Chapter II: Part 2

"On seeing these, the people believed their own countrymen
had returned, and allowed them to enter the city. Finding it
defended only by old men, the Tartars soon drove them out,
retaining the women as slaves. When the king and his
warriors saw themselves thus deceived and their city
captured, they were like to die of grief; but they assembled
other ships, and invested it so closely as to prevent all
communication. The Tartars maintained themselves thus seven
months, and planned day and night how they might convey
tidings to their master of their condition; but finding this
impossible, they agreed with the besiegers to surrender,
securing only their lives. This took place in the year 1269.

"The grand khan ordered one of the commanders of the host
that had returned to lose his head, and the other to be sent
to the isle where he had caused the loss of so many men, and
there put to death. I have to relate, also, a very wonderful
thing: that these two barons took a number of persons in a
castle of Cipango, and because they had refused to surrender
ordered all their heads to be cut off. But there were eight
on whom they could not execute this sentence, because these
wore consecrated stones in their arms, between the skin and
the flesh, which so enchanted them that they could not die
by steel. They were therefore beaten to death with clubs,
and the stones, being extracted, were held very precious.
But I must leave this matter and go on with the narrative."

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The first printing-press in America was set up in Mexico in 1535, the first book printed on it was probably _La Escala de San Juan Climaco_, date 1536, and the first printer was Juan Pablos. The oldest existing example of this first Mexican printing is said to be the _Manual de Adultos_, bearing date 1540.

IV

IN THE SERVICE OF SPAIN

1490

Before we revert to the real hero of this biography, let us seek to identify the various names we find in Marco Polo's book, and in Toscanelli's letter to Columbus, with the objects to which they were applied. We will imagine ourselves with the first-named in far Cathay, with the second in his library at Florence, and with the third as he gropes his way along the shores of islands for the first time then revealed to European eyes.

If Columbus had known--what we now know--that thousands of miles intervened between the places he was seeking and those to which he misapplied their names, he would not have died in the belief that he had discovered a new way to the Old World. To anticipate a little what will be revealed later in the unfolding of this story: it was Amerigo Vespucci, and not Columbus, who first applied to this newly discovered hemisphere the title _Mundus Novus_, or New World. However, we will not discuss that question now, but merely remark that _Cathay_ was identical with northern China, while _Mangi_ was the southern territory of that vast empire which, in Marco Polo's time, was in possession of Kublai Khan. _Chambalu_, or Peking, was its capital, while the "most noble and vast city of _Quinsay_," or Cansay, is the ancient _King-sze_ connected with Peking by the grand canal.

The large island of _Cipango_, or _Zipangu_, outlying upon the coast of Cathay, was probably Japan, or Formosa; though its golden-tiled temples may never have been seen by the Polos, nor its red pearls have come into their hands. Forty years after Columbus began his vain search, Pizarro found and plundered the gold-plated temples of Cuzco, which were as rich as any described by Marco Polo in his account of Cipango; and in the Bahamas archipelago, through which the Spaniards passed in the voyage of 1492, precious pink pearls have been discovered in great numbers and of surpassing beauty.

Vasco da Gama, in 1497, was to open the way by water to the vast Oriental seas--to Calicut and Cathay--but until the last quarter of the fifteenth century the commerce of the eastern hemisphere depended mainly upon transportation by land. "Voyages of much extent were almost unknown, and the mariner confined himself to inland waters, or hovered along the shores of the great Western Ocean, without venturing out of sight of land.... The thriving republics of Italy were the carriers of the world. For many centuries their citizens were almost the only agents for commercial communication with the countries of the East. Venice and Genoa maintained establishments on the farthest shores of the Mediterranean and Black seas.

"Immense caravans crossed the deserts of Arabia and Egypt, their camels laden with the costly fabrics of the Indies, which were received by the Italian traders from the hands of the Mahometans and distributed over Europe. Here and there upon the deserts a green oasis, with its bubbling spring or rippling rivulet, served these mighty trains for a resting-place, where man and beast halted to recover from the fatigues of their weary journeys. Occasionally, on these spots where the soil was of sufficient fertility to sustain a population, villages grew up. In rarer instances and in earlier ages, large cities had been built upon these stopping-places and were for the time the centres of the traffic.... Travellers of the present day occasionally visit their sites, and tell wonderful tales of the gigantic ruins of some Baalbec or Palmyra of the wilderness.

"It was not to be supposed that the shrewd spirit of mercantile enterprise and speculation would remain dormant in this state of affairs. Traders in every part of Europe were alive to the advantages to be derived from the discovery of a new route of transportation. Several efforts were made, and in some cases attended with immense profit and success, to communicate with India by the long and arduous journey round the Black Sea, and through the almost unexplored regions of Circassia and Georgia. The far-off shores of the Caspian were reached by some travelling traders, and the geographical knowledge they circulated on their return gave a new impulse to the growing spirit of adventure. Apocryphal as the narratives of Marco Polo and Mandeville appeared, there was a sufficient mixture of truth with exaggeration to stimulate the minds of men, ever greedy of gain, and the endless wealth of the grand khan and his people were the subjects of many eager and longing anticipations."[7]

The Polos were merely the forerunners, the pioneers, to the far Cathay, and in the fourteenth century missionaries and merchants followed on their trail with varying success. The death of Kublai Khan had relieved them from their obligation to return; but soon after they had reached Venice, in 1295, a Franciscan monk, John of Monte Corvino, penetrated to Chambalu and established missions there. In the year 1338 an ambassador arrived at Avignon from the then reigning Khan of Cathay, and in return John de Marignoli, a Florentine, was sent to the court at Chambalu, where he remained four years as legate of the holy see. Commercial travellers followed after them, and about 1340 a guide-book was written by another Florentine, Francesco Pelotti, who was a clerk in the great trading-house of Bardi, or Berardi, with which, at a later date, Amerigo Vespucci was connected in Spain.

