Amerigo Vespucci

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"The next day we saw a great number of people coming through
the country, still offering us signs of battle, sounding
horns and shells, and all painted and plumed, which gave
them a strange and ferocious appearance.[11] Whereupon all
in the ships held a grand council, and it was determined
that, since these people were determined to be at enmity
with us, we should go to meet them and do everything to
engage their friendship; but in case they would not receive
it, resolved to treat them as enemies and to make slaves of
all we could capture. Having armed ourselves in the best
manner possible, we immediately rowed ashore, where they did
not resist our landing, from fear, as I think, of our
bombardment. We disembarked in four squares, being
fifty-seven men, each captain with his own men, and then
engaged them in battle. After a protracted fight, having
killed many, we put them to flight and pursued them to their
village, taking about two hundred and fifty prisoners. We
then burned the village and returned victorious to the ships
with our prisoners, leaving many killed and wounded on their
side, while on ours only one died and not more than
twenty-two were wounded. The rest all escaped unhurt, for
which God be thanked!

"We soon arranged for our departure, and the seven men, of
whom five were wounded, took a canoe from the island and,
with three male and four female prisoners that we gave them,
returned to their own country, very merry and greatly
astonished at our power. We also set sail for Spain, with
two hundred and twenty-three prisoners, and arrived at the
port of Cadiz on October 15, 1498, where we were well
received and found a market for our slaves. This is what
happened to me on this, my first voyage, that may be
considered worth relating."

FOOTNOTES:

[10] These "serpents" were iguanas, and were seen and described by
Christopher and Bartholomew Columbus, long before Vespucci made his
voyages.

[11] The fierce islanders, so accurately described by Vespucci, were
doubtless the Caribs, and the numerous islands were probably Grenada
and the Grenadines, perhaps including St. Vincent, in the north, where
descendants of those Caribs live to-day.

VII

VESPUCCI'S "SECOND" VOYAGE

1499-1500

That letter from Vespucci to the friend of his youth, Soderini,
purporting to narrate the events of his first voyage, has proved a
prolific source of doubt and perplexity. Although it was written
before Columbus died, and although it was published while most of the
actors therein mentioned were yet living, its authenticity was
unchallenged until nearly a century after its appearance. Herrera, it
is believed, was the first to accuse Vespucci of "artfully and
wilfully falsifying in his narrative, with a view to stealing from
Columbus the honor of being the discoverer of America." This charge
was made public in his work on the West Indies, published in 1601, and
ever since Vespucci has been stigmatized as an impostor.

There is no official record of the voyage he claimed to have made in
1497-1498, and historians are silent as to his actions, in fact,
during the period between 1496 and 1504. This signifies little,
according to the historian Gomara, who says: "Learning that the
territories which Columbus had discovered were very extensive, many
persons proceeded to continue the exploration of them. Some went at
their own expense, others at that of the king, all thinking to enrich
themselves, to acquire honor, and to gain the royal approbation. But,
as most of these persons did nothing but discover, memorials of them
all have not come to my knowledge, especially of those who went in the
direction of Paria, from the year 1495 to the year 1500."

Some writers have sought to "establish an alibi" by showing that
Vespucci was in Spain throughout the period which, he says, was passed
by him at sea, on this "first" voyage; but they have not been
successful in doing so. Some, again, have declared that the narrative
of the "four" voyages, beginning in May, 1497, was made up of that on
which Vespucci certainly sailed with Ojeda, in May, 1499. "The points
of resemblance"--as the reader may see for himself--"are so many and
so striking as to seem not only conclusive, but to preclude any other
theory," says Alexander Humboldt, who, in his _Examen Critique_, made
an exhaustive research into the Vespucci letters. Humboldt completely
vindicated the character of Vespucci, leaving no shade of doubt upon
his integrity, but he did not unravel the mystery.

How happens it that Vespucci could make a voyage of which no record
exists or was ever known to exist? Why did he not mention the names of
the fleet's commander? Why do his descriptions of scenery and people
so closely resemble those of scenery and people seen on the second
voyage? He alludes several times to his forthcoming book, _The Four
Voyages_ (_Quattro Giornate_); but no trace has ever been found of
that book, while the fragmentary letters to his "patrons," Soderini
and Francesco de Medici, have survived to the present day.

