OCEANIC DISCOVERIES. 679 



portant influence on the political institutions, the ideas and 



Agricola from Vienna, in 1512; and yet the person to whom widely- 

 circulated writings in Germany, France, and Italy, attributed a voyage 

 of discovery in 1497, to the tierrafirme of Paria, was neither cited by the 

 fiscal as a witness in the lawsuit which had been begun in 1 508, and was 

 continued during nineteen years, nor was he even spoken of as the 

 predecessor or the opponent of Columbus. Why, after the death of 

 Amerigo Vespucci (22nd Feb. 1512, in Seville), was not his nephew, 

 Juan Vespucci, called upon to show (as Martin Alonso, Vicente Yafiez 

 Pinzon, Juan dela Cosa and Alonso de Hojedahad done) that the coast 

 of Paria, which did not derive its importance from its being "part of the 

 main land of Asia," but on account of the productive pearl fishery in its 

 vicinity, had been already reached by Amerigo, before Columbus landed 

 there on the 1st of August 1498. The disregard of this most important 

 testimony is inexplicable if Amerigo Vespucci had ever boasted of 

 having made a voyage of discovery in 1497, or if any serious import had 

 been attached at that time to the confused dates and mistakes in the print- 

 ing of the " Qitatuor Navigationes." The great and still unprinted work 

 of a friend of Columbus, Fra Bartholome" de las Casas (the Historia 

 general de las Indias), was written, as we know with certainty, at 

 very different periods. It was not begun until fifteen years after the 

 death of Amerigo in 1527, and was finished in 1559, seven years before 

 the death of the aged author, in his 92nd year. Praise and bitter blame 

 are strangely mingled in it. We see that dislike and suspicion of fraud 

 augmented in proportion as the fame of the Florentine navigator spread. 

 In the preface (Prologo) which was written first, Las Casas says; 

 'Amerigo relates what he did in two voyages to our Indies, but he 

 appears to have passed over many circumstances, whether designedly (d 

 saviendas) or because he did not attend to them. This circumstance has 

 led some to attribute to him that which is due to others, and which 

 5ught not to be taken from them." The judgment pronounced in the 

 1st book (chap. 140) is equally moderate: "Here I must speak of the 

 injustice which Amerigo, or perhaps those who printed (6 los que irrpri- 

 mieron) the Quatuor Navigationes, appear to have committed towards 

 the Admiral. To Amerigo alone, without naming any other, the dis- 

 covery of the continent is ascribed. He is also said to have placed the 

 name of America in maps, thus sinfully failing towards the admiral. As 

 Amerigo was learned and had the power of writing eloquently (era 

 latino y eloquente), he represented himself in the letter to King 

 Rene as the leader of Hojeda's expedition; yet he was only one of the 

 seamen, although experienced in seamanship and learned in cosmo- 

 graphy (hombre entendido en las cosas de la mar y docto en Cos- 

 mographia) . . In the world the belief prevails that he was the first 

 to set foot on the mainland. If he purposely gave currency to this 

 belief, it was great wickedness; and if it was not done intentionally it 

 looks like it (dara pareze la falsedad: y si fue de industria hecha 

 maldad grandefue ; y yaqut no iofuee t almenospareze,o). . . Amerigo 



