Part 25 (1/2)
says the editor, ”that the book, and divers other writings concerning thesebut a child when they ca what they were, I tore them and rent them in pieces, which now I cannot call to rearbled state introduced by Abraharapher, in his Theatrum Orbis; but the whole story has been condeross fabrication Mr Forster resents this, as an instance of obstinate incredulity, saying that it is impossible to doubt the existence of the country of which Carlo, Nicolo and Antonio Zeno talk; as original acts in the archives of Venice prove that the chevalier undertook a voyage to the north; that his brother Antonio followed hi up in his house, where it remained subject to public examination, until the time of Marcolini, as an incontestable proof of the truth of what he advanced Granting all this, it merely proves that Antonio and his brother were at Friseland and Greenland Their letters never assert that Zeno e to Estotiland The fleet was carried by a tempest to Greenland, after which we hear no eo rests simply on the tale of the fisherman, after whose descriptions his map must have been conjecturally projected The whole story resembles much the fables circulated shortly after the discovery of Coluate to other nations and individuals the credit of the achieveed discovery of Vinland e in the North Sea in 1477,[325] and that thein the national library at London, in a Danish work, at the time when Bartholoof it, and have communicated it to his brother [326] Had M Malte-Brun examined the history of Columbus with his usual accuracy, he would have perceived, that, in his correspondence with Paulo Toscanelli in 1474, he had expressed his intention of seeking India by a route directly to the west
His voyage to the north did not take place until three years afterwards
As to the residence of Bartholomew in London, it was not until after Colual, if not to the courts of other powers Granting, therefore, that he had subsequently heard the dubious stories of Vinland, and of the fisherman's adventures, as related by Zeno, or at least by Marcolini, they evidently could not have influenced hireat enterprise His route had no reference to them, but was a direct western course, not toward Vinland, and Estotiland, and Drogeo, but in search of cipango, and Cathay, and the other countries described by Marco Polo, as lying at the extreation of Africa by the Ancients
The knowledge of the ancients with respect to the Atlantic coast of Africa is considered by ined; and it is doubted whether they had any practical authority for the belief that Africa was circue of Endoxns of Cyzicus, froh recorded by Pliny, Poiven entirely on the assertion of Cornelius Nepos, who does not tell from whence he derived his inforives an entirely different account of this voyage, and rejects it with conteinian, is supposed to have taken place about a thousand years before the Christian era The Periplus Hannonis remains, a brief and obscure record of this expedition, and a subject of great comment and controversy By some it has been pronounced a fictitious work, fabricated a the Greeks, but its authenticity has been ably vindicated It appears to be satisfactorily proved, however, that the voyage of this navigator has been greatly exaggerated, and that he never circuainville [328] traces his route to a promontory which he named the West Horn, supposed to be Cape Palrees north of the equinoctial line, whence he proceeded to another promontory, under the same parallel, which he called the South Horn, supposed to be Cape de Tres Puntas Mons Gosselin, however, in his Researches into the Geography of the Ancients (Toid examination of the Periplus of Hanno, determines that he had not sailed farther south than Cape Non Pliny, who e the whole coast of Africa, from the straits to the confines of Arabia, had never seen his Periplus, but took his idea froed the narration of the voyager with all kinds of fables, and on their unfaithful copies Strabo foundedto M Gosselin, the itineraries of Hanno, of Scylax, Polybius, Statius, Sebosus, and Juba; the recitals of Plato, of Aristotle, of Pliny, of Plutarch, and the tables of Ptole their apparent contradictions, fix the lihborhood of Cape Non, or Cape Bojador
The opinion that Africa was a peninsula, which existed ayptians, and perhaps the Greeks, several centuries prior to the Christian era, was not, in his opinion, founded upon any known facts; butthe immensity and unity of the ocean; or perhaps on inian discoveries, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, and those of the Egyptians beyond the Gulf of Arabia He thinks that there was a very reraphy was much more perfect than in the tie was but confused traces of what had previously been better known
The opinion that the Indian Sea joined the ocean was ad the Greeks, and in the school of Alexandria, until the time of Hipparchus It seemed authorized by the direction which the coast of Africa took after Cape Aro ard, as far as it had been explored by navigators
