686 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mony was adduced as to Vespucci being called Amerigo as early 

 as 1492 and 1495, in the face of which M. Marcou had "been com- 

 pelled to modify his assertions on that point. Dr. Hamy pro- 

 duced the copy of a map made in Malorca, in 1439, on which was 

 marked in an ancient handwriting the receipt of the cost price 

 in gold from Amerigo Vespucci. The Congress with great una- 

 nimity approved an observation by Dr. Hellmann that this ques- 

 tion should henceforth be regarded as removed from the pro- 

 gramme of its discussions. Dr. Hellmann mentioned a document, 

 printed at Lyons in 1546, in which the compiler purposed to 

 describe briefly America, which is also called L'Ameque, " a 

 group of islands of which little is known." M. Gabriel Marcel, of 

 the Bibliotheque Rationale, called attention to a wooden globe in 

 that institution, called " the green globe/' which is supposed to 

 have been made in 1513, and is one of the oldest documents on 

 which the name of America appears. On it the land is shown 

 pierced by a strait passing through the heights of Panama, by 

 which it is divided into two large islands. 



M. Gaffarel, of the University of Dijon, gave an account of 

 Portuguese voyages of discovery in the Columbian epoch. The 

 fitting out and leading of these expeditions seem to have been 

 monopolized by the Corte Real family ; and claims are made that 

 in 1464, or twenty-eight years before Columbus, Johovaz Corte 

 Real discovered the land of Kabuljane Canada, or Newfound- 

 land. The first voyage authenticated by documents is that of 

 Gaspard Corte Real, in the year 1500, in which he discovered the 

 Terra Verdex Newfoundland, or Labrador. The next year he 

 undertook a new voyage, with three ships, only one of which 

 came back. The report of these voyages is contained in letters 

 of the Venetian ambassador Pasqualigo, and the merchant Al- 

 berto Cantino, to the Duke of Ferrara. It is inferred from them 

 that the expedition reached some region in the far north perhaps 

 Baffin's Bay, or some neighboring water. Venetian beads have 

 been found used as ornaments by the natives of the coast. In 

 1502 Miguel Corte Real undertook a new voyage, in search of his 

 brother. He also disappeared. The interest of the Portuguese 

 was afterward turned toward Brazil, discovered by Cabral, which 

 was visited by Amerigo Vespucci in 1503. 



The sessions of the second day, under the presidency of Senor 

 Altamirano who was introduced by M. de Quatrefages as a 

 representative of the pre-Columbian races was devoted to the 

 archaeology of America. Dr. Seler presented the last number of 

 the publications of the Berlin Museum fur VoTker'kunde, contain- 

 ing an interesting chapter of the Aztec original text of P. Saha- 

 gun, with pictures and descriptions of thirty-six Mexican divini- 

 ties, translations, and commentary. He also described the wall- 



