USA > Maine > A history of the discovery of Maine > Part 33
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At the entrance of these straits, in 60º N., lies "I. da fortuna," probably identical with the "y. da tormento," or the "y. de la tor- menta " (island of storms), which is placed on the map of Reinel (No. 9), and the map of Ribero (No. 16), adjacent to it. It is, per- haps, "Resolution Island," and was probably discovered by Gaspar Cortereal, or some other Portuguese. " The Portuguese, after the time of the Cortereals," says Dr. Asher,* "continued their surveys of the northern coast; most likely for no other purpose than to discover advantageous fisheries. They seem to have advanced slowly, step by step. ... With the ancient maps, we can trace their progress. In 1544, they seem not yet to have reached the mouth of Hudson's Strait. In 1558 (the date of our chart of Homem), their geographical knowledge extends beyond the mouth of the strait."
The names of places on the east coast of Labrador and Newfound- land, are generally Portuguese, with the exception of a few French names about the Strait of Belle Isle. The west coast of Newfound- land is left undefined. Homem must have overlooked or ignored the fact, that Cartier sailed along this coast, and made an actual survey of it in 1534.
The south coast of Labrador has French names, taken from the charts or reports of Cartier, and presents numerous small islands, more than are actually there. But Cartier, in his report, said expressly, that they were numberless, and so the map-makers depicted them. The whole draft of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is necessarily taken from Cartier, though our Portuguese author has badly changed and cor- rupted the names of his French original.
Our author appears to have had a great passion for islands, and a strong belief in north-west passages, from the Atlantic to the Western Ocean. He ents up the whole of northern New Franco into large islands, and converts several branches of the St. Lawrence into sea- channels and straits. He puts down a strait in every place where Cartier, in his report, had said he had looked for one, even if he did
. In his Introduction to Henry Hudson, etc., p. xcvi.
381
DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558.
ner and cape, to which is given the name "beu sablom" (Sable Bay) Cape Sable is probably intended. Between these two points, the south- ern coast of the peninsula runs cast-north-east and west-south-west, agreeing exactly with the coast of Nova Scotia, which is undoubtedly meant. The names annexed to it, " Ribera de S. Joam," " Ribera gram," "Ribera de jardins," and the rest, are partly Portuguese and partly French ; but the greater part are not found on other maps.
At " beu sablom" the coast turns north at a right angle, like the coast of Nova Scotia, in latitude about 43º 3)' N. After some distance comes a group of islands, which may be those at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, "Brier I.," "Long I.," "Grand Menan," etc., though these last are much further south than those without names on this map. Beyond this group of islands, two branches of a gulf extend northerly toward the Bay of Chaleur, but their termination is undefined and rep- resented as unknown. I think that this is intended for the Bay of Fundy, and is the first attempt to depict it.
Homem .does not mention the sources from which he derived his sketch of Nova Scotia; but it is apparent that he had for models good French or Portuguese charts taken from actual survey, especially for its south coast and western end. It is better drawn than on any chart previous to 1553, or on any subsequent to it for many years. It is bet- ter than the celebrated map of Mercator in 1550, as in our map, No. 22, or that of Ortelius in 1570. We may justly call it an improvement on the map of Gastaldi (No. 11), which was the commencement of a more accurate representation of Nova Scotia, and was copied from similar, but older and poorer materials than this map of Homem.
None of the great official explorers, so far as I know, had surveyed or described Cape Sable or the Bay of Fundy. Neither Verrazano nor Gomez make any allusion to them in their reports; and Cartier and Roberval did not go so far south. No doubt the Breton and Norman fishermen extended the discoveries of those great official explorers into this region (in the same manner and for the same purpose that the Por- tuguese fishermen did those of the Cortereals northerly toward Ind- son's Bay), and as I have said in my description of Gastaldi's map (No. 11), probably had their harbors of refuge on the coast of Nova Scotia. The fishing has always been very good along this whole peninsula, par- ticularly at Cape Sable, where, in former, as in modern times, an abun- dance of cod-fish has been found .* North of Cape Sable, also, along the coast toward the Bay of Fundy, the fishing has always been produc-
*See Dénys, " Description géographique de l'Amerique septentrionals," tom. 1, p. 63, Paris, 1672; and Haliburton's Nova Scotia, vol. 1, pp. 189, 190, Halifax, 1829.
