The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-14

1908: LAS Casas mentions the r,irnor labou
the pilot a. existing Mt 81. Domingo ~
doubt some OF the mutinous adventirer
at 81. Domingo IN 1894, after the recoh'
voyage, when they were trying 10 unoe'
mine the authority and credit OF Columbus
spread a r,irnor that he got his Information
about land to tho West from a nameles
pilot who died in his house Oviedo ~
fcrred to the rumor as false. He mus
have heard OF II when he was In 81 DO
mingo, for there Is no evidence that " eve
went further Gomara, a very unt!us'
worthy authority. always inimical TO Column
bus, copying, no doubt, from Oviedo. statee
IL as a fact. Benzoni referred to the tah
as an enyious fabrication Of Gomara; the
: details are contradictory and absurd Inc
whole story must be dismissed az an Ill
natured fable"
Mr. Vjenaud thinks that the story OF
| the narneess pilot is dismissed too lightly
| by Sir c. r. Markham. From An answer
| written by him on Feb ~. 1908 and since
published in pamphlet form. we make
! the following extract: 1You say that
las Casas mentions the rumor a. existing
At St. Domingo He does more he gives
the rumor az true one. though he attaches
no importance to il. and he adds that it
might have been heard from persons who
knew IL we'll. perhaps even from Columbus
himself. You say. 'Ovedo referred 70
the rumor as false. That Ia SO; yet else
where he Ia not no Affirmative AGAIN
you say. 'Gomara, a very untrust~orthy
authority, always inimical to Columbus,
copying, no doubt. from Oviedo, stated
it as fact We have here some gratuitous
assertions which you make no effort to
establish, and which, think. cannot he
established. Gonara was in a position
to make an investigation on his own account
among the survivors OF Columbus's early
companions, and there is no evidence that
he copied Oviedo.'
Now let us see what Mr.. Thatcher has 10
say about these matters. He prints the
letter Of 1874 attributed to Toscanelli. but
deiers a consideration of the genuineness
Of the Latin manuscript thereof, alleged to
have been copied in the hand Of Columbus
himself, 10 another volume OF this work
in which "the handwriting OF Columbus
will he examined. 1t Is already manifest,
however, that Mr. Thacher accepts the
letter as genuine On page 1923 OF the
volume before us, we read 1T Is not neces-
sary to withhold from Toscanelli a share
in the discovery Of the New World II is
not necessary to say that it vas only on
reading his letters and heholding his charts
that Columbus was fred with desire to
navigate westward. The truth. we be-
lieve. is that there already existed in the
mind OF Columbus as much knowledge
concerning the ocean-seas. and the possi-
bili,y OF reaching the Indies by them As
there was In the mind of Toscanelli. but the
latter was an acknowledged scientific
authority, and his sure faith in the project
increased and solicited that OF his more
practical respondent" Again, on the
game page we read: We may conclude
that. whatever theories lay in the mind
Of the Florentine respecting the Indies.
Columbus himself had well defined views
on the subject. which he had communicated
TO Toscanelli and which were in line with
those the letter had formulated. Hence.
Columbus did not owe the suggestion OF
this proposed navigation entirely to the
DISTINGUISHED Florentinc. Two minds, one
by the Ano and the other by the Tagus.
siInulta neously were considering the same
ideas, and pressing them into practicable
shape"
What does Mr.. Thatcher think OF the
pilot story, the tradition. namely. that
Columbus, while living on the island Of
Porto Santo. or after mis- removal thence to
Lisbon. met with and entertained in his
own house a pilot whose ship had been
blown bv a storm weetwardly on the At
Ian a ton 10 from
whatever European ocean-course he may
have been following. Our author thus
comments on the tradition: There are
vwo ways which this legend has been treated.
according as Columbus is idealized-Per
haps we should say idolized-or as he is
regarded with an unfriendly eye. and his
work disparascd. In the former case it is
denied that any such occurrence ever took
place. In the latter. 1t is accepted with
such details as give Columbus marked
, route and time table. History does not
| hesitate to place an event in its true re-
lations, regardless Of extreme views. 1t
lis possible that mariner sailing on the
Atlantic Ocean may have been driven by
violent winds westwardly to some land.
| On the ninth day Of March, in the year 1900,
| Pedro Alvarez Cabral. set out from Lisbon
for the Moluccas. When he approached
that portion of the African coast where it
trends east wardly, he bore out to the west.
| Then a storm swept him further out to sea
! further and further we I, until about April
"a, he found himself on the coast OF what
to-day we call Brazil and to which he gave
| the name Terra Sdrctr Crucis.
what unexpectedly, unintentionally, hap
pened to Cabral might easily have happened
! fifteen or twenty years before to some
| other mariner. Cabral, perhaps, was swept
west wardly from, say, longitude 1872 to IS
or So west. From the Canaries, on the
other hand. in longitude 1872 to the island
of Hayti stretch six and fifty degrees
Still, even this distance might have beer
traversed by yielding boat before a re-
len,less wind. But il it was accomplished
| the conditions did not admit Of mapping
a course or establishing western terminul
for other vessels in subsequent times.
| Again: 'As a mere event, subject to thu
doctrine Of chances, ii Is much more likely
that some mariner going from San Jorg d.
| Nina was driven to the coast Of Brazil
| than that such one should be carried
from the Canary Islands to one OF the An
titles" Once more; The acquiescenc'
of Bartolome de las Casas in the legend o
~. r,i,ot ia s,,ficiant to i,lstfy lis in accent