"When the throne of the degenerate descendants of Ghengis Khan began to totter to its fall, missions and merchants alike disappeared from the field. Islam, with all its jealousies and exclusiveness, had recovered its grasp over Central Asia. Night again descended upon the farther East, covering Cathay, with those cities of which the old travellers had told such marvels, Chambalu and Cansay, Zaitun and Chinkalan. And when the veil rose before the Portuguese and Spanish explorers of the sixteenth century those names were heard of no more....

"But for a long time all but a sagacious few continued to regard Cathay as a region distinct from any of the new-found Indies; while map-makers, well on into the seventeenth century, continued to represent it as a great country lying entirely to the north of China and stretching to the Arctic Sea. It was Cathay, with its outlying island of Zipangu, that Columbus sought to reach by sailing westward, penetrated as he was by his intense conviction of the smallness of the earth and of the vast extension of Asia to the eastward. To the day of his death he was full of the imagination of the proximity of the domain of the grand khan to the islands and coasts which he had discovered. And such imaginations are curiously embodied in some maps of the early sixteenth century, which intermingle on the same coast-line the new discoveries, from Labrador to Brazil, with the provinces and rivers of Marco Polo's Cathay."[8]

Having shown the state of European geographical knowledge in the fifteenth century, in the hope thereby of throwing light upon the conditions which surrounded Vespucci at the time, we will now follow as closely as possible the career which was then opening before him. He was, as we have stated, keenly alive to what was taking place in the world around him, and especially interested in geographical discoveries. Although it is not likely that he had an abundance of ready money, having been so many years engaged in preparation for his great pursuit, without immediate recompense of any sort, yet we learn from the records of his life that he was already making a collection of all the charts, maps, and globes that he could find. He had assembled the best works of the most distinguished projectors, and for one of the finest then available, "a map of sea and land," made in 1439 by one Gabriel de Valesca, he paid the large sum of one hundred and thirty ducats, equivalent to more than five hundred dollars at the present day. There was danger then, his parents and friends thought, of the abstruse and unprofitable science of cosmography absorbing him entirely; but, though he may have indulged in the hope of devoting his life to the studies which had so enriched the mind of his friend Toscanelli, he was rudely awakened from his day-dream by a family catastrophe.

Mention has been made of one of his brothers, Girolamo, who, about the year 1480, left home and went to Asia Minor, including in his travels a trip to Palestine. He finally established himself in one of the Grecian cities, and, being of a hopeful turn, sent for and obtained the greater portion of his father's money, with which he engaged in trade. All went well for a time, and the Vespuccis congratulated themselves upon having a son of the family finally embarked on the full tide of commercial prosperity.

Nine years went by, and nothing but good news came from the absent Girolamo; but one day, in 1489, disastrous tidings arrived. A Florentine pilgrim, returning from a pious visit to the holy sepulchre in Jerusalem, brought Amerigo a letter from his brother. It was dated July 24th, and contained information to the effect that while Girolamo was attending religious services at a convent in his neighborhood his house was broken open and robbed. "At one fell swoop," he wrote, he had been deprived of all his earnings during those nine years of toil, besides the money his father had sent him, which represented the accumulations of a lifetime.

He did not explain how his entire capital was in cash at the time, when he was supposed to be in trade; but even if derelict, he was too far away to be sought out and his story investigated, so the loss was accepted by the family as an indication that Providence was not inclined to smile upon the substitution of the eldest for the youngest son as a retriever of the Vespucci fortunes. All looked now towards Amerigo to take up the distasteful business of money-making, for which he had been so long in training, but which hitherto he had so successfully evaded. In sorrow, it is said, but without a murmur, he turned his back upon his maps, globes, books, and astrolabes and faced the situation manfully.

A position had long been open to him with the great trading-house of Lorenzo de Medici, who was own cousin to the world-famous Lorenzo the Magnificent, and he had only to apply in order to receive it. For the Medici well knew the value of men--good and faithful men--trained, as Amerigo was, in the diplomacy as well as the routine of commercial life in that age. They needed just such a man as he in their foreign agency, and bidding farewell to his family he set sail from Leghorn for the Spanish city of Barcelona.

The Iberian peninsula afforded at that time a most attractive field for commercial as well as military adventure. The protracted wars with the Moors, which had been carried on for generations, were drawing to a close, but they had taken thither many a man athirst for glory, and the demand for supplies gave the merchants great opportunities for profits. The commerce of that day was, as we have seen, mainly in the hands of Italian merchants, and as early as 1486 the Florentine trader, Juan Berardi, obtained a safe conduct from Barcelona to Seville, where, a few years later, we find Amerigo busily engaged in outfitting vessels for the Spanish voyages of discovery.