382
DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558.
tive. Cape Sable is, in many respects. a most prominent object ; being situated at the extreme point of a large tract of country, and rendered remarkable by its sandy beaches, quite unusual in Nova Scotia, and its " white cliffs distinguishable at a distance of five leagues."* If such a prominent point were overlooked by official explorers, it would not es- cape the observation of the numerous fishermen searching for their prey ; and would become famous among them. This cape, as we learn from our map, had received its name before 135S, derived from its sandy cliffs and banks. And the other names along the coast of Nova Scotia were not the inventions of Homem, but taken from the best authori- ties, and from the information and charts of the fishermen, as can be proved regarding some of them. Many of them have retained their place from that day to this. Where Homem, for instance, puts the name "golfo de petis " (a name half Portuguese and half French, which probably should be "petits "), we find on subsequent maps of Nova Scotia, " La petite Rivière," and on quite modern charts the name " Petits Island," a little east of Cape Negro. And not far from the place where Homem has put " la beau bai " (probably " la belle baye "), we find on modern maps the name " Port Joli," which has the same signification.
But on the west coast of Nova Scotia, Homem does not appear to be so well informed as on the south coast; his latitudes are too high, and the configuration of the coast is misshapen. It seems as if he followed here the uncertain reports of fishermen or of Indians. In the long nameless lagoon, which he puts at some distance north of " beu sablom " (Cape Sable), we may recognize " St. Mary's Bay," which has nearly the same size and extent. North of this, after a group of islands (Grand Menan, (?) etc.), the upper part of the gulf is divided into two arms, extending into the interior of the country, terminating our author does not know how or where, and therefore leaves them unfin- ished. I think that here the two branches of the Bay of Fundy, at its easterly end, are intended, namely, Mines' Basin and Chignecto Bay, although on the map their location is too far north, toward the Bay of Chaleur. Still the map indicates that as early as 1558, the Portu- guese and French fishermen, those pioneers of north-eastern discov- ery, had found their way to the interior of the Bay of Fundy; a fact which might have been anticipated, without such proof.
And the reason that we do not find this remarkable bay distinctly laid down on maps of the sixteenth century is, not that it was unfre- quented by these fishing pioneers, but that geographers were ignorant
· See Haliburton, I. c.
DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558.
of those sources from which Homem drew his information, and from the loss of many early maps on which it may have been represented.
The old French name first given to this bay, " La Baye Françoise," had no doubt been in use among the French fishermen, although De Monts and Poutrincourt thought, when they entered it in 1604, that they were making a new discovery. In placing this name on their maps, they probably did nothing new, but only confirmed what was already in use .* The draft which they made of it was, however, not much better than that made by Diego Homem in 1558.f
From Nova Scotia and the east coast of the Bay of Fundy, which is by far the most interesting part of our map, I now proceed to examine the coasts west and south-west of Nova Scotia. And to make the ex- amination more intelligible, I will begin at Florida, in the south, where we find points and places long before delineated on Spanish maps, as " C. de St. Ellena," "C. de S. Roman," and, in 37º N., the " B. de Sta. Maria" (Chesapeake). Between this and the next inlet, a peninsula is formed, which in its configuration is much like a prolongation of the peninsulas of Delaware and New Jersey. The " Cabo de arenas " is about in the latitude of Cape Henlopen. North of the inlet at . C. de- serto " and near the " B. de St. Jago," the coast begins to turn to the east for about ninety leagues, quite well agreeing with the description which Oviedo gave of this part of the coast before the middle of the sixteenth century, according to the chart of Chaves. I think, there- fore, that Homem must have had before him this chart, which unhap- pily we have not.#
Arriving at a very prominent point, near which is written the name " C. de las muchas islas," the coast abruptly turns to the north, form- ing a large peninsula, resembling that of New England. The prom- inent cape near the above name I suppose to be Cape Cod. The con- figuration of the coast is correctly drawn; but the name of the cape appears to be misplaced; for Oviedo says clearly enough, that Cape Cod was called " Cabo de arrecifes " (Cape of the reefs), and he puts the " Cape of many islands" much further to the north on the coast of Maine, as do Ribero and all the old maps.§
* Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, p. 454 seq. Paris, 1612.
t See this map in Lescarbot, I. c.
# See our remarks on Oviedo's description, and the map of Chaves, Appendage to chap. VIII, No. 2.
§ [From the fact that on the old maps referred to, the name "C. de las muchas islas," is placed north of " Cabo de arrecifes" (Cape Cod); that is, on a part of the Gulf of Maine, and would therefore be m'splaced on the map under examination, if put on or south of Cape Cod, we are led to suggest whether, contrary to the first appear-
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383
DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558.
of those sources from which Homem drew his information, and from the loss of many early maps on which it may have been represented.
