The honour of discovering the new world, it is well known, justly belongs to Christopher Columbus, a pilot of Genoa, although it derives its name from Americanus Vespuccius, a Florentine navigator, who performed two voyages to this hemisphere, under the auspices of his Castilian Majesty, and two others by order of Emanuel, King of Portugal. The latter voyages the Portuguese writers flatly deny, and attribute the promulgation of a story so devoid of truth to the arrogance and pride of Vespuccius; nor, in fact, does his relation respecting this point appear to be supported by any collateral testimony. A mere accidental occurrence, indeed, induced Columbus first to entertain the idea of launching out upon unknown seas. The master of a caravelleon, named Francisco Sanches, about the year 1480, arrived at Madeira, where Columbus then was, in a most pitiable condition, with three or four sailors only remaining, and nearly exhausted, in consequence of a tremendous tempest which had assailed their ungovernable bark, and driven them to a remote western longitude, where they saw, or fancied they saw, land. It was in those days imagined, that the eastern coast of Asia was the western boundary of the Atlantic Ocean, and Columbus was persuaded, that the land which Sanches had seen was the island of Japan, or some other island upon that coast, and which was then only arrived at by navigating around the coast of Africa. The novel circumstance stirred up in his mind the most animating presentiments;—the glory of opening to India a shorter and more easy passage, by proceeding directly across the Atlantic, inspired Columbus with enthusiasm, and he flattered himself, that the disclosure of his ideas would produce ready concurrence in furnishing the adequate equipments for the enterprise. He proceeded to Genoa for the purpose of proposing his plan, but it was regarded there as a chimera. He submitted the same proposition to John II. of Portugal, whose subject he then was, which was rejected by the votes of some chosen geographers. He next directed his way to the court of Castile, where the learned ones entertained the same sentiments upon the subject as the cosmographers of Lusitania, and where, perhaps, he would have been equally unsuccessful had not the spontaneous offers which Luiz de Santangal made to provide all the money requisite for the expedition, and the voluntary proposal of Don Pedro de Mendonca to contribute one-eighth of the expenses, overcome every difficulty. He sailed from Palos, with three caravelleons under his command, on the 3d of August, 1492, and, passing the Canaries, directed his course to the westward, till the 11th of October, when he descried an island, which he called St. Salvador, now one of the Bahama Islands. He was much disheartened at having traversed so much of the ocean with so little success; but he continued, however, the voyage, and discovered the Island of Cuba, of Hispaniola, now St. Domingo, and left 38 men there in a wooden fort. He then retraced his way back, and arrived at Lisbon on the 6th of March, 1493. Columbus made three other voyages across the Atlantic, under the protection of Ferdinand V. His second voyage was commenced from Cadiz, on the 25th of September, 1493. He re-visited the Island of Hispaniola, discovered Jamaica, and a great many other islands to the southward of Cuba, and which, for its fertility and picturesque beauty, he denominated the garden of the kingdom. Upon his third voyage, in 1498, he saw the island of Trinidad, at the mouth of the Oronocos, on the 1st of August. He afterwards disembarked on various parts of the coast of Paria, returned to Hispaniola, and then to Europe. He sailed again from Cadiz on the 9th of May, 1502, a third time visited Hispaniola, and continued to navigate onward till he discovered the Island of Guanaia, near Cape Honduras, and subsequently explored all the coast of the continent, from Cape Gracias to Porto Bello.
Some persons, however, affirm that it is a great injustice to attribute the honour of discovering this hemisphere to either of those navigators, when it is certain that the oriental Syberios, called Choukes, were in the habit of passing the Straits of Bhering, to the American continent, in the summer season, from time immemorial. The Danes discovered Greenland about the end of the tenth century, and the Norwegians colonized it in the following one; and if this land is not a portion of the continent, it is at least an island belonging to it.