It was in the year 1490, or 1491, that Amerigo Vespucci went to Spain, accompanied by his nephew Giovanni, and several other young Florentines, who were placed in his charge by their parents that they might receive the benefit of his experience and the advantages of foreign travel. Giovanni, or Juan, was greatly attached to his uncle, and subsequently went with him on his voyages to America. Many years later the historian, Peter Martyr, wrote of him: "Young Vespucius is one to whom Americus, his uncle, left the exact knowledge of the mariner's faculties, as it were by inheritance, after his death, for he is a very expert master in the knowledge of the compass and the elevation of the pole star by the quadrant. He is my particular friend, a witty young man in whose company I take great pleasure, and therefore have him often for my guest."

Whether Giovanni was associated with Amerigo in business is not exactly known, nor can we tell just when the latter removed from Barcelona into southern Spain; but there is a letter extant, written at Cadiz in 1492, signed jointly by himself and a young Florentine, Donato Nicollini, as agents either of the Medici or the house of Berardi. The following extract was copied by his biographer, Bandidi, from this manuscript in Amerigo's handwriting:

"As it is necessary for one of us, either Amerigo or Donato,
to proceed in a short time to Florence, we shall be able to
give you better information on all points by word of mouth
than can possibly be done by letter. As yet, it has been
impossible to do anything respecting the freight of salt,
for want of a vessel, as for some time past, we are sorry to
say, no ship has arrived here which was not chartered. Be
assured that if one arrives we shall be active for your
interests.

"You will have learned from the elder Donato the
good-fortune which has happened to his highness the king.
Assuredly the most high God has given him His aid; but I
cannot relate it in full. God preserve him many years--and
us with him.

"There is nothing new to communicate. Christ preserve you.

"DONATO NICOLLINI.
"AMERIGO VESPUCCI.

"We date this January 30, 1492."

The last decade of the fifteenth century, which Amerigo was to pass chiefly in Spain, has been termed by historians the most important epoch in modern history. It was, admittedly, the most important for Spain, also for that country (then unknown) which her sailors were to discover and explore, and which was to receive the name of the Florentine merchant then living obscurely in Cadiz or Seville.

"The foreign intercourse of the country," says the renowned author of _Ferdinand and Isabella_, "was every day more widely extended. Her agents and consuls were to be found in all the ports of the Mediterranean and the Baltic. The Spanish mariner, instead of creeping along the beaten track of inland navigation, now struck boldly across the great Western Ocean. The new discoveries had converted the land trade with India into a sea trade, and the nations of the peninsula, which had hitherto lain remote from the great highways of commerce, now became the factors and carriers of Europe.

"The flourishing condition of the nation was seen in the wealth and population of its cities, the revenue of which, augmented in all to a surprising extent, had increased in some forty and even fifty fold beyond what they were at the commencement of Ferdinand and Isabella's reign: the ancient and lordly Toledo; Burgos, with its bustling industrious traders; Valladolid, sending forth thirty thousand warriors from its gates; Cordova, in the south, and the magnificent Granada, naturalizing in Europe the arts and luxuries of the East; Saragossa, 'the abundant,' as she was called from her fruitful territory; Valencia, 'the beautiful'; Barcelona, rivalling in independence and maritime enterprise the proudest of the Italian republics; Medina del Campo, whose fairs were already the great mart for the commercial exchanges of the peninsula; and Seville, the golden gate of the Indies, whose quays began to be thronged with merchants from the most distant countries of Europe."

FOOTNOTES:

[7] _The Life and Voyages of Americus Vespucius_, by C. Edwards Lester, 1845.

[8] Article, "China," in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.

V

CONVERSATIONS WITH COLUMBUS

1492 OR 1493

While we cannot affirm that Christopher Columbus and Vespucci were acquainted previous to the voyage which made America known to Europe, it is well established that Amerigo was in Spain when his favored rival sailed from Palos, in August, 1492, and also when he returned, in March, 1493. In the very month of January, 1492, in which Vespucci wrote the letter quoted in the previous chapter, Columbus and the Spanish sovereigns signed the "capitulation" that set forth the demands of the discoverer and the concessions of the king and queen. That paper was signed and sealed in the palace of the Alhambra, not far distant from Cadiz, and still nearer to Seville, whither Vespucci removed soon after. He may have been there when Columbus passed through the latter city on his way to Palos, Seville being in the direct route between Granada and the Rio Tinto; but if he then saw and conversed with him there is no record of the fact.

What must have been his feelings, though, when he learned of the transaction between Columbus and the sovereigns? Columbus had gained permission to make--what he himself was far better equipped for--a voyage across the Sea of Darkness, to the islands that lay on the route of Marco Polo's Cathay. And Columbus had merely corresponded with his master, Toscanelli, at whose feet he, Vespucci, had sat, and during days and hours discussed the problem that his rival was now going forth to solve!

