Evening star., 1909-06-19


tie village near Florence in 1855; became
sailor. went to France as young
man and finally obtained the favor OF
King Francis |, who fitted him out with
ship to operate as priVateer against
the Spanards and the Portuguese. He
committed many depredations upon the
Spanish galleons. passing to and from the
new world, and in 1923 captured several
treasure ships loaded with the loot of
MonteZuma's palaces which Cortez sent
home to Charles V from Mexico. This
| booty is said to have amounted to more
than million and half Of dollars In
silver and gold.
There is no doubt Of this fact. but the
pirate who made the capture was known
as Juan Florln. and he was himself cap
tured by the Spaniards In October. 1877.
OFF the Portuguese coast and taken as a
prisoner to Puerto del Pico. Spain on
cal documents still in existence prove
that the pirate Juan Florin was executed
at that time. They include the affidavit
of the officer who lad charge of the exc
cution. And neither VarrazZano Or Juan
Florin ever appeared in the flesh after
ward. Therefore 1t is contended that
they were one and the same person. The
defenders of Verrazzano. however. reply
that the officer who makes the affidavit
may have deceived himself in supposng
that his prisoner was the great Floren-
tine navigator. or, what>is more likely,
he purposely deceived others, and. while
processing to have executed the Floren-
tine, accepted the bribes which he de-
clares We're offered him. and thus let
verrazzano go. Nevertheless we hear
nothing of him afterward.
Valuable Letter Long Undiscovered.
1t Is a singular fact that the letter al
legged to have been whitten by Verraz-
zano to Francis l is the first description
of the north Atlantic coast published
after the journal of Columbus. although
1t was not known to English scholars
until 1887. when a copy was found in a
library at Florence by Prof. Green and
published by the New York Historical So
ciety i'm 1871. There are two versions of
the letter. one being the original. written
from Dieppe to Francis 7, and the other
being a copy sent in 1924 from Yyon by
one Fernando Carli for the information
of his father in Florence. There are
many differences between the two letters,
but they are of no great Importance.
The historical fact that Francis !
visited Lyon about the 4th of August.
1924. is cited as proof that Fernando
Carli obtained a copy of VerrazZano's re-
port to the king through one of the cour-
tiers, and the differences in the two texts
are such as might have been made by a
careless copyist. For example, one copy
says that the woods in America are mot
like the rough wilds of Scythia," while
the other says the wilds of Tartary.
One says I'VE made a cruise in them we'll
armed along the coast of Spain as your
majesty must have heard,'' while the
other reads, I'VE took our course along
the coast of Spain as your majesty will
understand
But it is also contended that the let
ter from Fernando Carli. which did not
appear for many generations after the
publication of Ramusios book, may have
been copied from that publication.
Upon the genuineness of this letter
rests the honor of discovering the Bay
,,l.
Verrazzano's Discovery.
Assuming it to have been genuine, Yer
razzano sailed from Dieppe, escaped the
Spanish fleets that were lying in wait
for him, visited the Madeira Islands,
crossed the Atlantic, saw land nearly
three months later in thirty-four degrees
north latitude, near Charleston, and
cruised up the coast, stopping from time
to time along the shores of North Caro-
lima. Maryland and Delaware. Passing
the mouth of the Delaware and the coast
of New Jersey and entering the land
locked bay, VerraZZano says:
we found a very pleaSa situation
among some steep hills. through which
very large river. deep at its mouth.
forced its way TO the sea. From the sea
to the estuary of the river any ship,
heavily laden, might PASS with the help
OF the tide, which rises eight feet. But
as we were riding at anchor in good
berth we would not venture UP In our
vessel without knowledge of the mouth.
Therefore we took the boat. and, enter
ing the river. we found the country on
its banks well peopled the inhabitants
not differing much from the others, be-
ing dressed out with feathers from birds
of different colors. They came toward
us with evident delight. rising loud shouts
of admiration and showing us where we
could most securely land with our boats.
We passed up the river about half a
league, where it formed a most beautiful
lake, three leagues in circuit. upon which
they were rowing thirty or more of their
small boats from one shore to the other
filled with mutitudes who came to see
us. All of sudden, as 1t Is wont to
wind blew in from the sea and forced
US to return to our ship greatly regret
ting to- leave this region, which seemed
so commodious and delightful and which
we supposed also must contain great
riches, as the hills showed many lnd1ca-
tions of minerals
This is supposed to have been the bay
of New York and the Hudson river.
After remaining seven days Verrazzano
sailed up Long Island sound to "a trt-
angular shaped island. ten leagues from
the land. and about the size of the
famous island of Rhodes" This Is sup
posed to have been Block Island. Ver-
razzano explored Narragansett bay. en-
tered the harbor of Newport, where he
was met by twenty canoes filled with
astonished savages, greatly resembling
the orientals.' He continued his cruise
around Cape Cod and along the coast OF
Maine which reminded him of the Adri-
attic gulf. He proceeded as far as the
Bay of Fundy and then returned to
Dieppe, where he wrote his report to
the king.
Every Trace of Verrazzano Lost.
AS have already said. every trace of
1t is certainly remarkable that nothing
was ever said by contemporary writer's
about his remarkable achievement. The
statesmen merchants, adventurers, geo
graphers and politicians Of Spain. France.
italy and even England were busy dis
cussing the discoveries of the Spaniards
and the Portuguese who followed Coium-
bus across the Atlantic. Cortez was loot
ing the palaces and temples of the AZtecs.
Pizzaro was on his way to Peru. The
pope at Rome was already holding the
first international arbitration tribunal to
decide the conflicting claims OF Spain and
Portugal to the privilege of converting
the heather. Americus Vespucius had
made his voyage. and at least twenty
editions of his letters had been published
in all the languages of Europe. The new
continent had already received his name.
and its outlines were traced In a dozen
different Biographies. Every man OF edu-
cation was interested In every report that
came from the new world, and yet this
letter of Verrazzano. containing the
earliest description of the coast Of North
America. received no attention whatever,
and is not referred to by any writer ex-
cept the man who made it. For this rea-
son it is hardly fair to deprive Henry