The old French name first given to this bay, "La Baye Françoise," had no doubt been in use among the French fishermen, although De Monts and Poutrincourt thought, when they entered it in 1604, that they were making a new discovery. In placing this name on their maps, they probably did nothing new, but only confirmed what was already in use .* The draft which they made of it was, however, not much better than that made by Diego Homem in 155S.f
From Nova Scotia and the east coast of the Bay of Fundy, which is by far the most interesting part of our map, I now proceed to examine the coasts west and south-west of Nova Scotia. And to make the ex- amination more intelligible, I will begin at Florida, in the south, where we find points and places long before delineated on Spanish maps, as " C. de St. Ellena," "C. de S. Roman," and, in 37º N., the " B. de Sta. Maria" (Chesapeake). Between this and the next inlet, a peninsula is formed, which in its configuration is much like a prolongation of the peninsulas of Delaware and New Jersey. The " Cabo de arenas " is about in the latitude of Cape HIenlopen. North of the inlet at " C. de- serto " and near the " B. de St. Jago," the coast begins to turn to the east for about ninety leagues, quite well agreeing with the description which Oviedo gave of this part of the coast before the middle of the sixteenth century, according to the chart of Chaves. I think, there- fore, that Homem must have had before him this chart, which unhap- pily we have not.#
.
Arriving at a very prominent point, near which is written the name " C. de las muchas islas," the coast abruptly turns to the north, form- ing a large peninsula, resembling that of New England. The prom- inent cape near the above name I suppose to be Cape Cod. The con- figuration of the coast is correctly drawn; but the name of the cape appears to be misplaced; for Oviedo says clearly enough, that Cape Cod was called " Cabo de arrecifes " (Cape of the reefs), and he puts the " Cape of many islands" much further to the north on the coast of Maine, as do Ribero and all the old maps.§
* Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, p. 454 seq. Paris, 1612.
t See this map in Lescarbot, I. c.
# See our remarks on Oviedo's description, and the map of Chaves, Appendage to chap. VIII, No. 2.
§ [From the fact that on the old maps referred to, the name "C. de las muchas islas," is placed north of " Cabo de arrecifes" (Cape Cod); that is, on a part of the Gulf of Maine, and would therefore be m'splaced on the map under examination, if put on or south of Cape Cod, we are led to suggest whether, contrary to the first appear-
384
MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569.
Beyond Cape Cod the coast runs far north, and is bordered all along by a chain of small islands, and indented with large inlets; and is clearly to be distinguished as the coast of the Gulf of Maine. Over this whole peninsula of New England the flag of Spain is spread.
The large gulf, which in this manner is formed between Nova Scotia and Cape Cod, must be taken to be the Gulf of Maine, extending in the north into the Bay of Fundy. The entrance to the gulf is too narrow, the distance between " beu sablom " (Cape Sable) and "C. de las muchas islas " being far too short.
We may sum up the chief results, gained from an examination of Homem's map, which, in connection with our subject, is the most in- teresting we can produce from the middle of the sixteenth century, in the following brief terms:
The coast of the Gulf of Maine is here represented much more truly, trending toward the north; while on nearly all former maps it is in- correctly made to run east and west.
The peninsula of New England. for the first time, has its true con- figuration; though the names added to it are incorrectly given.
The Bay of Fundy is here indicated for the first time, though only by a few uncertain lines; sufficient to show quite clearly, that it was known to, and visited by, French and Portuguese fishermen before the middle of the sixteenth century.
The great country of Nova Scotia, adjoining Maine on the east, is here for the first time correctly delineated; especially Cape Sable, whose name, with its vicinity, was already well known.
6. ON A CHART, NO. 22, OF THE EAST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA, FROM A MAP OF THE WORLD BY GERARD MERCATOR, IN 1569.
Gerard Mercator, whose German family name was " Kramer,"* was born in 1512, of German parents, at Rüpelmundo in Belgium, where his mother was on'a visit to her friends. He spent his childhood in the Duchy of Jülich in Germany, which he regarded as the home of his family.t He studied mathematics, history, and geography with the greatest zeal at Löwen, where the learned German cosmographer,
ance, it may not be really intended by Homem for one of the projecting points on the coast of Maine to which it may be most appropriately applied, either to Cape Eliza- beth or Owl's Head, each of which is remarkable for its numerous islands .- ED.]