Having briefly described the first discovery of the American continent, it will now be in unison with the object of this work, to invite the attention to an investigation of the circumstances resulting from the discovery of that portion of it more immediately under consideration, and which has excited endeavours on my part, very inadequate to render justice to a subject of such prodigious magnitude. The Portuguese imagine (and the inscriptions met with in the Brazil would appear to corroborate the notion) that their countryman and ancestor, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, was the first discoverer of that country; but this honour indubitably belongs to the celebrated Spanish pilot, Vincente Yanez Pinson, the companion of Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic; and who, it is affirmed, would not have acquired the fame of first descrying the new world, had not the despondency which was clouding his mind, in the progress of that voyage, been dispelled by the animating hope of success with which Pinson encouraged him. In virtue of a commission granted to Vincente Yanez Pinson, by the Castilian court, he quitted his native shores in pursuit of undiscovered countries, in the month of December, 1499. He shaped his course more to the southward than his late commander, Columbus; and on the 26th of January, 1500, discovered land in about 8° south latitude, having crossed the Atlantic in as short a period as the voyage is commonly accomplished in at this day; evincing an undaunted spirit and disregard to the prevailing practice then existing amongst navigators, of taking in all sail and lying to during the night. The discovery of this new land must have been highly consolatory and gratifying to his feelings; he gave it, therefore, the name of Cape Consolation, which can be no other than Cape St. Augustine, situated about twenty miles to the south of Pernambuco. Pinson vainly went through the ceremony of taking possession of the country for the Spanish crown. The natives which they saw were exceedingly shy, and they endeavoured without success to accomplish any intercourse with them. He proceeded northward, towards Cape St. Roque, with his ships, and, again landing upon the intervening coast, his people had several rencounters with a horde of savages very different to the first they had seen. These Indians used the bow and arrow, and attacked the Spaniards with great spirit and dexterity. This reception induced Pinson to continue his course along the northern coast of the Brazil; and, after proceeding as far as the Oronocos, he returned to Europe without any manifest advantage resulting from this undertaking. Although he was unfortunate in losing some of his ships on the homeward voyage, he displayed considerable nautical skill in conducting his vessels in safety along the most difficult and dangerous part of the Brazilian coast.
During the period that Pinson was thus occupied, Portugal was fitting out a fleet with much pomp and parade in the river Tagus, not with any project of discovering a new territory, but in consequence of Don Vasco da Gama having arrived at Lisbon, with certain intelligence of having ascertained the navigation to India, round the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese King, Emanuel, determined to send a fleet to establish friendship and a treaty of commerce with the King of Calcutta, and to create a factory in the same city. Merchandise of the best taste was selected for the outward cargo, and the ships were to be laden in return with spices. For the command of this fleet, which consisted of ten caravels, and three larger vessels, a fidalgo was chosen, called Pedro Alvarez Cabral. The number of persons on board amounted to twelve hundred well selected and well armed. The fleet was prepared in front of the Rastello, now called Belem; and it was determined that it should sail on the 9th of March, 1500. At the vespers preceding, which was on Sunday, the King went with all the court to open mass, in the hermitage of our Lady of Belem, (or Bethlehem,) which site is occupied at this day by the magnificent monastery of P. P. Jeronymos. Diogo Ortiz, Bishop of Ceuta, delivered a discourse upon the object of the expedition; and, during the service, a flag was placed upon the altar, with the cross of the order of Christ, which the Bishop, with imposing ceremony, consecrated; and the King, with his own hands, delivered it to Cabral, who was near his Majesty during the ceremonies. The funçaō being finished, the colours were carried in procession, accompanied by the King, to the beach, where Cabral and most of the captains kissed his hand, and at the same time a grand salute was fired by the whole fleet. This was considered the most powerful and brilliant armament that had ever sailed from Portugal for distant countries. The other captains were Sancho de Thoar (with succession to Admiral Cabral), N. Coelho (who had been with Vasco da Gama), S. de Miranda d’Azevedo, A. G. da Sylva, V. d’Athayde, S. de Pina, N. Leytao, P. d’Athayde, L. Pirez, Gaspar de Lemos, the celebrated Bartholomew Dias, discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, and Diogo Dias, his brother, who were to remain with the factory to be established. There were, besides, seven Franciscan friars, subordinate to one named Frey Henrique, who was afterwards bishop of Ceuta, eight chaplains, and a vicar, to administer the sacraments in the factory of Calcutta. Ayres Correa was appointed factor, or head of the establishment; and G. Barboza, and Pedro Vas de Caminho, escrivaōs, or writers.
