa in plano anno del nascim' defro Salvador Jesu Christo de MDXLIIII annos " (Sebastian Cabot, captain and pilot major of his sacred imperial majesty the emperor Don Carlos, the fifth of this name, and king, our lord, made this figure extended in plane, in the year of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 1544).
In this inscription, the assertion is plain enough, that the celebrated Sebastian Cabot " made" this map in the year 1544. Who makes this assertion, we do not know. By some, it is supposed, that Cabot speaks here himself; others have thought, that it must be another person, and that neither the above inscription, nor the other legends of the map, were composed by Sebastian Cabot .* I agree with the latter opinion.
These inscriptions all speak of Cabot in the third person ; and they contain assertions, opinions, and expressions which scarcely could be ascribed to him, as I shall endeavor to make clear, when I come to speak particularly of them, and show that these inscriptions were probably interpolated by the editor or publisher of the map, or some person employed by them.
The inscription, No. XVII, asserts, that Cabot " hizo esta figura" (made the figure). What this means, and what kind of agency it aseribes to Cabot in the construction of the map, is not clear. Does the inscrip- tion pretend that Cabot himself engraved the map? We have never heard that Cabot, like the German Mercator, and the Belgian Ortelius, engraved maps with his own hand. It is very probable, that the inscription means nothing more, than that the map was drawn and en- graved after some original manuscript map, supposed to have been made by Sebastian Cabot.
The year 1544 is given as the date when the map was engraved; and
* Mr. Bancroft, for instance, in his articles on the Cabots in Appleton's American Cyclopedia, and also Mr. Charles Deane in his " Remarks on Sebastian Cabot's Mappe- monde," p. 6, Cambridge, 1867, are of this opinion.
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CABOT'S MAP, 1544.
this date is confirmed by internal evidence. The map furnishes a cor- rect delineation of the River St. Lawrence, as high up as the first rapids. This delineation was first made by Cartier and Roberval in 1542, and was not known in Europe previous to 1543 or 1544.
Again, our map contains an exact copy of the well-known chart of California, made in 1541, by the pilot Domingo del Castillo.
That the map could not have been made much after 1544, is probable from the fact, that California, as here represented, does not reach higher up than about 35º N., the extent of its discovery made in 1541, by Alarcon and Castillo; and that from this point, a blank space is left for the more northern discoveries of Cabrillo in the years 1542, 1543, which, however, must have been known in Europe soon after 1544.
This date is also confirmed by the outlines of the west coast of South America, where the coast south of Chili is laid down as far as about 40° S., which was the extent of Spanish discoveries and conquests under Valdivia in 1542; while from that point toward Magellan's Strait, our map presents a perfect blank. Still, again, the great island of Chiloe was not discovered until after 1544, and is not, therefore, indi- cated on our map. And finally, Sebastian Cabot was, at this date, 1544, and not much later, chief pilot of the king of Spain, as he is styled on the map.
From these circumstances we are brought to the conclusion, that the engraving and publishing of this chart are justly placed in the year 1544.
Neither the publisher of the map, nor the place of its publication is indicated, which is a singular, perhaps a suspicious circumstance. Nearly all good maps of the sixteenth century contain both the name of the publisher and the place of publication. Ortelius in his great work, " Theatrum orbis terrarum,"* gives a catalogue of nearly two hundred maps of the sixteenth century, most of them engraved; and they have, almost without exception, the name of the publisher, the place of printing, and the year of publication. Why have these been omitted on this map? Did not the publisher and printer like to be known?
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