* Not " Kaufmann " as some have said.
t Mercator says this of himself in the dedication of his great atlas (edit. 1585) to the Duke of Jülich. The dedication is prefixed to the map of France.
MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569. . 385
Gemma Frisins, was his teacher. He acquired the art of engraving and making scientific instruments. Thus qualified, he gave nearly his whole life to geography and map-making.
The first map of Mercator, as of many other composers of maps, was one of Palestine; the second, of Belgium. His next attempt was to make a terrestrial and a celestial globe. But being a Protestant lie be- came involved in trouble with the Spanish government of Belgium, and emigrated, with other citizens of the country, soon after 1552, to Duisburg, on the lower Rhine in Germany, where he settled under the protection of the Duke of Jülich, " natural master," as he calls him. of his parents and himself. He continued to reside there, with his nu- merous family, till his death in 1594, always occupied in the study of geography, the composition of maps, and the construction of mathe- matical instruments for the emperor, and other prominent persons .*
After much study and reading he completed, in Duisburg in 1569, that great and much admired map of the world, in which he combined. in one grand view, upon eight large sheets, all his geographical knowl- edge of the globe. This map, with the assistance of three sons, his pupils, he not only drew, but also engraved. It was considered at the time as a wonderful work, and was the foundation of his fame as a cosmographer.
For the composition of this great map, Mercator had collected many printed and manuscript maps and charts, and many reports of voyages of discovery. These he carefully studied and compared, selecting from them those only which he thought the most reliable. He gave to his map a new projection of his own invention, and one extremely con- venient to navigators, which, ever since, has been called from him, " Mercator's Projection." This useful and ingenious invention was applied for the first time on the chart here introduced; and although for a century it encountered opposition by its novelty from ignorant navigators, it came at last into general use on sea charts; and its ad- vantages are now generally acknowledged and adopted.
* Respecting his life and works, see Lelewel, "Geographie du moyen age," tom. 2, p. 181, Bruxelles, 1852; and Gualterius Gimmius, " Vita Gerardi Mercatoris," in Mer- cator's atlas. Duisburgi, 1535. A very excellent life of Mercator has been written by Dr. A. Breusing, a distinguished mathematician and geographer in Bremen, who had the kindness to lend me his manuscript, which will soon be published, and from which I have chiefly taken the above fiets. Dr. Brensing clearly proves, that Mercator was a German, and that he regarded himself as such, and not a Belgian, as has been incor- rectly stated by many former writers. M. D'Avezac, the admirable French anthor, agrees with Dr. Breusing, and calls Mercator "le Grand Géographe Allemand " (the great German geographer). See D'Avezac, "Coup d'œil historique sur la projection des cartes de Géographie," p. 10.
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386
MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569.
By this invention, and this large chart of 1569, Mercator became emi- nent, and was considered the most distinguished cosmographer of his time. His friend Ortelius, whose name is often associated with his, and who shared his laurels, repeatedly ealls him, in his great atlas, thic first edition of which was published in 1570, " nostri sæculi Ptole- maeus " (the Ptolemy of our age), and " Geographorum nostri temporis coryphæus " (the corypheus of the geographers of our time) ; and men- tions his chart of 1569, in the following terms: "sua nunquam satis laudata universalis tabula" (his never enough praised universal chart).
But this work, so admired and copied by contemporaries, was celipsed by later improvements, and fell into neglect. Most of the copies were thrown aside and destroyed in the progress of time, until at last in 1852, only one copy, preserved in the imperial library in Paris, was known to be in existence .*
M. Jomard, in his great work " Monuments de la Geographic," has reproduced all the large sheets of the work, and given lithographie fac- similes of them in the size of the originals. From one of these our fragment, No. 22, is a reduced copy.
On the whole, Mercator's work is most interesting and accurate in the delineation of the old world, particularly of Europe, with which he was best acquainted. In regard to Africa, and southern and east- ern Asia, he does not appear to be so well informed.t In the chart of America several parts are not so well represented as they had been in previous manuscript maps of the time; but other sections are so strik- ingly well delineated, and so superior to all that existed in former maps, that we seek with astonishment, but in vain, for the sources from which he derived his information.