On the 14th of March, the fleet passed the Canaries; and after having seen the island of St. Nicholas, one of the Cape de Verds, on the 22d, they discovered that the vessel of V. d’Athayde was missing. Cabral took every pains to fall in with it again, but without effect. He continued his voyage, and in order to avoid being detained by the calms peculiar to the coast of Africa, and to profit by the prevailing north-east trade wind, they stood so much to the westward, that, on the 21st of April, (the last Oitava of Pascal,) they met with signals of land, (which were certain floating plants,) and late on the following day, in latitude 17° south, they saw a large round mountain with smaller hills, which were the highest portions of the Serra, now called Aymores, mostly covered with wood. Cabral made a signal to the other ships to approach the land, and by sun-set they anchored in 19 fathoms, about six leagues from it. From respect to the oitavario,[1] Cabral gave the mountain the name of Mount Pascal, which it yet retains; and the land he called Vera Cruz. The following day they sailed towards the land, and came in front of the mouth of a river now called Rio de Frade (River Friar); and remained half a league distant from it during the night, with some difficulty, in consequence of a strong south-east wind setting in. Captain N. Coelho examined the river the same day, which was found incapable of receiving even the smallest vessels of the fleet; and the wind not being favourable to coast towards the south, Cabral ordered the fleet to navigate northward, and despatched Affonso Lopez, his pilot, in one of the smallest caravels, to proceed nearer the beach, and to examine the first part he met with.
The squadron having coasted on about ten leagues, met with the bay of Corôa Vermelha, otherwise Cabral, where, towards the evening, the caravels nearest entered. Affonso Lopez, who was sounding the port, met with two young Indians in a canoe, whom he carried to the admiral, who had anchored with the larger ships a league from the reefs, which were at the entrance of the bay. They were next morning placed upon the beach dressed in Portuguese clothes, accompanied by a degradado, or criminal, in order to observe the mode of living which prevailed amongst the natives.
The fleet remained here eight days, during which time mass was celebrated twice by Frey Henrique; the first, on Easter Sunday, upon an island (its name is now Corôa Vermelha) within the bay, in sight of a great number of Indians assembled upon the continental beach; the other, on the 1st of May, at the foot of a grand cross, which had been erected upon the main land, with the arms of King Emanuel, in testimony of the solemn possession which in his name had been taken of this new land of Vera Cruz.
There is a letter in the naval archives at Rio de Janeiro, written by P. V. de Caminho (one of the escrivaōs already mentioned) to King Emanuel, giving a minute detail of all the circumstances attending the stay of the armament in this port, which Cabral called “Porto Seguro,” in noticing which, the above letter, written in language differing from that of the present day, says, “Acharam hos ditos navios pequenos huum a recife com huum porto dentro muyti boo, e muyti seguro com huuma muy larga entrada, e meterem-se dentro.” Also, “entraram toda las naaos e amcoraram-se em simco, seis bracas, ha qual amcorajem demtro he tam grande e tam fremosa, e tam segura, que podem jaser demtro neela mais de duzentos navios e naaos.”[2] He says the Indians were quite naked, and their bodies painted with various colours. They wore pendants of white bone from their ears. Their cheeks were in like manner ornamented with bones, and their lips slit, into which similar ornaments were also introduced. They used bows and arrows. The two natives who came on board, when they saw the gold embroidery upon the collar of Cabral’s coat, danced, put their hands to the ground, and then to the collar: they showed the same feeling in regard to silver; from which it was inferred that those precious metals were not unknown to them. This letter also says, “Mostraram lhes huum papagayo pardo que aquy ho capitam tras; tomaram no logo na maao; mostraram lhes huum carneyro, non fezeram delle mençam; mostraram lhes huuma galinha, e asy aviam medo dela, e nom lhe queriam poeer ha maao.”[3] The Portuguese offered them bread, dressed fish, and other things, which on tasting they put out of their mouths; also wine, which they did not like, and would not take it a second time. They established a friendly intercourse with those Indians, from whom they received in exchange for trifling articles, fruits, farinha (or flour) of the mandioca, maize, &c. This writer, with many of the captains, went a league and a half up the country, where they met with a body of Indians, who had nine or ten houses rudely built of wood covered with grass; each house had two small entrances, and was large enough to receive thirty or forty persons. It consisted of but one apartment, without any division. They bartered with them things of no value for large and beautiful red parrots, two small green ones, and other things. They went on shore again the next day to get wood and wash linen, when they found sixty or seventy Indians, without bows or any thing else, upon the beach, which number soon increased to two hundred, all without bows and arrows. They mixed amongst the Portuguese, and assisted them to collect wood and put it on board the boats. That Cabral considered this land an island is evidenced by the conclusion of the letter. “Beijo haas maaos de V. A. deste Porto Seguro da vosa Ilha da Vera Cruz. Hoje, Sesta feira primeiro dia de Mayo, 1500. P. V. de Caminha.”[4]
On the 2d of May, this fleet sailed from Porto Seguro, and proceeded on its voyage to India, leaving two degradados behind, who were seen lamenting and crying upon the beach, and the men of the country comforting them, demonstrating that they were not a people devoid of pity.[5] One of them soon learnt the idiom of the Indians called Tupininquins. He served as interpreter to the first Portuguese who arrived there, and afterwards returned home. Some of the Portuguese writers are piqued at the Spanish authors, Berredo and Antonio Galvum, for pretending, as they say, that their countryman, Vincente Yanez Pinson first discovered the Brazil; and they bring, as testimony against the Spaniards, the following statement of Robertson. “Vicente Yanez Pinson, one of the admiral’s companions in his first voyage, sailed from Palos with four ships; he stood boldly towards the south, and was the first Spaniard who ventured to cross the equinoctial line; but he seems to have landed on no part of the coast beyond the mouth of the Marignon, or River of the Amazons.” Robertson does not make a positive assertion that Pinson did not land upon any other part of the Brazilian coast, nor does he enter into particulars or give any dates. The river Amazons is the north-western boundary of the Brazil; and even if he only landed at the mouth of this great river, he of course landed upon the Brazilian territory, and was unquestionably the first discoverer of it. Conceding to the Portuguese the passage which they adduce from Robertson, it offers no contradiction to the circumstances and dates already detailed of Pinson’s voyage, which show him to have anticipated the Portuguese at least three months in this discovery. Cabral despatched Gaspar de Lemos from Porto Seguro, to announce to the King this new land, which had been taken possession of in his Majesty’s name. It is said that Lemos coasted northward as far as Cape St. Roque, to ascertain the extent of this territory which they had considered an island. Emanuel was so delighted with the discovery of Vera Cruz, that he resolved to send out another squadron to explore more minutely its extent; and it appears that three caravels were ordered to sail upon this project from the Tagus, on the 1st of May, 1501, but there is a considerable doubt who was the commander of them; some say it was Americanus Vespuccius, others, that it was Gonsalo Coelho. Cabral met this squadron at Goree on his return from India, but the commander’s name is not mentioned. “Che gamos ao Cabo da Boa Esperance dia de Pascoa e encontrando alli bom tempo, continuamos a viagem, e aportamos junto a Cabo Verde em Bezenegue, onde encontramos tres caravellas, que El Rey de Portugal mandara para descubrir a terra nova que tinhamos achado hindo para Calecute.”[6] Francisco de Cunha, author of the Geographical Description of Portuguese America, states that (“Gonsala Coelho fora o primeiro explorador da Costa Bazillica depois de Cabral e Lemos,”) Gonsalo Coelho was the first explorer of the Brazilian coast after Cabral and Lemos. Americanus Vespuccius, in his own manuscript, asserts that he undertook two voyages for the King of Portugal, this being the first. It is difficult to arrive at a fair conclusion from this conflicting testimony, whether he or G. Coelho had the command of those three caravels. The Portuguese deny positively that it was Vespuccius; and a French writer of “the General History of Voyages” peremptorily falsifies all that Vespuccius has advanced upon the subject. “Les relations d’Americ Vespuce contienent le recit de deux voiages, qu’il fit sur la même côte (du Brezil), au nom d’Emanuel, Rio de Portugal; mais les dates en sont fausses, et c’est en quoi consiste l’imposture; car il est prouvé par tous les temoignages contemporains que dans le tems qu’il nomme, il étoit emploie à d’autres expeditions.”[7] Antonio Galvum mentions the expedition but not the commander. All the evidence however, regarding this squadron, concur as to the time of its sailing, and arrival at the Brazil on the 17th of August. After a long and tempestuous voyage, they made land near Rio Grande, to the south of Cape St. Roque, where they met with Indians of a savage nature and decidedly cannibals. Several people from the Portuguese ships were seized by them, roasted over a large fire in presence of their countrymen, with loud shoutings and rejoicings. The cannibals were so expert with their bows and arrows, that this fleet was considerably annoyed by them, and induced to coast on to the latitude of 8° south, near Pernambuco, where they met with friendly Indians,[8] and established an intercourse with them. After a few days, they continued their voyage along the coast, and met with a kind reception every where from the natives, who allowed them to land and make their observations without injury upon the country and its productions. They described the natives as being exceedingly well made, and universally attached to the custom of perforating their faces and ears, and wearing bones and stones as ornaments. They coasted on to 32° south latitude, and, standing out to sea, reached as high a latitude as 52° south, where, in consequence of a tempestuous lebeccio, they were compelled to return, and arrived at Lisbon in September, 1502, having lost two vessels.
Another expedition of six caravels sailed from Lisbon on the 10th of June, 1503, with the avowed object of prosecuting still further the examination of Vera Cruz. A variety of contradictory statements render it doubtful who was the real commander of this squadron, although the balance of testimony in this, as in the former case, is much in favour of Gonsalo Coelho. Americanus Vespuccius again alleges that he accompanied this fleet, and with two ships proceeded forward to the coast of the Brazil, leaving the other four vessels at an island, some of them wrecks; and he says those four vessels were all lost through the want of ability on the part of the commander, whose name he does not disclose. A work published at Paris, attributing the command of the three first caravels to Vespuccius, continues thus:—“El Rey D. Manuel extremamente affeicoado a Vespucio deu lhe o commando de seis navios com os quaes sahiu a dez de Mayo, 1503, e passou ao longo das costas d’Africa, e do Brazil, com o intuito de descubrir uma passagem pelo occidente para as Ilhas Mallucas, como ao depois se-descubriu: depois d’apportar na Bahia de todos os Santos, navegou athe os Abrolhos e rio Curababo, como nāo tinha mantimentos senāo para Vinte mezes, tomou a resoluçao de voltar a Portugal onde chegou a dezoito de Junho, 1504.”[9] Maneol Ayres de Cazal supposes Christovam Jacques to have been the commander, and Francisco de Cunha says, that the King “Mandou logo preparar outra armada de caravellas que entregou a Christovam Jacques, fidalgo de sua casa e com o titulo de Cap-Mor, o mandou continuar n’este empressa descubrindo aquella costa, sahui armada, e seguindo viagem chegou a costa, sondando baixos e rios pondo padroes d’armas Portuguezes, foi dar a huma bahia, aque poz o nome de Todos Santos, e depois deligencias se recolhou a Portugal.”[10] But Damian de Goes assigns the command to Goncallo Coelho. “No mesmo anno de 1503 mandou Goncallo Coelho com seis naus a terra de St. Cruz com que partiu de Lisboa a hos dez dias de mez de Junho; das quaes por ainda terem pouca noticia da terra perdeu quatro, e has outras duas trouxe aho regno com mercadorias da terra que entam nam eram outras que pau vermelho que chamam Brazil, e papagaios.”[11]