It was supposed that the western coast of Africa rounded off to meet the eastern, and that the whole was bounded by the ocean, much to the northward of the equator Such was the opinion of Crates, who lived in the time of Alexander; of Aratus, of Cleanthes, of Cleomedes, of Strabo, of Pomponius Mela, of Macrobius, and many others
Hipparchus proposed a different syste time retarded the maritime communication of Europe and India He supposed that the seas were separated into distinct basins, and that the eastern shores of Africa made a circuit round the Indian Sea, so as to join those of Asia beyond the es Subsequent discoveries, instead of refuting this error, only placed the junction of the continents at a greater distance Marinus of Tyre, and Ptolemy, adopted this opinion in their works, and illustrated it in their eneral belief of mankind, and perpetuated the idea that Africa extended onward to the south pole, and that it was impossible to arrive by sea at the coasts of India Still there were geographers who leaned to the more ancient idea of a communication between the Indian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean It had its advocates in Spain, and was maintained by Pomponius Mela and by Isidore of Seville It was believed also by some of the learned in Italy, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries; and thus was kept alive until it was acted upon so vigorously by Prince Henry of Portugal, and at length triuation of the Cape of Good Hope
No XVI
Of the shi+ps of Colu on the smallness of the vessels hich Colue, Dr Bobertson observes, that, ”in the fifteenth century, the bulk and construction of vessels were acco the coast, which they were accustomed to perform” We have many proofs, however, that even anterior to the fifteenth century, there were large shi+ps employed by the Spaniards, as well as by other nations
In an edict published in Barcelona, in 1354, by Pedro IV, enforcing various regulations for the security of commerce, mention is made of Catalonian merchant shi+ps of two and three decks and from 8000 to 12,000 quintals burden
In 1419, Alonzo of Aragon hired several merchant shi+ps to transport artillery, horses, etc, fro one hundred and twenty horses, which it is computed would require a vessel of at least 600 tons
In 1463, mention is made of a Venetian shi+p of 700 tons which arrived at Barcelona froland, laden heat
In 1497, a Castilian vessel arrived there being of 12,000 quintals burden
These arrivals, incidentallyat one port, show that large shi+ps were in use in those days
[329] Indeed, at the ti out the second expedition of Columbus, there were prepared in the port of Bermeo, a Caracca of 1250 tons, and four shi+ps, of from 150 to 450 tons burden Their destination, however, was altered, and they were sent to convoy Muley Boabdil, the last Moorish king of Granada, from the coast of his conquered territory to Africa [330]
It was not for want of large vessels in the Spanish ports, therefore, that those of Columbus were of so ses of discovery, as they required but little depth of water, and therefore could more easily and safely coast unknown shores, and explore bays and rivers He had some purposely constructed of a very small size for this service; such was the caravel, which in his third voyage he dispatched to look out for an opening to the sea at the upper part of the Gulf of Paria, when the water grew too shallow for his vessel of one hundred tons burden
The ular circumstance with respect to the shi+ps of Columbus is that they should be open vessels; for it seee of such extent and peril should be attempted in barks of so frail a construction This, however, is expressly mentioned by Peter Martyr, in his Decades written at the time; and mention is es written by Colu without decks He sometimes speaks of the same vessel as a shi+p, and a caravel There has been so of the term caravel The Chevalier Bossi, in his dissertations on Colunates the largest class of shi+ps of war aal, it means a small vessel of from 120 to 140 tons burden; but Columbus soe, in his glossary, considers it a word of Italian origin Bossi thinks it either Turkish or Arabic, and probably introduced into the European languages by the Moors Mr Edward Everett, in a note to his Plyiven in ”Ferrarii Origines Linguae Italicae,” as follows: ”Caravela, navigii enus Lat Carabus: Grsece Karabron”
That the word caravel was intended to signify a vessel of a small size is evident fro Alonzo in the middle of the thirteenth century In the first class he enuo only with sails, some of which have two masts, and others but one In the second class smaller vessels, as Carracas, Fustas, Ballenares, Pinazas, Carabelas, &c In the third class vessels with sails and oars, as Galleys, Galeots, Tardantes, and Saetias [331]