Men of the keenest acumen and perfectly equipped for historical
research, such as Humboldt, Irving, and Navarrete, have devoted
themselves to the solution of this problem, but without complete
success. The first and the last named have cleared his name from the
aspersions of centuries; the second and third, in their endeavors to
magnify Columbus by belittling Vespucci, have not convinced posterity
that the Florentine was a liar and a villain. He was neither one nor
the other; and that he was far more humane than his friend Columbus
has been amply shown in his treatment of the Indians. He and his
companions made a few slaves; they attacked the cannibals in behalf of
rival natives; but they did not, in their lust for gold, put Indians
to the torture, enslave whole tribes and communities, and commit
massacres.

Vespucci's character is comparatively free from the stain of
blood-guiltiness; from his dealings with men at all times, we infer
him upright and honorable; yet he rests under a cloud of suspicion,
because that so-called first voyage, which he says he took in
1497-1498, cannot be explained. Suspicion also attaches to his name
because it was chosen as an appellation for the New World, which
Columbus was the means of revealing to Europe; but for this (as will
be shown in a succeeding chapter) he was not accountable.

Professor Fiske, following Vespucci's ardent defender, the Viscount
Varnhagen, deduces from the vague generalizations in this letter that
the voyage was made chiefly along the Honduras, Yucatan, Mexican, and
Florida coasts, as far north, perhaps, as Chesapeake Bay. The
cannibals attacked by the Spaniards were found, he says, in the
Bermudas--where no Indians were ever seen, so far as known, and no
cannibals inhabit, save, perhaps, the great Shakespeare's "Caliban."
He accounts for the lost voyage by declaring that it may have been
taken with Pinzon and Solis, who were said to have been on the coast
of Honduras in 1506. There is no certainty as to that date, and the
voyage may as well have been made in 1497-1498, as indirectly shown by
a passage in Oviedo's history, as follows: "Some persons have
attributed the discovery of the bay of Honduras to Don Christopher
Columbus, the first admiral; but this is not true, for it was
discovered by the pilots Vicente Yanez Pinzon, Juan Diaz de Solis, and
Pedro de Ledesma, with three caravels; and that was before Vicente
Yanez had discovered the river Amazon."

The Amazon and a portion of the Brazil coast were discovered by Pinzon
in January, 1500; and as the historian has proved to his own
satisfaction that the gallant Vicente Yanez was in Spain during the
years 1505 and 1506, it is probable that Oviedo is right. It is also
probable, or at least possible, that Vespucci was with Pinzon on that
Honduras voyage as consulting navigator, having been sent by the king,
as he says, to "assist," in his capacity of astronomer and
cosmographer. In this capacity, in fact, he went on all his voyages,
for he rarely, if ever, held command. Captains, commanders, chief
mates, and admirals there might be in plenty, but such a pilot and
navigator as Vespucci was hard to find.

It is not unreasonable to presume that they were together, for the one
was a skilful sailor, the other a great navigator, and both renowned
for their hardihood and daring. King Ferdinand had no more loyal
servants than these two, and as they had served him faithfully in
their respective professions, the one on land, the other at sea, and
inasmuch as both were intimately acquainted with Columbus and his
plans, it was like the crafty old king to send them off to scour the
seas his exacting "Admiral" claimed to control. Thereafter--whether
Pinzon and Vespucci sailed together or not--their voyages alternated
along the coast of South America, first one and then the other, and in
1505-1506 an expedition was actually projected, in which the king
intended both should share. It did not sail, because the Portuguese
objected, as its object was the exploration of the Brazilian coast
south of the Tropic of Capricorn, to all which the great rivals of the
Spaniards then made claim.

A seeming confirmation of this voyage is found in the map Juan de la
Cosa made, in the year 1500, after he had been in company with Ojeda
and Vespucci to the coast of pearls. He was with Columbus, in 1494,
when the Admiral forced all his men to swear that Cuba was, to the
best of their belief, part of the Asian continent. Yet, within six
years, La Cosa depicts it on his map as an island--and that was before
Ocampo had proved it one, by sailing around it, in 1508. It is thought
that La Cosa obtained his information as to the insular character of
Cuba from Vespucci, when they voyaged together on the coast of Terra
Firma, which we now know as the northern shores of South America.