While Vespucci plodded, almost hopelessly, at Cadiz and Seville, Columbus pushed forward preparations for his voyage, and finally set sail. Did not Amerigo, then, send a sigh after him and his caravels, and think regretfully of his maps, his charts, globes, and nautical instruments lying dusty and disused in Florence? They were more to him than anything else in the world. With their aid, and countenanced by royal favor, _he_ might have been the fortunate one to adventure upon the ocean, and seek the unknown regions which he was positive lay there veiled from human sight. But he was pledged to repair the family fortune, he was committed to the interests of his employers, and even if the suggestion of embarking on a voyage of discovery came to him he could not entertain it for an instant. He could not then; but perhaps opportunity might yet offer, he thought, and so sent for his books, charts, and instruments, in order to perfect himself in cosmography and nautical science. He became so proficient that some years after he was appointed by King Ferdinand pilot-major of Spain, and even the charts that Columbus made were brought to him for correction or verification.

The months went by, spent by Columbus in "making history," by Vespucci in lading ships for others to sail in, and in the intervals of business poring over his books and charts. At last, in the spring of 1493, one day a courier came dashing into Seville with the news of Columbus's return, by way of Portugal, a letter having arrived from Lisbon addressed to the sovereigns, and another for Santangel, secretary to the king. Then Vespucci knew his opportunity had taken flight, for the New World had been discovered, the glory belonged to Columbus!

Soon after the return of the voyagers to Palos, he may have seen the triumphal procession led by Columbus to Barcelona, and probably had speech with him and with some of his sailors. He saw the six Indians who had been made captive in the islands and were brought to Seville, for they remained there some time while Columbus was awaiting orders from Barcelona. A letter from the sovereigns came at last, addressed to "Don Cristobal Colon, Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Viceroy of the Indies," which probably Amerigo himself perused--with what a sickening of heart may be imagined--for it contained a memorandum from the sovereigns referring to the equipment of a second expedition, and his firm received the contract. Vespucci was then connected with the house of Berardi (having left the employ of the Medici), either as contracting agent or partner. Whatever relation he stood in to the firm, it was a most responsible one, for to him was committed the furnishing of a large fleet without delay.

It was about the last of March, or early in April, that Columbus delivered to him the order from the king and queen, and then set out for Barcelona overland. He arrived there duly, to be received with almost royal honors, and meanwhile the house of Berardi, under the active supervision of Vespucci, was busy with the preparation of the fleet. Ships were sought and chartered; caravels built, bought, and repaired; munitions provided and crews of sailors assembled, which Vespucci was obliged to hold and keep together against the sailing of the squadron.

And what was the personal appearance of these two great navigators, thus so strangely brought into business relations, and whose fame in after times was to fill the world? Although there is no portrait existing of Columbus which we can affirm to be authentic, still verbal portraits have been left by his contemporaries which convey to us the impression that the "Admiral" was tall and stalwart, dignified in bearing, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and hair then silvery gray.

Amerigo Vespucci was his exact opposite, in superficial characteristics, for he was under rather than above the middle height, "thick-set and brawny," with a dark complexion, black hair mixed with gray, and flashing black eyes. An authentic portrait, painted at a later date, shows him with head nearly bald, encircled only by a fringe of hair, prominent cheek-bones, aquiline nose, a firm, sweet mouth, and without the thick black beard he wore when he first met Columbus. His temper was mild, while that of Columbus was hasty, though firmly controlled, save on a few occasions when, tried beyond measure, it burst its bounds and swept away all opposition. But both great men were courteous in speech, the dignified demeanor of Columbus commanding admiration, while the modesty of Vespucci won the friendship of all with whom he came in contact.

The following dialogue between the two, or the purport of it, is thought to have taken place soon after the return of Columbus from Barcelona, either at Cadiz or Seville. It was but natural that the two should meet, that they should exchange views and compare notes, for, while Columbus had made the great discovery--through having been the first to apply the theories of Toscanelli and the ancients--Vespucci had for many years been thinking on the subject, and had enjoyed the friendship of the physicist, whom both revered. Whether this conversation is apocryphal or not, at least it embodies the divergent views of the two, and does no violence to their sentiments, as can be shown by their writings. It is adapted from Lester's _Americus Vespucius_.

Having with him, it is believed, the charts and books from which he deduced his theories, Vespucci probably invited Columbus to his lodgings, where the two spent many an hour in good-natured controversy. Nearly twenty years had elapsed since the learned doctor sent the chart and letter to Columbus, and now the latter, with the laurels of the great "discovery" on his brow, was to engage in argument with the person best acquainted with his life-work--who had followed it from its very inception, and who was to enjoy its usufruct forever.

Let us try to imagine them within the walls of Vespucci's house--whether in golden Seville or crystal Cadiz cannot be told; but it is easy to find one like it to-day, for the architecture of neither city has changed much since that time. The house is of stone, with thick white walls and roof of tiles. The rooms are large and dreary, but open on a court, or Moorish patio, around which they are ranged, and where a fountain tinkles merrily. The floor of Vespucci's room is tiled and damp, the furniture is scanty, but in the centre of the apartment is a large and massive table, upon which are spread his charts, while a globe--perhaps one of Behaim's, recently constructed--stands in a corner.

The arrival of the distinguished stranger at Vespucci's modest lodgings causes a flutter of excitement, not only in the household, but in the street, which is lined with gaping citizens, anxious to see the new admiral, who has already taken on the dignities of his station, is costumed in velvet, wears a sword at his side, and is accompanied by a retinue of hired retainers. Vespucci, on the contrary, shows no ostentation in his garb, for he is but a man of business, and, entirely unconscious of any discrepancy in their apparel, conducts his guest to the room where lie his treasures.

To the credit of Columbus, it should be said, he sees in Vespucci only the man of science, the student, the cosmographer, and, with the gentle dignity inseparable from this man who had appeared before kings and at courts, he compliments his host upon his collection. They are soon in earnest consultation, scanning the sea-charts, quoting authorities, advancing theories, becoming so absorbed as to ignore the yawning hangers-on of the admiral's staff, who soon retire, one after another, leaving the two geographers alone.

Finally, Columbus says, looking up from the chart upon which he had been sketching the route of his voyage:

"It grieves me much, worthy Signor Vespucci, to learn from our friend the Signor Berardi that you do not estimate as I do the result of our recent navigation to the west. With your well-known skill in cosmography, I fear me, you combine more of doubt than would be becoming to a Christian navigator."

"Your excellency mistakes my views greatly, or has been misinformed of them," replies Vespucci, courteously. "Far from undervaluing the effect of the discoveries which your genius has accomplished, I am the rather disposed to place a greater estimate upon them than does the Admiral Colon himself. If I judged them in the light in which they are viewed by the most of those who hope to profit by them, then, indeed, the imputation would be just; but I look not to such things, and well I know that your own mind is above them."

"In that respect you only do me justice. If I look for gain in aught that I have undertaken, it is only that I may devote it to a holy purpose. Have I not, even within the last few days, recorded my solemn oath that I would, in the event of my prosperous arrival at the court of the grand khan--whom, by the favor of God, I hope to convert to the true faith--employ the riches I shall acquire in the equipment of a force of four thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, for the recovery of the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels? I am unwilling to think that your speech tends to the end of imputing to me mercenary motives; but wherein do we differ? Is not the way opened, and will not the intercourse I mean to establish with the pagan monarch contribute greatly to the purpose I keep ever in view? The holy father at Rome himself lends me encouragement in my undertaking, and regards with approbation my efforts to lead into the true Church so mighty a potentate."

"With all the deference that is due to your excellency's superior wisdom and experience, I would state that therein lies the very point of our difference. I deem it by no means certain that your ships have touched the territories of the grand khan at all, but rather land that has hitherto been alike unknown to him and to us. Thousands of leagues may yet intervene between that land and his dominions, whether of sea or earth remains to be discovered; and I judge in this wise as well from the accounts of cosmographers who have written on the subject, as from the description of the barbarous natives which you yourself have fallen in with in recent discoveries.

"The accounts of those who have penetrated to distant regions of the East lead us to understand that the subjects of the grand khan live in the midst of the most profuse wealth and luxury, and bedeck themselves with superfine garments, gold, and jewelry. These people, however, are wild and naked, little if any superior to the beasts, and cannot, I think, be in any wise connected with a monarch of such magnificence. My own thoughts carry me to the conviction that there exists near unto the lands you have visited an immense country, which may possibly belong to and be part of the grand khan's dominions, though I doubt if such be the case. Marco Polo himself speaks of an island lying far out in the ocean which washes the eastern shores of Asia--the great Cipango, abounding in riches and precious stones, which has never been subdued by the sovereign of Cathay, although he has made attempts to conquer it. This island I deem it necessary to discover, in the first place; then, even after it is circumnavigated or passed over--and the last may be the easier way--a voyage of long duration will still have to be accomplished before the empire of Cathay is reached. When I speak of a passage over this unknown island, I do so in view of its great extent, as I estimate it to be of such size that it might more properly be designated _Terra Firma_,[9] being, according to my calculations, as large as, if not larger than, the whole of Europe. And herein do I estimate most highly the worth of the discoveries which your excellency has made, and their importance to this realm, as it will now be comparatively easy to pass the lands you have fallen in with by sailing either in a more northerly or a more southerly direction, in either case striking the country I have in my mind."

"Nay, nay, good Signor Vespucci. I have the confidence in my heart that you are mistaken. I feel, indeed, persuaded, by the many and wonderful manifestations of divine Providence in my especial favor, that I am the chosen instrument of God in bringing to pass a great event: no less than the conversion of millions who are now existing in the darkness of paganism. I would, indeed, provide for the good of the poor natives we have already met, as well by building cities on their islands and cultivating their lands, as by the erection of churches and the establishment of Christian worship. But I would by no means forget the greater end in view--namely, that of bringing to bear upon the infidels the wealth and power of the vast kingdom of Cathay, that thus being encompassed, by the armies from Europe on the one side, and by the innumerable hosts of Asia on the other, they may be utterly destroyed, and the tomb of our Lord be again placed in the possession of the true believers.... In these things I marvel much at your incredulity, Signor Vespucci, seeing that you have often had opportunities of conversing with the learned physicist Paolo, your own countryman--peace to his ashes!--who in his lifetime so nearly coincided with me in opinion."

