684 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XIX. No. 487. 



In the section here considered the Can- 

 tino map is without details and names, 

 with the exception of two great gulfs which 

 seem to represent that of Maranhao and 

 the mouth of the Amazonas. The first 

 bears the inscription 'Canabales. Golfo 

 fermoso' (Canabals. Gulf fermoso), and 

 the second that of 'rio grande' and, in 

 front, 'todo este mar e agua doee' (all this 

 sea is fresh water). From this it may be 

 concluded that one of the explorers of 1500 

 entered the gulf of Maranhao and had here 

 an encounter with the Indians. 



In the configuration of the coast the 

 Cantino map gives an almost northeast 

 direction to the section between Cape S. 

 Roque and the mouth of the Amazonas, 

 thus throwing the latter far to the north 

 of the equator. This defect reappears in 

 many of the early maps, especially those 

 printed in Germany, which evidently took 

 this Cantino map, or some of its deriva- 

 tives, as a prototype. 



A new exploration of this coast is appar- 

 ently indicated by the map reproduced in 

 the text (p. 84) of Rio Branco's second 

 memoir where it is attributed to Count 

 Ottomano Freducci and to the year 1514 

 or 1515. For the section to the south of 

 Cape S. Roque the prototype of this map 

 was evidently a simplified copy of the Por- 

 tuguese map of 1502, or some other one 

 similar to it; and for the section to the 

 north of the Amazonas, a Spanish map 

 similar to those mentioned below of Mai- 

 oUo, the Turin map or that of Diego 

 Ribeiro, and which was not that of Juan 

 de la Cosa. The intermediate section, how- 

 ever, presents special characteristics which 

 may be either Portuguese or Spanish. 

 Among the four names of this section 

 'e. negro' recalls the 'r. negro' and 'm. 

 negro' of the Juan de la Cosa map, but 

 'maranon,' 'rio fresco,' 'c. bianco' and 

 'paricura' are entirely new. It is worthy 

 of note that the topographical drawing, 



which is generally perfunctory, represents 

 two rivers near the name Maranon and a 

 large island dividing the mouth of the 

 Amazonas, thus being in this respect re- 

 markably accurate. 



The MaioUo map of 1519 evidently had 

 substantially the same prototypes as that 

 of Freducci for the sections to the south 

 of Cape S. Roque and to the north of the 

 Amazonas, but another one for the section 

 here considered. As its rich nomenclature 

 is Italianized it is difficult to say if it was 

 originally Portuguese or Spanish, but the 

 use in two places of 'fumos' instead of 

 'humos' indicates the former. The ex- 

 treme eastern point of the continent figures 

 with the name of 'c. de spicell' (c. de S. 

 Miguel?), S. Roque ('s. rom' on the map) 

 being placed to the southward of a new 

 name 'Rio de piedre' which is probably the 

 Rio Goyana. These new names of 'Cape 

 S. Miguel' and 'Rio das Pedras,' which 

 appear to the south of Cape S. Roque (like 

 'Pernambuco' and 'Rio das Virtudes,' 

 which appeared almost simultaneously in 

 maps of 1518 and 1523), probably come 

 from Portuguese navigators who explored 

 the southern part of the continent, those 

 of the new prototype beginning to the west 

 of the Cape Spicell of the map. Amongst 

 these last are 'c. denigri' and 'maralion' 

 that are probably identical with the 'c. 

 negro' and 'maranon' of the Freducci map, 

 though the latter name is placed to the 

 eastward of the feature in the drawing that 

 undoubtedly represents th?, gulf of Mar- 

 anhao. Discharging into the latter is a 

 'Rio de pe"' which like 'eauo corco' is a 

 significative name to which we shall return 

 later. It is to be noted that in his later 

 map of 1527 Maiollo emended the nomen- 

 clature of the coast between Cape S. Roque 

 and the mouth of the Orenoco making it 

 correspond almost exactly with that of the 

 Freducci map, with which he had evidently 

 become acquainted in this interval of time. 