Admitting, still, the critics say, that Vespucci made the voyage he
claimed, with Pinzon or with some one else, in 1497-1498, how does
that affect the claim of Columbus? It does not affect it at all, for,
though Vespucci may have discovered the continent a few months
previous to his rival--and he never put forth the claim that he did
so--Columbus, by his voyages of 1492 and 1493, led the way thither. If
Vespucci, as some have asserted, claimed to have sailed in 1497, in
order to establish a priority of discovery, he did it in a very
bungling manner, and at a time when it might easily have been refuted,
so many of his companions were then living. Besides, though his name
was bestowed upon the newly discovered continent--perhaps as a
consequence of the writing of this very letter--it was done without
his knowledge and without the remotest suggestion of such a thing from
him. This should be made clear: that Amerigo Vespucci had no thought
of depriving his friend, Christopher Columbus, of a single leaf of his
laurels, hard-won and well-deserved as he knew them to be.

There is no doubt whatever that Vespucci made a voyage in 1499-1500,
along with Alonzo de Ojeda and the great pilot Juan de la Cosa, but
whether this may be styled his first or his second must be left to the
intelligence of the reader, for the historians are at odds themselves,
and it might seem presumptuous in the biographer to assume to decide.
This voyage was narrated by him in the following letter, written
within a month of his return, to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de Medici,
of Florence. It is dated, "Seville, July 18, 1500," and has been
called by one of his countrymen "the oldest known writing of Amerigo
relating to his voyages to the New World." Mr. John Fiske, in _The
Discovery of America_, denounces this letter as a forgery; but why,
and for what reason it should have been written by another, he does
not state.

"MOST EXCELLENT AND DEAR LORD,--It is a long time since I
have written to your Excellency, and for no other reason
than that nothing has occurred to me worthy of being
commemorated. This present letter will inform you that about
a month ago I arrived from the Indies, by way of the great
ocean, brought by the grace of God safely to this city of
Seville. I think your Excellency will be gratified to learn
the results of my voyage, and the most surprising things
which have been presented to my observation. If I am
somewhat tedious, let my letter be read in your more idle
hours, as fruit is eaten after the cloth is removed from the
table.

"You will please to note that, commissioned by his highness
the King of Spain, I set out with two small ships, the 18th
of May, 1499, on a voyage of discovery to the southwest, by
way of the Fortunate Isles, which are now called the
Canaries. After having provided ourselves there with all
things necessary, first offering our prayers to God, we set
sail from an island which is called Gomera, and, turning our
prows southwardly, sailed twenty-four days with a fresh
wind, without seeing any land. At the end of that time we
came within sight of land, and found that we had sailed
about thirteen hundred leagues, and were at that distance
from the city of Cadiz, in a southwesterly direction. When
we saw the land we gave thanks to God, and then launched our
boats and, with sixteen men, went to the shore, which we
found thickly covered with trees, astonishing both on
account of their size and their verdure, for they never lose
their foliage. The sweet odors which they exhaled (for they
were all aromatic) highly delighted us, and we were rejoiced
in regaling our senses.

"We rowed along the shore in the boats to see if we could
find any suitable place for landing; but, after toiling from
morning till night, we found no way of passage, the land
being low and densely covered with trees. We concluded,
therefore, to return to the ships and make an attempt to
land at some other spot.

"One very remarkable circumstance we observed in these seas,
which was that, at fifteen leagues distance from the land,
we found the water fresh, like that of a river, and we
filled all our empty casks with it. Sailing in a southerly
direction, still along the coast, we saw two larger rivers
issuing from the land; and I think that these two rivers, by
reason of their magnitude, caused the freshness of the water
in the sea adjoining. Seeing that the coast was invariably
low, we determined to enter one of these rivers with the
boats, and did so, after furnishing them with provisions for
four days, and twenty men well armed. We entered the river
and rowed up it nearly two days, making a distance of about
eighteen leagues; but we found the low land still continuing
and so thickly covered with trees that a bird could scarcely
fly through them.

