“I hope to point out and explain more clearly and satisfactorily the great extent of the New Land or New World, of which I have been speaking. Asia and Africa, we know, are joined together and are connected with Norway and Russia with Europe, which disproves the idea of the ancients that all this northern part had been navigated from the promontory of Cimbri [Denmark] eastward as far as the Caspian Sea. They also maintained that the whole continent was surrounded by two oceans, lying east and west of it, which seas in fact do not surround either of the two continents, for as we have already seen the land in the western hemisphere at 54° south latitude extends eastwardly an unknown distance, and that the land north of the equator, beyond the sixty-sixth parallel, turns to the east and does not terminate at the seventieth parallel.[412]
“In a short time, I hope we shall have more satisfactory information concerning these things by the aid of your serene majesty, whom I pray Almighty God to prosper in lasting glory, that we may see the most important results of this our geography in the fulfillment of the holy words of the gospel.
“On board the ship Dauphine, in the port of Dieppe, in Normandy, the 8th day of July, 1524.
“Your humble servant,
“Janus Verazzanus.”
CHAPTER X.
(Addenda.)
1524-1526.
The safe return of Verrazzano to France and his remarkable discoveries along the new continent were immediately heralded through Europe. The letter which he wrote on his arrival at Dieppe was at once eagerly copied and the transcripts widely circulated. In less than a month’s time the news of the navigator’s extensive explorations was spread over France, and became a prominent topic of conversation. The commercial advantages likely to accrue to France by the important discovery of a country thickly populated and rich in drugs, furs, and metals were everywhere discussed, and Verrazzano’s presence at the chief centres of trade was much desired that more information might be obtained respecting the people and the productions of the New Land.
A Florentine, named Fernando Carli, a person well acquainted with Verrazzano’s former voyages, was in Lyons at the time when the surprising intelligence reached that city. He obtained a copy of Verrazzano’s letter, and sent it to his father in Florence, inclosed in the following communication: