Waldseemüller, the geographer at St. Dié, drafted the second of these maps, at some date probably after 1504 and certainly not later than 1508. It was published at Strasburg in an edition of Ptolemy in 1513, and was entitled “Tabula Terre Nove.” From its reference to a “former Admiral,” probably Columbus, it has been often called “the Admiral’s map.” This bears testimony that the expedition described by Vespucci as his first voyage passed the Mississippi and charted its mouths; for west of the Atlantic coast and Florida, where the shores and names are closely like the Cantino map, Waldseemüller gave a distorted outline of the Gulf of Mexico, with a large river emptying into it by three mouths, pushing its delta far into the gulf, in which respect the Mississippi surpasses any other river, this being indeed the most remarkable feature of its embouchure. I cannot doubt, therefore, that Vespucci sailed past the Mississippi delta early in the year 1498, surveying the mouths of the river from the masthead, or very likely entering the river and spending some time there.
The original “Letter of Amerigo Vespucci upon the Isles newly found in his Four Voyages” was published in facsimile pages, with English translation, under the editorship of George Young, in Philadelphia in 1893, forming a book entitled “The Columbus Memorial,” its earlier half being occupied by facsimiles, translations, and notes of letters by Columbus. Only a very scanty statement was given by Vespucci concerning the voyage from some port on the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico, probably that of Tampico, at the mouth of the Panuco river, to “a harbour the best in the world,” which appears to have been on Pamlico Sound or river, whence, after repairing their vessels, the expedition returned to Spain. Vespucci wrote of the voyage between these ports: “We navigated along the coast, always in sight of land, until we had run 870 leagues of it, still going in the direction of the maestrale [northwest], making in our course many halts, and holding intercourse with many peoples; and in several places we obtained gold by barter, but not much in quantity, for we had done enough in discovering the land and learning that they had gold.”
According to Varnhagen and Fiske, the direction of their sailing, noted as northwestward, referred only to the first start from the port in Mexico, after which they continued along the irregular coast line 870 leagues. It seems to me also noteworthy that they came to this Mexican port by a northwestward course, and so perhaps Vespucci meant only that they went directly onward along the coast, which in that part curves very gradually to a nearly north course. From his statements of time, with the date indicated by the maps for passing the south end of Florida, it is probable that the expedition was at the Mississippi river late in March or early in April, 1498. Our history of this river, as known to Europeans, thus extends through four centuries.
As my study of the limit of this voyage of Vespucci on the coast of the United States, regarded thus to be at Pamlico Sound, differs somewhat from the conclusions of either Varnhagen or Fiske, it should be remarked further that the Pamlico region had a considerable Indian population, with many little villages, when it was described ninety years later by Thomas Hariot (or Harriott), a member of the unfortunate colony founded there in 1585 on Roanoke island, under the patronage of Sir Walter Raleigh. The Indians at first were very friendly to these colonists, as their forbears had been (if my identification of the locality is true) to Vespucci and his companions. The translation of this part of Vespucci’s narrative, given by Young, is as follows:
“We found an immense number of people, who received us with much friendliness ... the land’s people gave us very great assistance, and continually furnished us with their victuals, so that in this port we tasted very little of our own, which suited our game well, for the stock of provisions which we had for our return passage was little and of sorry kind. Where [i. e. there] we remained 37 days, and went many times to their villages, where they paid us the greatest honour: and [now] desiring to depart upon our voyage, they made complaint to us how at certain times of the year there came from over the sea to this their land, a race of people very cruel, and enemies of theirs, and by means of treachery or of violence slew many of them, and ate them; and some they made captives, and carried them away to their houses or country; and how they could scarcely contrive to defend themselves from them, making signs to us that [those] were an island people and lived out in the sea about a hundred leagues away.
“And so piteously did they tell us this that we believed them, and promised to avenge them of so much wrong, and they remained overjoyed herewith; and many of them offered to come along with us, but we did not wish to take them for many reasons, save that we took seven of them on condition that they should come [i. e. return home] afterwards in canoes, because we did not desire to be obliged to take them back to their country: and they were contented, and so we departed from those people, leaving them very friendly towards us: and having repaired our ships, and sailing for seven days out to sea between northeast and east, at the end of the seven days we came upon the islands, which were many, some [of them] inhabited, and others deserted: and we anchored at one of them, where we saw a numerous people who call it Iti: and having manned our boats with strong crews, and [taken] three guns in each, we made for land, where we found [assembled] about 400 men and women, and all naked like the former [peoples].”
Hard fighting ensued. Many of the natives of the islands were killed, and at last the Spaniards put them to flight and returned to their ships. The next day the natives came again to renew the contest, for which the Spaniards landed.
“After a long battle,” wrote Vespucci, describing this second day, “[in which] many of them [were] slain, we put them [again] to flight, and pursued them to a village, having made about 250 of them prisoners; and we burnt the village, and returned to our ships with victory and 250 prisoners, leaving many of them dead and wounded; and of ours there were no more than one killed, and 22 wounded, who all escaped [i. e. recovered], God be thanked.
“We arranged our departure, and the seven men, of whom five were wounded, took an island canoe, and with seven prisoners that we gave them,—four women and three men,—returned to their [own] country full of gladness, wondering at our strength: and we thereupon made sail for Spain, with 222 captive slaves, and reached the port of Cadiz on the 15 day of October, 1498, where we were well received and sold our slaves.”
Varnhagen, in his discussion of Vespucci’s voyages, presented arguments to show that the Bermudas were the group of islands thus occupied by a warlike and cannibal people, whom he supposed to have been soon afterwards exterminated by slavers, before the discovery of these islands by Bermudez about the year 1522, when they were uninhabited. Bancroft and Fiske inclined to the same view. It seems to me more probable, however, that the Bermudas, distant fully six hundred miles from any other land, had never been peopled until they were found by Europeans. The extreme isolation and comparatively small extent of the Bermuda group, far out in the sea, would make it practically impossible for the savages, with any means of navigation that they possessed, to pass back and forth in frequent war expeditions.