Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1892-11-26

fnforniatidii FROM him by word of mouth ,
Toscanelli possessed energy and genius.
His experience of life was wide. He
lived 10 he . Kindred years old; and be
had considerable geographical knowli
edge, It was natural enough that
such d man should c6Dceiye the
IDEA OF representing ID eis;b,e form on
q globe the distribution of land and g
water. The coastline- of Europe from
Scotland southwards. and the western
coast Of Africa as far IA Guinea, had i
been correctly depicted by The skilled
photographers OF Italy and Spain Now
II wac 1ecessary, from the information
given by Polo in writing xrd By Cont
in conversation, to construct q picture
of the position and size Of the countries
of Asia, a picture which might claim TO
give a true, e,r, at all events, a prota Bile,
presentation of the facts A sketch
made it quite clear TO ths 1talian cos
mographer that the western ocean was
very small The conviction gradually
grew stronger, and he came to think
that man in the neighborbood OF
! Mexico, for example-if / may borrow
the geographical langusgs of our own
timc-would be on the east coast OF
Japan. He knew how the Portuguese
were exerting- themselves 70 find way
to India round Africa From the 1tal-
ian agents at Lisbon he constantly
heard of new attempts His sketch
map showed him that this route must
be decidedly longer, even without TAX
ing into account the fact that no one
had the least idea how far Africa cx-
tended to the south. He wished to put
the Portuguese on the right track, and
with this object lie made anTindirect
application to the king of Portugal.
His letter to the kings confessor, Canon
Herman Martiny, at Lisbon, is dated
from Florence, June rs, l474, and as
sures for him the honor of being the
first to project a voyage to the west.
At this time Columbus was scarcely
established in Lisbon, aud it is impos-
sible that he should have heard of the
letter at once, as it was intended in tho
FIRST instance only for the king and his
intimate councillors. The project was
regarded with little favor in Portugal,
at all events on the part of the crown,
and was probably kept state secret
But even if this had not been the case,
it l. inconceivable that an absolute
stranger, common sailor, without
money and without friends, should
have heard of the matter at once. i,
was only at a later period-in my opin
v
! showed an interest in the idea. His 50
. | cial position at Lisbon was now esta b
lished. lie could speak Portuguese
| with such freedom that no one woulc
take him for a foreigner. His relation
= ship with a distinguished family would
= make access to the court possible t.
him. News was continually coming i
, from the ocean. His active min
: aud his .lively fancy were occup PIE
more and more with the grea. sea i
= the west 1t was at this time, proba
bly, at the beginning of the eighties
q that ne applied to Toscanelli and asl<e
for information. 1t is necessary to pre-
, face Toscanelli's letter with this e2
PLANTATION, because, as we shall see, tn
letter itself has been tampered will
Toscanelli wrote to Columbus as fo
r. lows: Il perceive your great and nobl
desire to travel to the land where tn
spices grow. j therefore send as u
answer to your letter a copy of a lette
which / sent few days ago to one {
> my friends, who was in the service
: his majesty the king of Portugal bcfor
/, the Castilian wars. in answer to one i
=. was commissioned by the king to az
dress to me on the subjects concerned
' and j send you n nautical map whic
corresponds with the one ! sent him.
The letter to Martiny referred to b
: longs to June, l4T4, and is. as Tosci
nelli says, not the first which he ma
written to Portugal about the matte
= We are therefore justified in assumiu
that Columbus had not conceived sir
liar plan when Toscanelli had alreao
sketchcd a map to illustrate it-Dr.
. Rugc, in Harper's Magazine.