170 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



It is just here where the archbishop's argument is the weakest. He 

 has not taken into consideration the whole series of maps nor the fact that 

 even the Mediterranean sea — the centre of the ancient and medieeval 

 world, not only on La Cosa's but on all maps, was twenty degrees astray 

 in longitude. Commenting on this, Kohl says : '" " It is well known that 

 " the great father of geography, Ptolemy of Alexandria, committed the 

 " extraordinary error of assigning to the Mediterranean sea a length of 

 " not less than sixty-two degrees of longitude, which was upwards of 

 ** twenty degrees too much. This amazing mistake aftected all our maj)S 

 " of the Mediterranean, more or less, until the beginning of the last 

 " century. ... In this instance the contest between truth and error 

 " lasted more than 1,500 years, until, at length, the French geographer, 

 " Delille, gave to the sea its true limit." 



But while all these maps present diflBculties of their own, they must 

 be taken as they are or rejected in their entirety, and here would seem to 

 be the fatal error of Archbishop O'Brien's method. He cuts the Gordian 

 knot heroically. To use his own words : " We say at once that Cosa, 

 " having received a copy of Cabot's chart, joined it to his own, making it 



" run east and west instead of north and south He did not 



" tamper with its scale or reduce its proportion." That is, La Cosa took 

 Cabot's supposed chart of the second voyage and simply stuck it on to 

 his own, only turning it round the wrong way ! This is surely the quint" 

 essence of hypothetical geography. 



It is not possible in serious inquiries to detach a part of the coast 

 line of a map and radically alter its direction without striking at the very 

 foundation of all geographical studies. What these pilots did know was 

 their compass course, and to suppose that a man of the experience of 

 Juan de La Cosa could mistake a course of north and south for a course 

 of eas t and west is practically to pronounce as incompetent and ignorant 

 one of the three foremost seamen of his age. This would be a very 

 daring thing to do in any case ; but here is a man whom Humboldt calls 

 "that great sailor," " that skilful pilot ; " whom Peter Martyr lauds for 

 " his gi-eat ability in constructing marine charts ; " whom Las Casa& 

 asserts to be the " best pilot who could be found for the seas of the 

 " Western Indies ; " and he is charged, four hundred years after the event, 

 with a blunder, undiscovered until now, too gross to be made in an elemen- 

 tary class in geography, and this in a map which was made for the King 

 of Spain, and supposed to have been hung up in the office of Fon- 

 seca, the Spanish minister of marine. All these old charts had wind- 

 roses to show directions and lines of compass-bearing run across them. 

 This map of La Cosa is oriented by the great wind-rose south of the east 

 and west coast line, by the equinoctial line and the Tropic of Cancer, and 

 by the meridional line through the Azores. If we are permitted to take it 

 to pieces and wheel up a portion of its coast line at an angle of 90 degrees^ 



