Portuguese made themfelves mafters of the Brazils, and infifted on comprehending this country within the east of the line, the line of demarcation was extended thirty degrees weftward from the firft meridian of Ptolemy. VI. While Spain in the weft was extending her conquefts, and her chiefs multiplying their cruelties and crimes, the Portuguefe, under Vafco de Gama, in 1497, doubled the Cape of Good Hope*, difcovered in 1455 by Cadamosto a Venetian navigator. They coafted along the eaftern fhores of Africa and the islands which lie between that portion of the world and Asia, and arrived at Calicut, which then was the mart for fpices. After wars and battles, as well with the natives as with the Moors, who had invaded a confiderable portion of this country, they extended their voyage to the Molucca islands; and here, in 1510, they formed an establishment, and engroffed almost an exclufive traffic in pepper and cloves, fpices chiefly exported from these islands t. VII. The duke of Albuquerque was at this time governor and viceroy of the Portuguese establishments in India, and by his genius and intrepidity had rendered abortive the machinations of the Venetians, who, being at that time the allies of Soliman the Magnificent, exerted all their means to preferve in its channel, by the Red Sea, the commerce which the Portuguese were anxious to tranfport to Lifbont. In the fuite of this viceroy it was that Magellan remained five years in India §. He was a Portuguefe gentleman, had cultivated the fciences, but efpecially thofe branches which relate to navigation (a ftudy then much in vogue among the nobility of Portugal), and had undertaken this voyage that he might make himself known at court, and secure to himself an employment fuited to his genius. From Calicut he went to Sumatra, where he captured a flave. It does not appear that he extended his voyage to the Moluccas, not. withstanding the affertions of Angera, Ramufio, and other writers ||; for if he had proceeded to them he would have known that they are under the equinoctial line, and confequently would not have gone in fearch of them to the fourteenth degree of north latitude, as he is feen to have done in his chart. From the Indies he returned to Lisbon. In the mean time Albuquerque fent to the Moluccas Francis Serano, a friend and relation of Magellan, with directions to conftruct a fort there; but this he was unable to effect, as, from an infenfate pride, each of the kings of the islands contended for its being built on his own territory; and as Serano himself, anxious to fubdue them all at once, acted rather as a fovereign than a peace-maker, which title he affumed. In courfe of the work will be seen in what manner he became the victim of his ambition. VIII. I am ignorant what pretenfions Magellan may have had to favours from court; but his whole conduct feems to fhew that he was equally intrepid and well informed, notwithstanding the affertions of the Jefuit Maffei, who charges him with poffeffing a *This cape was laid down in 1450 by Brother Mauro, camaldule of the convent of Murano near Venice, on a map of the world which I saw in 1790, and which, as is faid, is ftill there to be seen. FRENCH TR. At least if credit be due to our author, who, at page 176, ftates his having met, in 1521, with Pedro de Lorofa, and learnt from him, Como ja fedizi anni flava ne la India, ma x in Malucho, e tanti erano che Malucho ftava difcoperto afcofamente. "That he had then been fixteen years in India, but ten in the Moluccas, as long back as which they had been difcovered, though the discovery had been kept fecret." FRENCH TR. Robertfon. Loco citato, fect. iv. Petri Anglerii, Opus Epift. Epift. 767. Hitoire Generale de Voyages, tom. i. p. 126. Edit. de Paris. Hift. Rer. Ind. lib. viii. larger larger fhare of vanity than of real merit; though, if our author be believed, we muft allow his claims to have been exceedingly moderate, fince they were limited to an increase of pay of nearly fix franks (five fhillings) per month. As, moreover, the King of Spain invested him with the order of St. James of the Sword, and entrusted him with the command of a fquadron, there is reason to believe that, in the services rendered by him to Portugal, he had exhibited evident proof of valour and skill. IX. During the stay of Magellan in Portugal, as Maffei relates*, he kept up a conftant correfpondence with his friend Serano, who invited him to return to India, and even to repair to the Moluccas, the distance of which islands from Sumatra, an ifland well known to him, he pointed out. But if conjecture be allowed, and the tracing of caufes from refults, it is not unlikely that Magellan will have complained to Serano of the injuftice of the court of Lisbon towards him; that Serano, poffibly menaced by the viceroy for not having followed his orders in building the fort, will have offered to surrender these islands to Spain; and at the