"I have, indeed, as your excellency observes, oftentimes disputed and argued with the venerable Toscanelli, and to him is due much of the little knowledge I have been able to acquire in cosmography and astronomy. But from him I also learned that the descriptions which are given by Marco Polo were considered by many wise men as not altogether beyond the reach of doubt. If, then, he is in error in some particulars, how shall we draw the line, and say wherein he speaks the truth of his own knowledge? And how could he know the distance which exists between Cathay and the western shores of Europe, save by hearsay, and the reports of mariners on that unknown shore, who themselves must have been falsifiers, as it is well known that not one of them has ever appeared here who might have estimated the distance? I cannot, then, think that we are so near to Cathay as your excellency supposes, and had much rather follow the opinion that you have possibly approached the shore that has been hitherto represented as inaccessible to mortals."

"You speak of the paradise, which so many sound and able divines assert to be still in existence on earth."

"I do, though not so firmly believing in the relation as they do. If there be such a place existing, as described by the learned St. Basil, methinks it must be near unto those balmy isles which you have discovered, so similar in climate and in verdancy."

"Such, in sooth, has often been my opinion, and I deem it not to be inconsistent with the other, which holds to the proximity of Cathay. Oh, that I might, through the grace of God and intercession of the saints, ever arrive at that blessed spot, where all is happiness and beauty; where the harmonious songs of birds ever fall gratefully on the ear; where the air is filled with the fragrance of flowers, and a perpetual spring, combining with its own beauties those of every other season of the year, continually prevails; where the limpid waters flow smoothly and gently, or gush forth in purest fountains; where all is suggestive of perennial youth, and decay and death are unknown!

"But I perceive, Signor, that you are incredulous, as to this region of bliss, and even smile at my belief. Remember, then, that herein I only follow the opinions of the wise and learned fathers of our Church, but that in regard to Cathay I am supported by ample proof, from the discoveries of travellers and the relations of cosmographers."

"I am ever willing to yield to proofs; but methinks that the foundation of the error under which your excellency seems to labor is this: that you do not make sufficient allowance for exaggeration in the accounts of the great traveller Marco Polo. It appears to me that he has deceived himself as to the extent to which he penetrated Cathay, and that he has thereby carried out the eastern coast too far into the ocean. That being so, the learned Paolo, my countryman, in following him, finds it necessary to shorten the extent of ocean which intervenes between Cathay and Europe, in order to render accurate his estimate of the circumference of the globe."

"I note your objections, but cannot deem them correct, and yet hope to deliver the letters of my sovereigns, with which I was charged in my recent voyage, to the grand khan in person. But let us examine this question of longitude, for therein I am interested deeply, and have small doubt that I can turn you to my opinions."

"Most gladly will I do so, most noble admiral, for I am strongly moved to tempt the ocean myself, in the hope of adding something to the knowledge of mariners."

Within four or five years from the conjectural date of this dialogue, Vespucci made his first voyage, and saw for himself some of those "isles of paradise" which had so charmed Columbus. This was either in the year 1497 or 1499, depending upon whether we accept his own statement or the opinion of those who have challenged the authenticity of his narrative.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] In this sense, the main-land, or continent, as opposed to islands, the Latin form, _terra_, is almost invariably used by the Spaniards, instead of _tierra_.

VI

VESPUCCI'S DEBATABLE VOYAGE

1497-1498

It has been said that the house of Berardi, with which Vespucci was connected as a partner, outfitted the large fleet for the second voyage of Columbus in 1493; but this is true only in the sense that it served the crown in the capacity of sub-contractor. The real head of Indian affairs was the archdeacon of Seville, Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, who first rose to prominence at this time as general superintendent of all the New-World business, and for thirty years controlled the same. Invested by King Ferdinand with great, almost unlimited, power, he has the credit of having founded the royal India house, which was of such importance in the colonizing of new territory, and by the favor of which alone any voyage of discovery could be projected and carried to a successful conclusion.

Fonseca has been held up to obloquy by the admirable eulogist of Columbus, Mr. Irving, "as a warning example of those perfidious beings in office, who too often lie like worms at the root of honorable enterprise, blighting by their unseen influence the fruits of glorious action and disappointing the hopes of nations." This denunciation he incurred by thwarting the schemes of Columbus, in their minor details at first, afterwards becoming his open and determined enemy. The first instance in which the two great men fell out occurred when Fonseca opposed the pretensions of Columbus and attempted to check his extravagance in the matter of personal retinue. Among other requisitions which Columbus sent in, those for ten footmen and twenty menials for his domestic establishment were objected to by the superintendent as superfluous.

In connection with the treasurer, Francisco Pinelo, and the _contador_, Juan de Soria, Fonseca used his utmost efforts to raise the necessary funds for the expedition, to provide for the vast expenses of which, says Mr. Irving himself, "the royal revenue arising from two-thirds of the Church tithes was placed at the disposition of Pinelo; and other funds were drawn from a disgraceful source--from the jewels and other valuables, the sequestrated property of the unfortunate Jews, banished from the kingdom according to a bigoted edict of the previous year. As these sources were still inadequate, Pinelo was authorized to supply the deficiency by a loan. Requisitions were likewise made for provisions of all kinds, as well as for artillery, powder, muskets, lances, corselets, and crossbows.... The military stores which had accumulated during the war with the Moors of Granada furnished a great part of these supplies."