"We saw signs that the inland parts of the country were
inhabited; nevertheless, as our vessels were anchored in a
dangerous place, in case an adverse wind should arise, at
the end of two days we concluded to return. Here we saw an
immense number of birds, including parrots in great variety,
some crimson in color, others green and lemon, others
entirely green, and others again that were black and
flesh-colored [these last were probably toucans]. And oh!
the songs of other species of birds, so sweet and so
melodious, as we heard them among the trees, that we often
lingered, listening to their charming music. The trees, too,
were so beautiful and smelled so sweetly that we almost
imagined ourselves in a terrestrial paradise; yet none of
those trees, or the fruit of them, were similar to anything
in our part of the world.

"On our way back we saw many people of various descriptions
fishing in the river. Having arrived at our ships, we raised
anchor and set sail in a southerly direction, standing off
to sea about forty leagues. While sailing on this course, we
encountered a current running from southeast to northwest,
so strong and furious that we were put into great fear and
were exposed to imminent peril. This current was so strong
that the Strait of Gibraltar and that of the Faro of Messina
appeared to us like mere stagnant water in comparison with
it. We could scarcely make headway against it, though we had
the wind fresh and fair; so, seeing that we made no
progress, or but very little, we determined to turn our
prows to the northwest.[12]

"As, if I remember aright, your Excellency understands
something of cosmography, I intend to describe to you our
progress in our navigation by the latitude and longitude. We
sailed so far to the south that we entered the torrid zone
and penetrated the circle of Cancer.... Having passed the
equinoctial line and sailed six degrees to the south of it,
we lost sight of the north star altogether, and even the
stars of Ursa Major--or, to speak better, the guardians
which revolve about the firmament--were scarcely seen. Very
desirous of being the author who should designate the other
polar star of the firmament, I lost, many a time, my night's
sleep, while contemplating the movement of the stars about
the southern pole. I desired to ascertain which had the
least motion, and which might be nearest to the firmament;
but I was not able to accomplish it with such poor
instruments as I used, which were the quadrant and
astrolabe. I could not distinguish a star which had less
than ten degrees of motion; so that I was not satisfied,
within myself, to name any particular one for the pole of
the meridian, on account of the large revolution which they
all made around the firmament.

"While I was arriving at this conclusion, I recollected a
verse of our poet Dante, which may be found in the first
chapter of his "Purgatory," where he imagines he is leaving
this hemisphere to repair to the other and attempting to
describe the antarctic pole, and says:

"'To the right hand I turned, and fixed my mind
On the other pole attentive, where I saw
Four stars ne'er seen before, save by the ken
Of our first parents. Heaven of their rays
Seemed joyous. O! thou northern site, bereft
Indeed, and widowed, since of these deprived!'

"It seems to me that the poet wished to describe in these
verses, by the four stars, the pole of the other firmament,
and I have little doubt, even now, that what he says may be
true. I observed four stars in the figure of an almond which
had but little motion; and if God gives me life and health I
hope to go again into that hemisphere and not to return
without observing the pole. In conclusion I would remark
that we extended our navigation so far south that our
difference in latitude from the city of Cadiz was sixty
degrees and a half, because, at that city, the pole is
elevated thirty-five degrees and a half, and we had passed
six degrees beyond the equinoctial line. Let this suffice as
to our latitude. You must observe that this our navigation
was in the months of July, August, and September, when, as
you know, the sun is longest above the horizon in our
hemisphere and describes the greatest arch in the day and
the least in the night. On the contrary, while we were at
the equinoctial line, or near it, the difference between the
day and night was not perceptible. They were of equal
length, or very nearly so....

"It appears to me, most excellent Lorenzo, that by this
voyage most of the philosophers are controverted who say
that the torrid zone cannot be inhabited on account of the
great heat. I have found the case to be quite the contrary.
The air is fresher and more temperate in that region than
beyond it, and the inhabitants are more numerous here than
they are in the other zones, for reasons which will be given
below. Thus, it is certain, that practice is more valuable
than theory.

