THE NAME AMERICA. 671 



The name was not "accidentally created in the Vosges," * as de 

 Humboldt thought ; but the application to Vesi)acci of tlie indigenous 

 name Amerrique was wrongly made there. The name is not a creation 

 of the Vosgian G-ymnasium, but oidy an erroneous assimilation to the 

 Christian name of a man having some similarity with it, against ali the 

 rules of priority of discovery and of naming a great country in using 

 the (Christian name of a Piloto instead of his family name. After 

 the mistake had been made Vespucci took care to make it good by 

 altering the autography of his Christian name, changing his signature 

 of 1492, Amcrif/ho, into Amerri<jo alter lAOT and until his death. 



All the discussions among Americanists come entirely from their 

 ignorance of the existence of a tribe of Indians who call themselves 

 Amerriques, and who inhabit the Sierra Amerrique and the country rich 

 in gold, between Lake Nicaragua and the Mos(puto coast. They were 

 confronted by such difficulties that it is a true chaos of dates, names, 

 pretentions of all sorts, patriotic rivalries, and futile explanations un- 

 worthy of the characters and profound science of some of their number. 

 If Varnhagen and d'Avezac, and more especially de Humboldt, had 

 known the existence of the Amerriques, the Sierra Amerrique, and 

 the gold region of the vicinities of Carlai and Carambaru, of the 

 lettera rarissitna of Colombo, they would have given a very different 

 explanation, and instead of giving such weak and inadequate reasons 

 as they did they would have thrown a great deal more light upon the 

 matter than I have been able to do, for I have no pretention of being 

 an Americanist, and even less a scholar, being only a practical travel- 

 ling geologist. 



RESUME. 



We have the following authentic fajts : 



(1) On the 30th of December, 1492, Vespucci wrote a letter from 

 Sevilla, {)reserved at Mantova, in the Archives Conzaga, signed Ameri- 

 gho V^espucci, merchante fiorentino in Sybilia. 



(2) In the last voyage of Christoforo Colombo he staid from the 25th 

 of September to the 5th of October, 1502, with his 150 companions, at 

 Cariai (Rio Rama) and Carambaru (Rio Blewfields) among Indians wear- 

 ing gold mirrors round their necks. The localities of the mouth of the 

 Rios Rama and Blewfields are so near the country occupied now by the 

 the Amerrique hidhma and the Sierra Amerrique, and the proved existence 

 there of an area of gold mines, altogether make it certain that Colombo 

 and his 150 seamen heard the name Amerrique and used it at their re- 

 turn to designate some of the Indian tribes and a country rich in gold. 



(3) First letter of Vespucci to Lorenzo Pier Francisco di Medicis, pub- 

 lished at Paris, in 1504 or 1505, with the name Alberirus Vesputius. 



(4) Second letter of Vespucci to Pietro Soderini, published at Pescia, 

 near Florence, in 1506. with the name Amerigo Vespucci. 



*Examen crituiue vol. v, p. 175. 