fame time have given information to Magellan, acquired from the inhabitants of the most eastern islands, of the poffibility of falling in with the cape of the continent discovered by Colon, of doubling it, or of finding fome strait in that direction; and this the more from the Portuguese being at that time in poffeffion of the Brazils, difcovered in 1500 by Cabral, a country in which John Carvajo, of whom Pigafetta frequently fpeaks, had refided for four years, and in which John de Solis, while feeking a paffage to the Indies, was affaffinated and devoured by cannibals, together with fixty of his crew. X. It is not altogether improbable that Magellan was enabled by these means to obtain fome intelligence refpecting a paffage from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean; but it was by other modes that he became fatisfied of the actual existence of this paffage, as he informed Pigafetta and the companions of his expedition when he found himself in the strait. While foliciting advancement at the court of Lisbon, he paid fuch close attention to the ftudy of geography and navigation as to render himself one of the beft geographers and navigators of his time t. In confequence of this character he was allowed to examine all the charts which had hitherto been collected, and which were preferved with great care in the royal treasury. The infant Don Henry, who firft planned the undertaking of voyages for the difcovery of new countries, and those who fucceeded him, had here collected all the fpeculations on this fubject, and all the geographical maps they could obtain, by means of thofe geographers, navigators, and aftronomers who, in hopes of reward, came to tender their works at Lisbon. In this treasury it was that Magellan found a chart of Martin of Bohemia, on which the strait was marked which communicates with the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.. XI. In order to be convinced that Magellan really fought this paffage in confequence · of seeing it marked on the chart of Martin of Bohemia, one need only read what Pigafetta fays on this fubject, whofe words are here exactly copied from the manufcript in our poffeffion. It is fingular this fact fhould be denied, as it might have been found in the extract from Pigafetta, published in French by Fabre, and in Italian by Ramufio; but it is still more fingular that this fact, fo honourable for Martin of Bohemia, or *Hift. Rer. Ind. lib. viii. + Egli piu giustamente che homo foffi al mondo carteava, et navigava. "He drew charts and navigated with more exactitude than any one living.' Il capitano-generale, che fapeva de dover fare la fua navegazione per uno fireto molto afcofo, como vite ne la thejoraria del re de Portugal in una carta fata per quello excellentiffimo huomo Martin de Boemia, mando due navi, &c. Page 40. "The captain general, who knew he had to navigate through a very fecret ftrait, which he had feen, in the treafury of the King of Portugal, marked in a chart drawn up by that moft excellent man Martin de Boemia, ordered two fhips," &c. rather rather Behaim*, fhould have been denied by Mr. de Mur, on publishing a work in honour of him. An examination into this difputed point, materially connected as it is with the most interesting part of the voyage I am about to publifh, will not here be mifplaced. M. Otto, in a memoir inferted in the fecond volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions of the Society of Philadelphia, has fought to prove that Colon was not the first who discovered America, nor Magellan the first explorer of the ftrait which bears his name; and that the honour of both thefe difcoveries is peculiarly due to Martin Behaim of Nuremberg. In fact, this Martin Behaim was one of the firft geographers of his age; and one of the first who, in 1492, formed a map of the world, which he bequeathed to his country, and in which it is yet preferved; was one of the first who croffed the line with the famous navigator Jaques Cano in 1482; who, having married the daughter of Huerter, a feudatory of the island of Fayal, one of the Azores, paffed feveral years on that island, occafionally at different times making voy. ages to Europe; and who, efteemed and confulted by the learned men of his time, as well as by the court of Lisbon, had ample means of acquiring the most rare, as well as, for that age, the most extenfive information with refpect to what relates to geography. Still there is no foundation for pretending that Colon difcovered America pofteriorly to Behaim, as was clearly demonftrated by the prefident Count Carli, loft to the republic of letters and Milan, in 1795 t. M. Otto refts his opinion on a chronicle of Nuremberg, which states that "he difcovered the islands of America before Colon, and the ftrait, which afterwards was called the Magellanic, even before Magellan himself;" and on the testimony of Hartman Schedel, who fays, that Magellan and