"Thus far I have related the navigation I accomplished in
the South and West. It now remains for me to inform you of
the appearance of the country we discovered, the nature of
the inhabitants and their customs, the animals we saw, and
of many other things worthy of remembrance which fell under
my observation. After we turned our course to the north, the
first land we found inhabited was an island at ten degrees
distant from the equinoctial line [island of Trinidad]. When
we arrived at it we saw on the sea-shore a great many
people, who stood looking at us with astonishment.

"We anchored within about a mile of land, fitted out the
boats, and twenty-two men, well armed, made for the land.
The people, when they saw us landing and perceived that we
were different from themselves (because they have no beards
and wear no clothing of any description, being also of a
different color--brown, while we were white), began to be
afraid of us and all ran into the woods. With great
exertion, by means of signs, we reassured them and found
that they were a race called cannibals, the greater part, or
all of whom, live on human flesh. Your Excellency may be
assured of this fact. They do not eat one another, but,
navigating with certain barks which they call canoes, they
bring their prey from the neighboring islands or countries
inhabited by those who are their enemies, or of a different
tribe from their own. They never eat any women, unless they
consider them as outcasts. These things we verified in many
places where we found similar people. We often saw the bones
and heads of those who had been eaten, and they who had made
the repast admitted the fact and said that their enemies
stood in greater fear of them on that account.

"Still, they are a people of gentle disposition and fine
stature, of great activity and much courage. They go
entirely naked, and the arms which they carry are rare bows,
arrows, and spears, with which they are excellent marksmen.
In fine, we held much intercourse with them, and they took
us to one of their villages, about two leagues inland, and
gave us our breakfast. They gave whatever was asked of them,
though I think more through fear than affection; and after
having been with them all one day we returned to the ships,
sailing along the coasts, and finding another large village
of the same tribe. We landed in the boats and found they
were waiting for us, all loaded with provisions, and they
gave us enough to make a very good breakfast, according to
their ideas.

"Seeing they were such kind people and treated us so well,
we did not take anything from them, but made sail until we
arrived at a body of water which is called the Gulf of
Paria. We anchored off the mouth of a great river, which
causes the gulf to be fresh, and saw a large village close
to the sea. We were surprised at the great number of people
to be seen there, though they were without weapons and
peaceably disposed. We went ashore with the boats, and they
received us with great friendship and took us to their
houses, where they had made good preparations for a feast.
Here they gave us three sorts of wine to drink; not the
juice of the grape, but made of fruits, like beer, and they
were excellent. Here, also, we ate many fresh acorns, a most
royal fruit, and also others, all different from ours, and
all of aromatic flavor.

"What was more, they gave us some small pearls and eleven
large ones, telling us that if we would wait some days they
would go and fish for them and bring us many of the kind. We
did not wish to be detained, so, with many parrots of
different colors, and in good friendship, we parted from
them. From these people it was we learned that those of the
before-mentioned island were cannibals and ate human flesh.
We issued from the gulf and sailed along the coast, seeing
continually great numbers of people; and when we were so
disposed we treated with them, and they gave us everything
we desired. They all go as naked as they were born, without
being ashamed, and if all were related concerning the little
shame they have it would be bordering on impropriety,
therefore it is better to suppress it.

"After having sailed about four hundred leagues, continually
along the coast, we concluded that this land was a
continent, which might be bounded by the eastern parts of
Asia, this being the commencement of the western parts of
the continent, because it happened that we saw divers
animals, such as lions, stags, goats, wild hogs, rabbits,
and other land animals which are not found in islands, but
only on the main-land. Going inland one day with twenty men,
we saw a serpent all of twenty-four feet in length and as
large in girth as myself. We were very much afraid, and the
sight of it caused us to return immediately to the sea.
Ofttimes, indeed, I saw many ferocious animals and enormous
serpents. When we had navigated four hundred leagues along
the coast, we began to find people who did not wish for our
friendship, but stood waiting for us with their bows and
arrows. When we went ashore they disputed our landing in
such a manner that we were obliged to fight them, and at the
end of the battle they found they had the worst of it, for,
as they were naked, we always made great slaughter. Many
times not more than sixteen of us fought with no less than
two thousand, in the end defeating them, killing many, and
plundering their houses.

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