292 DEVELOPMENT OF THE CARTOGRAPHY OF AMERICA. 



the lifetime of their sponsors. The Spaniards ignored the distinctions 

 of the Portuguese, and vice versa. Nay, more than this, of one a,nd 

 the same marine expedition varying or widely differing charts might 

 be brought home by diiferent pilots, and if upon these originals the 

 names were abbreviated or illegibly written not inconsiderable discrep- 

 ancies would necessarily arise in the first copies. The interpretation 

 of the names, moreover, is fraught with the difficulty that discoverers 

 have rarely given an exact description of the coasts in their written 

 reports, for only very seldom indeed, as in the case of Columbus, are the 

 ships' logbooks or even an epitome of them accessible. The reports, 

 also, are not infrequently too vaguely or generally recorded — as, for 

 example, in the four voyages of the two Vespuccis — to afford any medium 

 for their correct interpretation. The description of the localities also 

 often presents wide divergencies. As tlie signification or correct iiiter- 

 l^retation of the local names is often obscure or unintelligible, it is 

 natural that to fresh inquiries an elucidation of these details is often 

 embarrassing. 



According to H. A. Schumacher's communication (Kohl's American 

 Studies, in the German geographical sheets, Bd. XI, p. 100, Bremen, 

 1888), J. (1. Kohl writes concerning the old charts, in which he had for 

 years earnestly interested himself: " One is to be cautioned against a 

 too indiscriminate use of these things. As a matter of course the 

 charts assume to give a correct representation of the countries in their 

 more prominent features, as the author proposes to himself at the 

 moment of their execution; but the operation of delineating charts, 

 which should properly have been the work of only cultivated and 

 learned minds, was often confided to very inexperienced hands, and was 

 conducted in part in an extremely negligent manner, while the draft 

 of a chart, correct in all its details, presupposes so extraordinary a 

 mass of information, that it was impossible to meet all its requirements 

 until in more recent times; and not until in more recent times was all 

 this knowledge combined and attainable in due form." 



Now all this may be readily conceded, and yet we are constrained, 

 where it is a question of the development of cartograi^hy, as in the 

 case of America, to consult and investigate closely the most insignifi- 

 cant sheet, and we must at all events endeavor to obtain a clear eluci- 

 dation of each of the names. But unfortunately it is hardly practicable 

 to determine with confidence, in the case of many of the imi)ortant 

 voyages of discovery — as, for example, those of B. Gomez, AyUons (in 

 spite of the Spanish chart of a Eibero) — what points of the coast are 

 indicated under the old designations, or in what locality a landing, or 

 possibly a settlement, has been effected. 



If not for the determination of the local names, at all events for that 

 of the dates of discovery, the saints of the Catholic Church are of 

 great utility. The day of the discovery is hereby conclusively estab- 

 lished, and in accordance with this it may not infrequently be demon- 