Cano in course of their failing found themselves in another world. But the prefident Carli obferves that the chronicle of Nuremberg is not contemporary; and Mr. de Murr convinced himself that the statement afcribed to Schedel is interpolated in the manufcript in different hand-writing. In fact it is not found in the first edition of his work, which is in our library. Add to this, the expreffion, "In alterum orbem accepti funt," may indicate their having paffed the line. XII. With ftill lefs reafon does Mr. Murr affume that Martin Behaim never had the leaft idea of the Strait of Magellan. "Having had the means," fays Mr. Murr, "of examining the archives of his heirs, I found among them no trace of this dicovery. Moreover, the terrestrial globe which he prefented to the city of Nuremberg fufficiently proves that Martin Behaim did not even suspect the existence of America. This globe, the hemisphere of which, comprifing the western part of Europe and Africa and the eastern part of Afia, was published by Mr. Murr, this globe, I fay, fhews, that at that time it was conceived a veffel might proceed directly from the Azores to the kingdoms of Tungut, Cambalu, and Thibet, without meeting with any other land than the island of Cathay, in the whole extent of ocean to be croffed in the voyage. From the Canary islands likewise it was imagined a courfe was open to the island Antilia, and on this account Colon gave the name of Antilles to the islands in front of America. From the Cape Verd islands, on the globe of Behaim, the course was described as open and with no land intervening to Cipangu (Japan), made known to Europe by Marco Polo, and mentioned by Pigafetta, who fancied he paffed at but a short distance from *It is well known that his real name was Behaim. Cluverius fays he was called of Bohemia because his ancestors came originally from that country, or had fettled there for the purpose of carrying on traffic. Notice fur le Chevalier Martin Behaim, celebre navigateur Portugais; avec la defcription de for globe terreftre. See the Differtation at the close of this work. See Opufcoli Scelti di Milano, tomo xv. p. 72. tr it. From Japan the fea was open to Cambaya, and, turning fouthward, to the larger and smaller islands of Java, placed under the same meridian. It is therefore plain that the globe alluded to does not notice America. As therefore Behaim in 1492, knew nothing of America, he could impart no information to Colon, who failed in that year; but this fact by no means proves that, between that epoch and the year 1506, which was the last of the life of Behaim, he had not become acquainted with all that was known up to that time, and marked the fame on a geographical chart. His different voyages, his extenfive correspondence with all the learned men of the day, his various occupations at the court of Lisbon, and, above all, his refidence at the Azores islands, furnished him with means of acquiring all the information which chance or research had produced among navigators. Varenius* pretends that Nunez de Valboa, in 1513, was convinced of the existence of the strait in queftion from currents, which are only found in channels open at the two extremities, and never in a bay. Why in this cafe fhould it be deemed unlikely that fome other navigators fhould have made the fame obfervation in the time of Behaim, and have communicated it to him? Mr. de Murr indeed allows the poffibility of fuch an incident, but pretends that it did not take place; and that it was Marc-Antonio Pigafetta, who in his Itinerary, published in London in 1585, first spread the fable of the discovery of America by Behaim; " and I am ignorant," adds he, "whether Philip Pigafetta, in his Relation refpecting Congo, does or not allude to Martin Behaim." We may gather from the manner in which Mr. de Murr expreffes himself, that he fcarcely knew the names and titles of the books: of the two other Pigafettas (Marc-Antonio and Philip); and that he was altogether uninformed respecting our knight Antonio Pigafetta, of his " Relation of the Discovery of India ;" or of the extracts published from that work; nay, that he had not himself read the Itinerary of which he speaks, for it contains no mention whatever of Martin Behaim. Neither does Philip Pigafetta, in his Relation refpecting Congo, printed at Rome in 1591, or in his Itinerary of Egypt, make any mention of him, as I learn in the latter inftance from my friend Mr. Malacarne, profeffor of furgery, in whofe poffeffion this manufcript is. There is therefore little room to doubt that Magellan had feen the strait to which he gave name marked on the chart of Martin Behaim: but it muft at the fame time be allowed either that he placed no implicit reliance on the chart, or that the chart in question was very incorrect; as otherwife, when in latitude forty-nine degrees thirty minutes north, he would not have dispatched his veffel the San Jago to reconnoitre