Apeil 29, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



683 



point where this prototype commenced is 

 clearly indicated by the beginning of the 

 nomenclature in front of the figure of a 

 Spanish ship, by the inscription referring 

 to Pinzon and by the perfunctory char- 

 acter of the drawing to the southward of 

 the bend of the coast that represents Cape 

 S. Roque. 



Judging exclusively by the map, one 

 would say that the characteristic configura- 

 tion of the coast in the neighborhood of 

 this cape was recognized by one of the first 

 discoverers, but that he only landed to the 

 west of this point at the mouth of a river 

 of which the name has been destroyed by 

 a rent in the paper of the map. The first 

 letter of this name is an 8, which seems to 

 indicate a denomination taken from the 

 saints' calendar. Following comes a series 

 of sixteen names to another rent in the 

 paper, indicative of a detailed examination 

 of the coast, to which was applied denom- 

 inations that for the most part are simply 

 descriptive. Amongst these the most sig- 

 nificative is 'rio de sef allohuacruz ' (river 

 where a cross was found), which indicates 

 that the author of the name was preceded 

 by another christian. The only name of 

 this series that is not descriptive is 'C°. de 

 stm."' (Cape Santa Maria), taken from the 

 calendar and probably indicative of a date, 

 and with regard to which it should be noted 

 (as Harrisse has already observed) that it 

 belongs to a group of names written in a 

 different hand from that of the body of the 

 map. Beyond this first series of names 

 another rent in the paper, in a position that 

 includes the gulf of Maranhao,* has per- 

 haps destroyed some other names. Follow- 

 ing comes a considerable stretch of coast 

 without names but with a pronounced topo- 

 graphical feature in the drawing in the 



* Maranhao, and Maranham are diiferent modes 

 of writing the same Portuguese word, the first 

 form being the one iisually employed in modern 

 writings. 



strong indentation of the coast line, that 

 presumably represents the southern mouth 

 of the Amazonas, or Rio Para. Another 

 indentation with a group of six names and 

 placed under the equator undoubtedly rep- 

 resents the main mouth of the Amazonas 

 designated by the names of 'g°. de Stm'." 

 (Gulf of Santa Maria) and 'elmacareo' 

 (pororoca or bore). 



The conclusion to be drawn from the 

 study of the map is that this part of the 

 coast was explored by two discoverers and 

 afterwards ' represented by Juan de la Cosa 

 on the basis of a prototype embodying the 

 observations of one or the other, or both, 

 of whom the second registered the finding 

 of a cross set up by the first. These ex- 

 plorers, or one of them, seem to have 

 sighted the coast near Cape S. Roque, so 

 as to have perceived its inflexion to the 

 south, but to have only landed to the west 

 of this cape, and to have followed the coast 

 closely throughout a certain section, noting 

 and naming all its details, to afterwards 

 sail farther out before landing again at 

 the mouth of the Amazonas. 



Another map almost contemporary with 

 that of Juan de la Cosa and presumably 

 based on the results of the same explora- 

 tions is the one organized in Lisbon in the 

 year 1502 by order of Albex't Cantino. In 

 the above-mentioned paper, in which the 

 South American part of this map is repro- 

 duced, I presented reasons for believing 

 that it was in great part compiled from 

 information gathered from sailors in the 

 port of Lisbon rather than from preexist- 

 ing maps. Thus for the southern coast of 

 Brazil there are indications of slightly de- 

 tailed information relative to the Portu- 

 guese expedition of 1501, the author, on 

 his own account, substituting the name 

 ' Cape Sao Roque, ' given by that expedition 

 by 'Cape St. George,' probably in com- 

 memoration of the date of discovery of 

 Brazil at Porto Seguro by Cabral. 