Having great difficulty, therefore, in meeting the really needful demands of the expedition, it was quite natural that Fonseca should desire to cut down those he deemed extravagant, and it must be admitted that among these he might rightfully class the requisitions of Columbus intended merely to support his newly acquired dignity as admiral and grandee. He was supported by the sovereigns, however, and Fonseca was rebuked for denying him anything he desired. He was reminded that the expedition was intended solely to extend the power and prestige of the crown, and that but for Columbus it would never have been assembled, hence he was to study his wishes and comply with his demands. This implied reproof cut the haughty prelate to the heart, and from these trivial differences, remarks Mr. Irving, "we must date the rise of that singular hostility which he ever afterwards manifested towards Columbus, which every year increased in rancor, and which he gratified in the most invidious manner by secretly multiplying impediments and vexations in his path."

But for the fact that this enmity existing between Fonseca and Columbus made possible the first voyage of Amerigo Vespucci, we should not feel called upon to more than mention the first named in connection with an expedition in which all three were so deeply interested. The fleet finally sailed away, pursued by the maledictions of Fonseca, and followed by the heart-felt longings of Vespucci. Some historians have stated that the Florentine sailed with Columbus on this second voyage; but there are no records to prove this assertion, and he himself never made the claim. We have every reason for believing that he continued in his employment as purveyor to the crown and contractor for the furnishing of fleets, with his residence sometimes at Seville and sometimes at Cadiz, as occasion demanded, the office of the India house being at the former city, and the port of customs and sailing at the latter. He was, undoubtedly, brought into more or less intimate contact with Fonseca, whose supervision of colonial affairs and control of expeditionary fleets demanded his constant attention for many years. He probably appreciated such a man as Vespucci, whose even temper and mastery of detail, combined with great sagacity and learning, were invaluable to the man who was building up a government beyond the ocean. They were nearly of the same age--Fonseca having been born in 1441--and at this time in the fulness of their natural powers.

Just what Vespucci was doing in the two years succeeding to the departure of Columbus is not definitely known; but in December, 1495, we find him actively engaged in settling the estate of Juan Berardi, who had died in that month and year. He was then, it appears, the most influential if not the sole member of the firm then resident in Spain, and after Berardi's death he undertook and carried out the contracts entered into by the senior partner with the government.

About three hundred years after the death of Vespucci, some ancient documents were discovered by a Spanish historian, in which it was shown that on January 12, 1496, the royal treasurer, Pinelo, had paid to Vespucci the sum of ten thousand maravedis on account. He advanced pay and furnished subsistence for the mariners of an expedition which sailed on February 3, 1496, and was wrecked two weeks later, with the loss of several lives. The fragmentary records also show, apparently, that in the year 1497 and the early part of 1498, Vespucci was "busily engaged at Seville and San Lucar, in the equipment of the fleet with which Columbus sailed on his third voyage"; and yet, according to a letter which he wrote a former friend in 1504, he was himself upon the ocean at that very time, seeking to rival Columbus in the discovery of a continent!

The exact truth may never be learned as to this reputed voyage of Vespucci, which he calls his "first," and which his enemies say was never made! It seems incredible that he should be the "sole authority" for this voyage, and that all contemporary history "is absolutely silent in regard to it"; yet, so far as we can ascertain, it is the truth. Leaving for future discussion, however, the proof and disproof of this voyage--merely pausing to remark that at the period mentioned a man holding his relations to Fonseca would have had no difficulty in obtaining permission to make such a voyage, even without the sanction of royal authority--we will now peruse the famous letter. It is addressed to "Piero Soderini, Perpetual Gonfaloniere of the Republic of Florence," and was written in 1504.

"MOST EXCELLENT SIR,-- ... The principal reason why I am
induced to write is the request of the bearer, Benvenuto
Benvenuti, the devoted servant of your Excellency and my
particular friend. He happened to be here in this city of
Lisbon, and requested that I would impart to your Excellency
a description of the things seen by me in various climes, in
the course of four voyages which I have made for the
discovery of new lands, two by the authority and command of
Don Ferdinand, King of Castile, in the great Western Ocean,
and the other two by order of Dom Manuel, King of Portugal,
towards the south. So I resolved to write, as requested, and
set about the performance of my task, because I am certain
that your Excellency counts me among the number of your most
devoted servants, remembering that in the time of our
youth, we were friends, going daily to study the rudiments
of grammar, under the excellent instruction of the venerable
brother of St. Mark, Friar Georgio Antonio Vespucci, my
uncle, whose counsels would to God I had followed! for then,
as Petrarch says, I should have been a different man from
what I am.

" ... Your Excellency will please to observe that I came
into the kingdom of Spain for the purpose of engaging in
mercantile affairs, and that I continued to be thus employed
about four years [six or seven], during which I saw and
experienced the fickle movements of fortune, and how she
ordered the changes of these transitory and perishing
worldly goods, at one time sustaining a man at the top of
the wheel, and at another returning him to the lowest part
thereof, and depriving him of her favors, which may truly be
said to be lent. Thus having experienced the continual labor
of one who would acquire her favors, subjecting myself to
very many inconveniences and dangers, I concluded to abandon
mercantile affairs and direct my attention to something more
laudable and stable. For this purpose I prepared myself to
visit various parts of the world, and see the wonderful
things which might be found therein. Time and place were
very opportunely offered me when I came to this conclusion.