the coaft on which it was fhipwrecked while seeking the ftrait in fifty-two degrees; nor would he have determined on proceeding fouth as high as seventy-five degrees in cafe he fhould not find it. XIII. Let us now return to the history of Magellan, and of our author. Whether in view of avenging his fancied wrongs, whether to obtain that promotion he fought,. Magellan repaired to Spain, and offered his fervices to Charles V. in taking command. of a squadron to fail to the weftward of the line of demarcation as far as to the Spiceiflands, which were better known from the report of the Italians, who had proceeded thither eastward, than from the narratives of the Portuguefe, who had then been ten years established there, but who kept in greatest secrecy the difcoveries they made; fo much fo indeed, fays Caftagnada, that in the courfe of time the memory of the voyage of Gama would have been loft, had he not himself taken the trouble of writing and committing it to the prefst. Charles V., or rather Cardinal Ximenes, his prime Geog. gener. c. 12. + Hiftoria della conquista delle Indie Orientale, preface. minifter,. minister, who governed Spain during his abfence, paid great attention to the projec of Magellan, who not only convinced him of the poffibility of reaching the Spice-Islands by failing towards the weft, but affured him that they were comprised within that portion of the globe which, in virtue of the line of demarcation, belonged to Spain; for, had it not been for this representation, the Cardinal would assuredly not have fanctioned the invasion of a country vefted in another by the Pope. In order to fatisfy him that the Moluccas were in the Spanish hemifphere, Magellan brought forward the testimony not only of Criftoval Hara, who ftated that he was convinced from the information given him by factors belonging to different establishments he had in India of the real geographical pofition of these islands *, but alfo of the famous aftrologer Rodrigo Faleiro, who fhewed, by a map of the world and by the compaffes, that these iflands were fituate within the one hundred and eightieth degree of longitude weft. And as the Cardinal continued yet to entertain fome doubt of the fact, Faleiro inftructed Magellan in a method to calculate the longitude, fo as not to overpafs the line † of demarcation. In order to clear the point, it was indeed propofed that Faleiro fhould accompany Magellan; but, as the former was an aftrologer, he excufed himself from being a party in the voyage, pretending he had computed it, and found, if attempted, it would prove fatal to him. It did indeed prove fatal to Martin de Sevilla, who went in his ftead, but who had not foreseen that he would be affaffinated, as will be feen he was at the island Zubu. XIV. We have a proof of the importance of inquiries into the longitudes, during this voyage, in the defcription I am about to publifh. Scarcely had the fquadron reached the Pacific Ocean ere the Cavellero Pigafetta made a point of noting on his journal, not only the latitude, but alfo the longitude of the line of demarcation; and in order to obviate any mifconception, he remarks that this line is thirty degrees weft of the first meridian, which itself is three degrees weft of Cape Verd f. After having expreffed himself with fuch exactitude, it is highly furprizing that Fabre, who has given an extract of his narrative, fhould not have comprehended him, and instead of degrees of longitude "from the line of demarcation," have conftantly written "from the line of departure," or "the degree of longitude whence they departed;" and in that part where he should have marked the pofition of the line, the fame as our author has done, he fays, "and thirty degrees from the meridian, which is three degrees more towards the east than the Cape of Good Hope.' It is evident his mode of expreffion is marked by a want of fenfe, and in confequence Ramufio, on tranflating the work of Fabre, has wholly omitted this paffage; that in copying the author before him, in lieu of "Longitudine dalla linea di divifione," he fhould have given "Longitudine dal luogo donde fi eran partiti," is certainly excufable; but by thus writing he encreases the errors of the longitude noticed by Pigafetta by forty degrees. XV. But the Portuguese, interested in determining the real latitude of the Moluccas, accused the Spaniards not only of being in error, but with perfidy; and Pietro Martir D'Angera, a Milanefe gentleman, and hiftoriographer of the court of Spain, pleasantly states in one of his letters §, that twenty-four pilots and aftronomers were chofen, Spanish and Portuguese, who, after numerous fyllogifins, at length decided * Epiflola di Maffimili ano Tranfilvano, preffo Ramufio, tom i. p. 348. + Caftagnede, loc. cit. La linea de la repartitione e trenta gradi longi dal meredionale; el meridionale e tre gradi al levante longi da Capo Verde, page 56. Epiftle 797. that |