Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-04-24
MAKING GEOGRAPHY.
A SUPPOSED PRE-coLUMBIAN DIS
COvERY OF AMERICA.


An "Authentic Island" and the Ingenious
Deductions Made From Its Supposed Lo-
eation-Mr. Oldham and Other Eminent
Geographers on the Question.
The Geographical Journal contains an
important paper by Mr.. Oldham on a
supposed pre- Columbian discovery Of
America by the Portuguese. The evil
dence on which the Genoese mariner is
to be displaced from the position which
he has held for more than 400 years ap
pears, says the London Standard, some-
what slender. 1t consists. of an inscrip-
tion ON a manuscript map executed in
London during the year l448 by Andrea
Bianco, a famous Venetian cartogra-
pher. On this document, now one of the
most valued treasures of the Ambrosian
library in Milan, it is recorded that in
1447 an ''ixola otintcha," an authentic
island, had been discovered /, 500 miles
to the west. which is portrayed in the
shape of long stretch of coast line
southwest from Cape Verde. The only
land in such position is South America
Mr.. Oldham therefore concludes that,
as actually happened to Cabral in 1500
Portuguese ship-and Bianco's map
was intended to illustrate the latest
Portuguese exploration-might have
been driven on the South American
coast. Ingenious though this informa-
tion undoubtedly is, the opinions Of Mr.
Markham and other eminent geogra-
piers, appended to Mr.. OlGham's pa
per, are for the most part rather against
the conclusions at which he arrives.
More than likely the authentic is
land" was one Of the group discovered
to the west Of Cape Verde, or else some
mythical country, such as "Antilia, -
which so long occupied the position of
the Azores. St Brandan's island was
one Of those fabulous seagirt spots
which, ages after the world had ceased
to believe in the tabled Atlantis, were
fondly imagined to exist far out in the
Atlantic. The Irish saint is supposed
to have reached it in the year 565, just
as Robert O'Machin and his ladylove
inadvertently discovered Madeira 800
years later. But as exploration proceed
ed, and no st. Brandan's isle could be
found, the trustful photographer, un-
willing to dispense with SO useful a
piece of territory, shifted it farther and
farther into the byways of the ocean,
until, on Sanson's map of 1869, an is
land of that name is placed to the west
of Madagascar. The silence Of the Por.
tuguese regarding their suggested pri.
ority in the discovery Of America is a
strong presumption that they know
nothing about the authentic island
They were so angry at being anticipated
by Columbus that they would certainly
have put in claim, if they had heard
Of it, to the voyage of the nameless
mariner The early navigators were
persistent in holding almost every new
land they discovered to be an island.
1t is just possible, though not very
probable, that such an island existed
and has now disappeared below the
surface. In the course of the last 400
or 500 years earthquakes, volcanic dis
turbances and the slow secular depres-
sion of the sea bottom have been stead
lily at work. On the sea charts of 1a
centuries ago various islets are marked
which further search has failed to dis
cover. Besides the Atlantis, so long be-
lieved in, the old ''sunken land Of
Buss," west of Rockall. that lonely
rock in the Atlantic is by many believ-
ed to have been founded on something
more substantial than myth, while geo.
logical opinion seems again to be stiff
ening in favor of the once discarded
'Miocene Atlantis " But apart from
these hypothetical places, or others ad
mittedly fabulous. very recent charts
note Atlantic isles which the surveyor
has long ago set down as fiction.
Where, for instance, is St Matthew's
island, which Garcia de Loyasa report
ed in 1876. if it was not really the isle
Of Annobon, in the gulf Of Guinea?
Santa Cruz, which in sixteenth century
charts is placed about two leagues west
of st. Matthew's, Ascensao or the False
Trinidad and Santa Maria d'Agosto
are equally chimerical, unless they can
be merged into actual spots or have
perished since their discovery. All over
the Atlantic rocks just rising above the
surface had place on the charts of
century ago. For instance, between st.
Helena and Cape Negro, the african
Pilot" of 1899 places "St. Helena
Nova" as doubtful, and between the
bay of Biscay and Newfoundland, the
''isle of Mayda," the DEVILS Rocks and
the Green island. But of all of these
spots in mid Atlantic, st. Paul's rocks,
Or the Penedo of St Pedro, are about
the only ones which have survived the
unimagihatiye cartography Of the pres
ent day
We hear nothing of the others. Where
are they? Did they ever exist? The At
lantio is go much traversed and retra-
versed every year that it is scarcely
possible for any spot to be overlooked.
Indeed new islets are no longer among
the annual discoveries of seamen in the
Pacific, though now and then we hear
Of submarine volcanoes throwing up
cinder heaps. We are therefore justified
in speoulating whether the forces of ma
ture may not perhaps have saved the
credit Of the old navigators by occasion
ally submerging an islet in the Atlantic.