"King Ferdinand of Castile had ordered four ships to go in
search of new lands, and I was selected by his highness to
go in that fleet, in order to assist in the discoveries. We
sailed from the port of Cadiz on the 10th of May, A.D.
1497, and steering our course through the great Western
Ocean, spent eighteen months in our expedition, discovering
much land and a great number of islands, the largest part of
which were inhabited. As these are not spoken of by the
ancient writers, I presume they were ignorant of them. If I
am not mistaken, I well remember to have read in one of
their books, which I possessed, that this ocean was
considered unpeopled. In this voyage I saw many astonishing
things, as your Excellency will perceive by the following
relation.

"We had sailed so rapidly that at the end of twenty-seven
days we came in sight of land, which we judged to be a
continent, being about a thousand leagues west of the
Fortunate Islands, now called the Grand Canaries. Here we
anchored our ships at a league and a half from the shore,
and, having cast off our boats and filled them with men and
arms, proceeded to land. Before we landed we were much
cheered by the sight of many people rambling along the
shore. We found that they were all in a state of nudity, and
they appeared to be afraid of us, as I suppose from seeing
us clothed and of a different stature from themselves. They
retreated to a mountain, and, notwithstanding all the signs
of peace and friendship we could make, we could not bring
them to parley with us; so, as the night was coming on and
the ships were anchored in an insecure place, we agreed to
leave there and go in search of some port or bay where we
could place our ships in safety.

"We sailed two days along the coast, and on the morning of
the third day, as dawn appeared, we saw on shore a great
number of men, with their wives and children, all laden
with provisions. Before we reached the land many of them
swam to meet us, the distance of a bow-shot into the sea (as
they are most excellent swimmers), and they treated us with
as much confidence as if we had had intercourse with them
for a long time, which gratified us much. All that we know
of their life and manners is that they go entirely naked,
not having the slightest covering whatever; they are of
middling stature and very well proportioned, and their flesh
is a reddish color, like the skin of a lion; but I think if
they had been accustomed to wear clothing they would have
been as white as we are. They have no hair on the body,
except very long hair on the head; but the women especially
derive attractiveness from this. Their countenances are not
handsome, as they have large faces, which might be compared
with those of the Tartars. Both men and women are very
agile, easy in their carriage, and swift in running or
walking, so that the women think nothing of speeding a
league or two, as we have many a time beheld.

"Their weapons are bows and arrows beautifully wrought, but
unfurnished with iron or any other hard metal, in place of
which they make use of the teeth of animals, or fish, or
sometimes a slip of hard-wood, made harder at the point by
fire. They are sure marksmen, who hit whatever they wish,
and in some parts the women also use the bow with dexterity.
They have other arms, such as lances and staves, with heads
finely wrought. When they make war they take their wives
with them--not to fight, but to carry provisions on their
backs, a woman frequently carrying a burden in this manner
for thirty or forty leagues, which the strongest man among
them could not do, as we have witnessed many times.

"These people have no captains, neither do they march in
order, but each one is his own master. The cause of their
wars is not a love of conquest, or of enlarging their
boundaries, neither are they incited to engage in them by
inordinate covetousness [unlike the Spaniards], but from
ancient enmity which has existed among them in times past;
and having been asked why they made war, they could give us
no other reason than that they did it to avenge the deaths
of their ancestors. Neither have these people kings or
lords, nor do they obey any one, but live in their own
entire liberty; and the manner in which they are incited to
go to war is this: when their enemies have killed or taken
prisoners any of their people, the oldest relative rises and
goes about proclaiming his wrongs aloud, and calling upon
them to go with him to avenge the death of his relation.
Thereupon they are moved with sympathy and make ready for
the fight.

"They have no tribunals of justice, neither do they punish
malefactors; and what is still more astonishing, neither
father nor mother chastises the children when they do wrong;
yet, astounding as it may seem, there is no strife between
them; or, to say the least, we never saw any. They appear
simple in speech, but in reality are very shrewd and cunning
in any matter which interests them. They speak but little,
and that little in a low tone of voice, using the same
accentuation that we use, and forming the words with the
palate, teeth, and lips; but they have a different mode of
diction. There is a great diversity of language among them,
inasmuch as every hundred leagues or so we found people who
could not understand one another. Their mode of life is most
barbarous; they do not eat at regular intervals; but it is a
matter of indifference to them whether appetite comes at
midnight or at mid-day, and they eat upon the ground at all
hours, without napkin or table-cloth, having their food in
earthen basins, which they manufacture, or in half-gourd
shells or calabashes. They sleep in nets of cotton, very
large and suspended in the air; and although this may seem a
very bad way of sleeping, I can vouch for the fact that it
is extremely pleasant, and one sleeps better thus than on a
mattress. They are neat and clean in their persons, which is
a natural consequence of their perpetual bathing; but some
of their habits are unmentionable....