The chart bears many signs of the great and often unnecessary ap- plication of our studious cosmographer; for he has reproduced the fabulous islands of "St. Brandan," " Y. Verde," " Arredonda," etc., traditional among the learned, and which were laid down on many. charts before the time of Columbus. These are placed in the Atlan- tic Ocean, together with the Azores and Bermudas, the only islands of all he has named really entitled to a place there.
Mercator was, like his contemporaries, a great admirer of the chart of the Zeni, which had been published about ten years before his own, and whose work he attempted to harmonize with that of other carly map- makers, and to embody in his map. His mode of proceeding was singu- lar, and had an influence on the geography and discovery of his time;
*So Lelewel supposed in his " Géographie du moyen age," tom. 2, p. 183, note 538.
t The same remark has been made by others.
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387
MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569.
for believing his charts to be accurate. navigators took them for a guide.
He copied exactly from the Zeni's chart the entire representation of Greenland with its latitudes, as given upon the engraved map of 1558, without suspecting that these latitudes were not given in the original of 1330, but were, as we believe, afterwards added to the map of 1558. Adopting them as reliable, he consequently put the southern point of Greenland "Trin prom " (Cape Farewell) nearly under the arctic circle, while in reality it lies six degrees further south.
South of this Greenland of the Zeni, he depicted the true Green- land ending in latitude 60°, with its true configuration as described on the old Portuguese and Spanish charts, and called " terra Agricola," or " Labrador," to which he gave the name " Estotilant," as had been done on the map of the Zeni. Between these countries he made a broad strait; and thus Mercator has laid Greenland down twice on his map, once with its correct configuration, but the wrong latitude of the Zeni's chart; and again, in the true latitude of Cortereal and his fol- . lowers, but with a wrong delineation.
West of Greenland he placed the large island of Iceland, to which he added some of the names found on the Zeni's map, as "Foglasker," "Skalholdin," " Westrabord," etc., though he did not give it the latitude and configuration of the Zeni, and must therefore, I think, have fol- lowed some later map of that island. He also restores to his chart a rock between Iceland and Greenland, which Gunnbiorn is said to have discovered six hundred years before. The rock, in Mercator's time, had entirely disappeared under accumulated masses of ice; yet he re- stored it and placed it, nicely engraved, on his chart by the name of " Witsare," which is the name of a mountain, placed in the chroni- cles of the Northimen, on the coast of Greenland, but not intro- duced on the map of the Zeni. I cannot imagine where Mercator heard of it, unless from correspondents in Iceland.
South-west and south of Iceland, Mercator has produced an exact copy from the Zeni's map of the islands " Icaria " and " Frislant," with their names. He had not ascertained as yet that this " Frislant " was no other than the " Faroe Islands," much enlarged and wrongly situated, as we now know. He regarded " Frislant " as a great island existing on the south of Iceland, and put the little group of the Farse Islands in their proper position, as they are found on modern maps; and thus, as in the case of Greenland, he has represented this group twice; once in its true size and longitude, and again incorrectly, as copied from the Zeni.
The country "Drogeo," which is placed in the south-western corner
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388
MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569.
of the map of the Zeni, Mercator regarded as an island in the midst of the Atlantic, and has so laid it down. In fact, this name Drogeo de- notes the present north-eastern termination of New England, and is placed by Malte Brun and Lelewel, on their maps, exactly on the coast of Maine.
But the best portion of Mercator's work, and a real and valuable im- provement upon all former maps, is his delineation of the large penin- sula of Labrador, lying south-west of Greenland. On all former maps, that region was ill-shapen and most incorrectly drawn. But here, un- der the name of "Terra Corterealis," it receives its proper shape, with a full and just development, which had not been given to it on any map prior to 1569. He makes its eastern coast run south-east and north-west, as it really does from about 53º to 60º N. In the north he plainly shows the narrow entrance of Hudson's Strait, and at the west of it a large gulf, called by him " Golfam de Merosro." This remarka- ble gulf may be an indication of either Hudson's Bay or only the Bay of Ungava. I think that the latter was meant; first, because the "Gulf of Merosro " has the longitude of the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, which is also the longitude of the Bay of Ungava; second, because the said gulf is represented as closed in the west. The western coast of the Bay of Ungava runs high up to the north, where Hudson's Strait is often filled with ice. This may have led the unknown discov- erers, the informants of Mercator, to suppose that it was closed in the west. If they had looked round Cape Wolstenholm into Hudson's Bay, they would have perceived a broad bay and open water before them.
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